I started my first ever TTRPG experience (one-shot DnD) back in August. It’s been a blast, I wish I had got started earlier in life with it.

But beyond the fun I have in-game, what’s been the best part for me is, I have three kids ages 3-7. When I put them to bed after a session earlier in the evening, I tell them the story of what happened in our game. They love this. The day of, they will constantly ask me when I’m playing and if I’ll tell them about what happened. Last night, when they weren’t listening to their mom I told them if they don’t listen I won’t tell them the story. The look of terror on their faces…. they were good the rest of the night.

So I really want to use this as an opportunity to get them into kids’ RPGs. My problem is, I’m new to this whole world myself and I’m having trouble narrowing down the possibilities for their first adventure. They really like a fantasy world so I’m trying to stick to that. FirstFable and Hero Kids looks interesting, but I wanted to make a post to solicit ideas from the community: what are some RPGs you would recommend for little kids for their first experience with it?

  • apotheotic (she/her)@beehaw.orgEnglish
    2·
    2 days ago

    It is going to come across as a strange suggestion, but Thirsty Sword Lesbians

    Nothing about the ruleset predisposes itself to anything sexual in nature, and as noted in the sourcebook you can play non lesbians, non sexual, non romantic, non sword wielding characters.

    The system is geared specifically toward exploring the difficulties and excitement and beauty of connections and interactions of people. You can run it in low fantasy, high fantasy, sci fi, reality, whatever you like. The rules serve to guide player interaction and foster interpersonal situations that are compelling and interesting (and, challenging, which is a great thing for developing kids minds). It does so with a rules-light, theater of the mind gameplay, which will give your kids plenty of room to flex their creative muscles and drive the story in big ways if they want to.

    The caveat is that the official art is perhaps sometimes not strictly safe for kids and the flavour of some of the examples is obviously through the lens of romance/sexuality. With some mild sanitizing from your end you could have suitable character sheets and such for all ages and you can run with it from there.

    Let your kids get tangled with some baddies who aren’t inherently evil, and some who are, some friends and companions along the way, all of whom have problems and worries and goals and are flawed and wonderful and human (or not).

    TSL is all about larger than life, dashing heroes battling against insurmountable odds and winning, while hopefully finding family and introspection and resolution of their own internal conflicts along the way. I can’t think of a better environment to let your kids imaginations run loose.