Simple TTRPGs Designed Specifically for Younger Players (Part 2)
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This is the second part of a deep dive into tabletop role playing games (TTRPGs) built for or appropriate for younger kid players. If you missed the first part, it is available in the blog section of my website, www.DnDwithDee.com .
ReCap:
There's a growing category of TTRPGs specifically designed with younger players or more sensitive players in mind. These games maintain the imaginative core of TTRPGs using game mechanics that children can easily grasp, yet still helping them to exercise their collaborative storytelling chops. Some of the guidelines suggested in the first part of this article are:
Establishing what scares your players and avoiding these topics
Collaborating on rules
Saying “Yes” as often as you are able
Framing Failure as interesting plot twists rather than fiascos or punishments but no minimizing your disappointed player’s big feelings
Bending the rules when you need to
Please reference the first part if this article for a more detailed
Overview:
There is still loads of variation within the world of easy games that you can play with younger children. A few things parents and GMs might be screening for:
Most Beginner-Friendly for Younger Players: These games require only minimal preparation and have the simplest rules, making them ideal for young children or first-time players. Examples include CALVIN Core and The Tiny Teahouse.
High GM Preparation: These games require the most preparation, for example, Jim Henson's Labyrinth and Pokérole.
Limited Supplements: These games present challenges for the GM because they have fewer published materials, supplements and community resources compared to the others. Examples include The Tiny Teahouse, CALVIN Core, and DnDoggos.
Darker or Combat-Heavy: This game features more combat than the others. Pokérole is the most combat-oriented game on this list, with detailed mechanics for Pokémon battles. Jim Henson's Labyrinth, a game from the late 1980s, contains darker themes than many of the newer games on this list.
Resource-Focused: These game uses “stuff” management as part of successful play. This may be frustrating for very young players or players with impulsivity challenges who might blow through what the game would reward holding on to. Examples include Starport and Mausritter.
Gamer Vocab You May Need:
Attributes: Aspects of a player character (PC), such as strength, charisma or intelligence, that are often assigned by rolls of dice during character creation.
Campaign: A series of interrelated game sessions that make up a larger and longer story, like the chapters of a book.
d6: A six -sided die
Dice Pool: A player or game master rolls a group or "pool" of dice simultaneously and evaluates the results based on a predetermined criteria, often counting how many dice meet or exceed a target value.
FATE Core System: A generic role-playing game system designed for collaborative storytelling. It's flexible, allowing players to create characters, settings, and scenarios without being bound by specific genres or rules. FATE focuses on narrative and character-driven roleplaying, emphasizing player agency.
Modifier: A bonus added or subtracted to a dice role if the PC is highly skilled or very limited in a given attribute, such as strength or coordination.
One-Shot: A complete adventure that takes place in a single session of a game.
Pre-Rolled PC: Usually indicates that a game come with a set of PCs that are ready to use by players, and no character creation is needed.
Roll Over Mechanic: The player rolls the dice and compares the result to a target number. If the rolled number is equal to or greater than the target, it's considered a success.
Roll Under Mechanic: The player rolls the dice and compares the result to a target number. If the rolled number is equal to or less than the target, it's considered a success.
Virtual tabletop (VTT): Any combination of maps, tokens, dice rolls and other visuals that are generated on a computer interface rather than in real life for players, as opposed to a real life map, dice or other gaming tool.
Ratings & Recommendations:
This list, by no means exhaustive, and is intended to suggest options rather than recommend specific TTRPGs. It is arranged in increasing levels of difficulty using a star rating system. One star ★☆☆☆☆ indicates a very simple game, through four stars ★★★★☆, indicating a challenging game. A game such as D&D or Gurps would rate ★★★★★ as a very complex game, unsuitable for children without a tremendous amount of editing and revising in both rules and content. There are no 5-star games on this list.
Of Note: The author receives no compensation from the publishers of any of the games listed in this article.
Amazing Tales
Complexity: ★☆☆☆☆ (Very Simple)
Ages: 4-10+
Duration: 30 minutes; self-contained sessions that can be linked for ongoing adventures.
Key Feature: Uses a single die and character traits chosen by the child
Overview: Amazing Tales strips role playing down to its basics. Children create characters with four traits of their choosing (like "strong," "magical," or "good at talking to animals"). When attempting actions, they roll a single die with higher numbers meaning better success. The game focuses almost entirely on collaborative storytelling with minimal rules interference.
Why It Works: The mechanics are so simple that even pre-readers can participate fully, with the adult handling any necessary reading. Easy preparation for the Game Master (GM) and the game can be played with only d6 dice.
