Looking for a short, rules lite family RPG

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Also, all of you have fun with this long list.

Tabletop RPGs for kids and teens: A sortable list of amazing games! – TTRPGkids

www.ttrpgkids.com

 

[Stormonu]

I'd put in for Savage Worlds. It's tagline is fast, fun & furious! It's a generic game engine, with hundreds of pre-made worlds (some quite famous) that are prebuilt to play with - everything from fantasy, sci-fi, superheroes, horror or whatnot.

I'll also mirror that the D&D Starter/Essentials is a good start.

 

[Arilyn]

I ran Faery’s Tale for my boys when they were very small.

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

I had so much fun running this after school for my grade 1/2 class. My education assistant, who knew nothing about rpgs, also got so into it!

 

[darjr]

I had so much fun running this after school for my grade 1/2 class. My education assistant, who knew nothing about rpgs, also got so into it!

It is a gem and I think not known nearly enough

 

[Tun Kai Poh]

The Warren is a great (and simple) PbtA game about rabbits surviving in a wild world. I have had good experiences using it to teach roleplaying to beginners, and there is a kid-friendly variant of the playbooks too.

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

Cozy Town by my friend Rae Nedjadi is a map-making game about living in a cozy and wholesome community!

Cozy Town by Rae Nedjadi

A Sweet Community Building Game

temporalhiccup.itch.io

Lastly, Ech0 is my own map-making game about children exploring a landscape filled with the scars and wrecks left by a great war. I'm quite proud of it, and I have heard good feedback from parents who have played it with their kids.

ECH0 by Role Over Play Dead

Peace. Kids playing in mech wreckage. A ghost. One last journey to find a final resting place.

roleoverplaydead.itch.io

 

[Aldarc]

Tiny Dungeon

• d6s
• quick simple rules and mechanics

Index Card RPG

• core rules are less than 40 pages
• simple builds and item based character progression

Fate Accelerated

• 50 pages
• Free
• Approaches

Risus: The Anything RPG

• free
• simple rules

 

[Bedrockgames]

I am pretty sure the original version was short, but I don't know how available it is: OG The Caveman RPG is a lot of fun and almost feels like a party RPG (something you could get non-RPGers to play fairly easily). From what I remember of it, you play cavemen, and the fun part of the game is you all have a very limited vocabulary. I think every cave man starts with 1 word (except the smart caveman who gets 2) and they can learn more words as they go. But the words have to come from the short word list provided in the game:

 

[aco175]

Are the 5e basic rules to much of a learn? The game has the most assistance in terms of resources on the interwebs to find material and help to new DMs.

 

[darkbard]

Thanks for the many fine suggestions, folks! I am directing my friend here to peruse them at his leisure.

 

[thom_likes_gaming]

Howdy! A friend is looking to draw his two boys (15 and a precocious 9) away from screen time with an RPG he can play with them. He stressed simplicity as a major criterion, by which I think he means a short rules set, few and simple mechanics, and little game prep. He has little experience with RPGing.

Suggestions (and links when possible that I can point him to) please!

Back in the days I had decent success with

No Thank You Evil

www.nothankyouevil.com

Its fairly light on rules, leaves tons of flexibility. The campaign provided may be a bit pink and fluffy, but obviously one can craft their own stories.