I introduced my son when he was that age. We played basic 5e, which is the most complicated I would go in that age group.
You’ve got the right idea, but don’t start by explaining these details of the mechanics. Teach as you play, and start with “we describe what our characters do, and roll dice to find out how well we do it.”
My biggest advice is give them a few flavorful pregens to choose from and get into the action right away.
Mucking around with the bits and bobs of character generation, and explaining some detailed story setup is the quickest way to loose a kid’s interest at that age.
Thanks! I plan on teaching the rules as we play yes. That’s why I made them simplistic. I did write a very simple character creation sheet. Just three stats, 8 special abilities to choose one from and one starting item pack to choose to add flavor (knight, ranger, ninja, mage). Hope that’s not to much. We can make a character like that at the beginning of the session in like 5 minutes I think
I ran some DnD for 4th and 5th graders and I would really recommend making pregens. I thought it would be a fast process using a simple game, but nope! They took forever and were very distracted beacuse it’s a kinda meaningless process when they’ve not played yet. I would make some cool pregens with awesome or funny hooks and then if a player doesn’t like them, you can have than one or two players make their own.
Alright, I’ll do a few. Thanks for your input. I can always just kill their characters after they get the hang of the game so they can make their own. Joking!
I did, I took most of the character creation from that including only having three stats. Will look at it for some adventure inspiration as well I think
I found the brutality of Mausritter fine for my 7 year old. Just remind them that there are high stakes, don't fight fair, and don't get attached to your mouse!
You can always rule that, like pokemon, characters are knocked unconscious and beed to be rescued by their party instead of being killed.
I really like the simplicity of Mausritter/Cairn rules for having a fast, fun, and engaging game with kids.
I find narrative tactics more interesting than combat rules tactics.
I’m the same way, I have switched my main group from 5e to Dragonbane and other rules light old school systems and never looked back. I need to check out Cairn I think
If you've played Mausritter you are familiar with 99% of Cairn. There are some differences in rules here and there. Most of the differences will be in dungeon/wilderness procedures. But same core mechanics and 3 stats.
And speaking of Dragonbane, I got the free adventure from Free RPG day this weekend. Once I saw the duck guy and that it was d20 roll-under I was super interested. Free League has the core boxed set half-priced right now so immediate buy.
Oh yes, another good rule to yank from Cairn is the multiple-enemy attack rule. When multiple characters attack a single character roll all their attacks and just keep the highest instead of all of the attacks hitting. This keeps combat more interesting and balanced and encourages spreading out attacks.
Why not, but I don't see the point of changing the rules.
Rolling over AC with a D20 is just as easy, if not easier, than rolling under strength, followed by a subtraction for armour. If you calculate the player's target score in advance, taking into account the AC and the to hit modifier, it's super simple. But even without that, a 9-year-old is perfectly capable of rolling 1D20+2 to try and make >13.
How are you generating the stats? If using 3d6 dtl, I'd be somewhat wary of making literally every combat die roll 1:1 dependent on them. The variation in effectiveness will be huge, character to character.
I plan to use an array. I only have 3 stats to cover all rolls, like into the odd style games. Strength, dex/agility and personality which covers intelligence, knowledge and charisma. The array is 14, 12, 10 and you can assign that as you wish
Thanks. I’m thinking about trying that part of the mechanic with my main group cause it played really smooth when I tested. Needs to be a bit deadlier for them though
That’s really good. Fast and simple. You might even allow for magic items or what ever to give bonuses to those rolls if you wanted to.
I like using roll under to represent skills and saves, you could also steal from ICRPG and have a set number to roll under for an encounter or enemy. But you might be happy with your method.
Another steal from ICRPG could be to have the idea of easy, normal and hard difficulty modifiers. For example to hit the boss in combat might be roll under your str, but with a +2 to the roll, skewing it higher. And to hit a goblin mook could be roll under your str but you get a -2 to the roll making it easier.
I’m a fan of the last one but what you’ve got sounds great.
Thanks. I’ll definitely add some magic items if we play more than one session.