Bonus Points: Many adventure modules, supplements and materials written specifically for homeschooling and special needs players are available, including some FREE one-page adventures.
CALVIN Core
Complexity: ★☆☆☆☆ (Very Simple)
Ages: 6+
Duration: 30-60 minutes; self-contained in one session.
Key Feature: Uses only six-sided dice with simple success mechanics. Players create rules for the group to follow, which are applied additively as the game moves forward.
Overview: CALVIN Core is designed specifically for children and beginners. It uses straightforward roll-over mechanics on d6 dice, with a focus on collaborative storytelling and adventure.
Why It Works: Character creation is quick and intuitive, with simplified stats that young players can easily understand. The rulebook includes helpful advice for running games for children. Also, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say this game references Calvin and Hobbes’s “Calvinball.” Fans of that comic strip and folks who don’t mind the game zinging off in unexpected directions might really love this type of gameplay.
Of Note: This is a lesser-known game with fewer community resources and published adventures available.
Little Wizards
Complexity: ★☆☆☆☆ (Very Simple)
Ages: 6-10
Duration: 45-90 minutes; can be either self-contained or campaign-style.
Key Feature: Child wizards solve magical problems with kindness.
Overview: Players take on the roles of young wizards-in-training on the twin islands of Coinworld. The system uses simple dice mechanics and emphasizes solving problems through creativity and compassion rather than combat.
Why It Works: The gentle setting explicitly avoids violence, with conflicts resolved through wit, charm, and magical ingenuity instead. Character creation is straightforward and focused on personality traits.
Bonus Points: Based on Contes Ensorceles from 7eme Cercle, this game has been compared to the 1989 Miyazaki feature film, Kiki’s Delivery Service. The full-color book includes beautiful illustrations and ready-to-play scenarios that spark imagination without frightening content.
The Tiny Teahouse
Complexity: ★☆☆☆☆ (Very Simple)
Ages: 8+
Duration: 60-90 minutes; designed to be completed in a single session.
Key Feature: Cozy RPG about running a teahouse for magical creatures.
Overview: Players cooperatively manage a teahouse catering to fantastical beings. The mechanics emphasize hospitality, brewing the perfect tea, and creating a welcoming atmosphere rather than combat.
Why It Works: The gentle premise and minimal conflict make it perfect for younger players or those who prefer nonviolent gameplay. Uses simple d6 rolls with modifiers based on character attributes.
Of Note: This is a niche indie game with limited reviews available, but feedback is generally positive for its unique premise and accessibility.
Do: Fate of the Flying Temple
Complexity: ★★☆☆☆ (Simple)
Ages: 8+
Duration: 1-2 hours; designed for episodic play with self-contained adventures.
Key Feature: Dragon companions and peaceful problem-solving.
Overview: Players are young monks with dragon companions who travel to planets to solve problems after their floating temple disappears. Based on the FATE system but significantly simplified.
Why It Works: The game explicitly focuses on resolving conflicts without violence. Characters have principles they follow (like "Peace" or "Wisdom") that guide their problem-solving approach.
Bonus Points: Character creation involves collaborative storytelling that helps build group cohesion and teaches empathy through gameplay. This game may be particularly fun for fans of How to Train Your Dragon and Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Faery's Tale
Complexity: ★★☆☆☆ (Simple)
Ages: 7+
Duration: 45-90 minutes; can be either one-shots or campaign adventures.
Key Feature: Play as tiny fairy folk helping others.
Overview: Players are pixies, brownies, sprites, or pooka helping woodland creatures and solving gentle problems. The system uses a small pool of six-sided dice based on character attributes.
Why It Works: The focus is on kind-hearted adventures where violence is rarely the answer. Instead, players use their fairy gifts and charm to overcome challenges.
Bonus Points: The setting is enchanting without being threatening, and the game includes specific guidance for running it with young or sensitive players. This is an enchanting game that is great for kids and sophisticated enough for adults.
Hero Kids
Complexity: ★★☆☆☆ (Simple)
Ages: 4-10
Duration: 1-2 hours; self-contained sessions that can be linked for ongoing adventures.
Key Feature: Uses simple dice pools with clear success/failure outcomes.
Overview: Hero Kids offers slightly more structure with pre-made character archetypes (knight, hunter, healer, etc.), simple combat mechanics, and adventure modules designed specifically for young players with appropriate challenges and themes.
Why It Works: The visual character sheets and clear mechanics make game concepts tangible, and is built to be fast-paced to hold the attention of young players.
Bonus Points: Pre-written adventures take the pressure off the adult running the game. The game includes fully illustrated heroes, monsters, and maps as well as pre-rolled PCs.
Magical Kitties Save the Day
Complexity: ★★☆☆☆ (Simple)
Ages: 6+
Duration: 1-2 hours; can be either one-shots or campaign adventures.
Key Feature: Players are magical cats with special powers.
Overview: Players take on the roles of magical cats with powers like invisibility or time manipulation. Their mission is to protect their human owners from various troubles while keeping their magical nature secret.
Why It Works: The premise is instantly appealing to children, and the mechanics strike a good balance between structure and flexibility. It uses a board game as a scaffold.
Bonus Points: The game includes a lot of tools, including a solo play graphic novel, so that players can start gaming within moments of opening the box. Guidelines for both first-time role players and first-time GMs make the game great for beginners.
No Thank You, Evil!
Complexity: ★★☆☆☆ (Simple)
Ages: 5+
Duration: 30-60 minutes; can be either one-shots or campaign adventures.
Key Feature: Adjustable complexity levels within the same game.
Overview: Set in a whimsical world called Storia, this game allows children to create characters using a simple sentence structure: "I'm a [adjective] [character type] who [special ability]."
Why It Works: The tiered approach means siblings of different ages can play together, each engaging with the level of complexity appropriate for them.
Bonus Points: The game scales in complexity, allowing children to grow with it, adapting easily to the abilities and interests of kids from ages 5+.
Starport
Complexity: ★★☆☆☆ (Simple to Moderate)
Ages: 8+
Duration: 1-2 hours; designed for campaign play with episodic adventures;
Key Feature: Science fiction adventures using kid-friendly mechanics
Overview: Starport takes young players on space adventures where they explore alien worlds, meet strange creatures, and solve problems across the galaxy. The system uses straightforward d6 dice pools where players count successes based on their character's abilities and skills.
Why It Works: Character creation is streamlined with playable species that appeal to kids (including robots and aliens with unique abilities). The rulebook includes colorful illustrations and clear examples that make the game accessible to younger players.
Bonus Points: The game emphasizes teamwork, resource management and creative problem-solving over combat, though conflict resolution mechanics are included. Adventures tend to focus on exploration, first contact scenarios, and helping others rather than fighting.
Of Note: While not as widely known as some mainstream TTRPGs, Starport has developed a loyal following among families looking for age-appropriate science fiction gaming experiences. The game also emphasizes resource management, which might be frustrating for very young players or players with impulsivity challenges.
Bubblegumshoe
Complexity: ★★☆☆☆ (Simple to Moderate)
Ages: 13+
Duration: 1-4 hours; campaign-style with ongoing mysteries.
Key Feature: Teen detective fiction using the GUMSHOE system
Overview: Bubblegumshoe adapts the investigation-focused GUMSHOE system for teen detective stories. Players are young sleuths solving mysteries in their hometown. The system emphasizes finding clues and using social connections ("relationships") as resources.
Why It Works: The mechanics focus on ensuring players always find the core clues needed to advance the story, preventing investigations from stalling. Social mechanics brilliantly represent teen life and drama.
Bonus Points: Includes tools for creating compelling mysteries appropriate for younger players Scooby Doo-ing an adventure, while still addressing serious themes.
Of Note: This game contains some PG-13 content.
DnDoggos TTRPG
Complexity: ★★★☆☆ (Moderate)
Ages: 8+
Duration: 60 minutes; self-contained adventures.
Key Feature: Players take on the role of adventuring dogs
Overview: Based on the popular webcomic, DnDoggos is a simplified version of D&D where players are good dogs going on adventures. The system uses d20 rolls with straightforward modifiers and emphasizes canine perspectives and abilities.
Why It Works: The dog-centered mechanics (like Sniff checks instead of Perception) are both functional and amusing to players or GMs with a passing TTRPG familiarity. Character creation is streamlined with dog breeds providing natural bonuses.
Of Note: This is a newer game with fewer published adventures and community resources.
Jim Henson's Labyrinth: The Adventure Game
Complexity: ★★★☆☆ (Moderate)
Ages: 10+
Duration: 2-3 hours; self-contained adventures with campaign potential.
Key Feature: Uses a custom deck of cards instead of dice for outcomes of encounters.
Overview: Based on the 1986 fantasy film, this game uses a straightforward system where players draw cards from a deck to determine success. The book itself is gorgeously illustrated, featuring artwork that captures the whimsical and sometimes dark aesthetic of the movie.
Why It Works: The card-based system is intuitive, and the game emphasizes creative problem-solving over combat. The game comes with premade adventures that closely follow the film's themes of riddles, puzzles, and strange encounters.
Of Note: The game requires moderate GM preparation to set up encounters and understand the card resolution system. This is one of the pricier games on this list. Additionally, the game has 1980s sensibilities, which are a bit darker than some families may be comfortable with.
Mausritter
Complexity: ★★★☆☆ (Moderate)
Ages: 10+
Duration: 2-3 hours; campaign-style with ongoing adventures.
Key Feature: Play as brave mice adventurers in a dangerous world
Overview: Based on the Into the Odd system, Mausritter has players take on the roles of mice in a world full of predators and natural hazards. The game features a unique inventory system using cards to represent items and equipment.
Why It Works: The simple d20 roll-under system is easy to grasp, and the inventory management adds a fun tactical element without making it too complicated.
Bonus Points: The core rulebook contains everything needed to play, including adventure generators and a starting adventure. There are a number of resources, both from the publisher and third-party creators. Virtual tabletop versions (VTTs) of the game are also available.
Of Note: The game mechanic relies on resource management, which might be frustrating for very young players or players with impulsivity challenges.
Ryuutama
Complexity: ★★★☆☆ (Moderate)
Ages: 10+
Duration: 2-3 hours; campaign-style with journey-based adventures.
Key Feature: Focuses on journeys and exploration rather than combat
Overview: A kind of mash-up of Miyazaki-style fantasy and The Oregon Trail game, Ryuutama emphasizes travel, discovery, and wonder rather than combat. Players track resources and overcome environmental challenges while exploring a magical world.
Why It Works: The gentle, optimistic tone and focus on exploration over violence makes it appropriate for sensitive players while still offering engaging gameplay. The GM plays as a PC, which allows the helping adult to guide players from inside the game. This may make thinking through choices or processing outcomes more palatable, as advice doesn’t come directly from the parent-GM, but from another PC.
Bonus Points: The emphasis is on collaborative world building. Players help their GM create the towns that their characters visit together, so that everyone has an interest in the next leg of the journey
Pokérole
Complexity: ★★★★☆ (Challenging)
Ages: 12+
Duration: 3-4 hours; campaign-style with ongoing trainer journeys
Key Feature: A narrative-lite TTRPG that emulates the anime series and trading card game, Pokémon. It uses a dice pool system.
Overview: Players take on the roles of Pokémon (“pocket monster”) trainers. The game includes rules for the capture and training of Pokémon, as well as combat.
Why It Works: Provides a comprehensive system for Pokémon fans who want deeper storytelling and character development than the video games offer.
Bonus Points: The game is free for download online. Be aware that entire gaming session may be given over to role-playing the capture and training specific Pokemon.
Of Note: There are many TTRPGs based on Pokémon. They work on the assumption that the GM and players know a great deal about the Pokémon universe. This game is combat heavy with detailed battle mechanics. It requires significant GM preparation due to the need to manage multiple Pokémon statistics and abilities.
Kids on Bikes/Kids on Brooms
Complexity: ★★★★☆ (Challenging)
Ages: 10+
Duration: 1-2 hours; an be either self-contained one-shots or ongoing campaigns
Key Feature: Uses different polyhedral dice for different stats.
Overview: These connected games (Kids on Bikes for 80s-style small-town mysteries, Kids on Brooms for magical school adventures) use a system where each character attribute is tied to a specific die type. The games focus on collaborative storytelling with shared control of powerful NPCs.
Why It Works: The mechanics are intuitive while providing variety in character capabilities. The setting frameworks tap into popular genres (think: Stranger Things, Harry Potter) that appeal to many young players.
Bonus Points: Both games include robust safety tools and session zero guidance to ensure the game remains appropriate for the intended audience. Relationship building is a huge part of this game. The KoB series has been around long enough that there are lots of supplements and modules, which now includes the option of setting your game in any time period the group wants to adventure in.
In Conclusion, For This Week
The easiest way to introduce your younger child to TTRPGs is to meet them where they are developmentally. Choosing one of the simpler systems provides an excellent entry point. Ideally, the game you select has minimal preparation required, so you can guide your child through the magical world you create together and remember that the goal is fun and engagement. Perfect rules mastery is far less important than creating an enjoyable experience where everyone feels heard, included, supported and creative.
Next Time: Understanding Your Player’s Avatar
Have you tried any of these titles with children? What was your experience? Share your stories in the comments below!