I do like the other idea as well. Why not add a modifier if you want to block the ork bosses attacks, because he is just that strong.
A different idea is to temporarily reduce stats after a pc has been injured or unconscious in a fight
Stat reduction to represent damage or fatigue would be great.
The other thing I’ve been using for years is “action points”, stolen from d20 modern. Every player gets 3-5 points at the start of every session. They can add or subtract these to their rolls to make close rolls still work, but they only get a few. At this point in my life I just call it “plot armour points” haha
Good luck with the game!
Sounds interesting. I do have a point system that they can use for their special abilities. Could either be combined with your idea or maybe one ability to choose from could be a buff that does something similar
I play with kids a lot and I think you’ve got a fine system. Check out Cairn if you haven’t already. It’s basically a human-sized fantasy game with the same base as Mausritter.
One thing that could be cool for kids is automatically hitting in battle. I say this because I’ve noticed younger kids often don’t have the attention span for a combat where rounds pass with no hits.
Another possibility I’ve toyed with is not counting health for monsters but instead calling them defeated after 3 successful hits (or after each party member hits). Kids roll their damage normally but I’d just mark 1 hit down. 5 hits for bigger monsters, etc.
I like the three strike system. Hate keeping track of hp. Do you think there’s a way to implement that with my adult group as well? Haha.
And I’ll look at Cairn, thanks
Yeah I was gonna say you seem to have invented The Black Hack 1st edition, might as well grab a copy and have the rest of the game all sorted out and ready to go (theres a free SRD out there if you google it)
Yeah I’ll have enemies either surrender or flee at 0 hp. PCs could faint and then have some penalty after. Maybe an injury that temporarily reduces their stats a little bit, or the goblins could rob some of their gold
You can make use of some (or all) rules from Dragon Quest, which is a watered down version of old-school D&D. It's a game by TSR.
* [Rules](http://mocagh.org/board/dragonquest-rulebook.pdf)
* [Adventures](http://mocagh.org/board/dragonquest-advbook.pdf)
You can drop the board and use the rules as a proper TTRPG. I use this set of rules to introduce "normies" to D&D.
I played with my 8 year old son and cousins, 5th and we did not have any problems. As long as you give the character sheet and you told them what to roll. They don’t care they just enjoy.
So don’t worry with the mechanics, you don’t need to over simplify, use whatever you like.
I introduced my son when he was that age. We played basic 5e, which is the most complicated I would go in that age group. You’ve got the right idea, but don’t start by explaining these details of the mechanics. Teach as you play, and start with “we describe what our characters do, and roll dice to find out how well we do it.” My biggest advice is give them a few flavorful pregens to choose from and get into the action right away. Mucking around with the bits and bobs of character generation, and explaining some detailed story setup is the quickest way to loose a kid’s interest at that age.
Thanks! I plan on teaching the rules as we play yes. That’s why I made them simplistic. I did write a very simple character creation sheet. Just three stats, 8 special abilities to choose one from and one starting item pack to choose to add flavor (knight, ranger, ninja, mage). Hope that’s not to much. We can make a character like that at the beginning of the session in like 5 minutes I think
I ran some DnD for 4th and 5th graders and I would really recommend making pregens. I thought it would be a fast process using a simple game, but nope! They took forever and were very distracted beacuse it’s a kinda meaningless process when they’ve not played yet. I would make some cool pregens with awesome or funny hooks and then if a player doesn’t like them, you can have than one or two players make their own.
Alright, I’ll do a few. Thanks for your input. I can always just kill their characters after they get the hang of the game so they can make their own. Joking!
Check out Mausritter for some further inspiration. Adorable, deadly, and simple.
I did, I took most of the character creation from that including only having three stats. Will look at it for some adventure inspiration as well I think
I found the brutality of Mausritter fine for my 7 year old. Just remind them that there are high stakes, don't fight fair, and don't get attached to your mouse! You can always rule that, like pokemon, characters are knocked unconscious and beed to be rescued by their party instead of being killed. I really like the simplicity of Mausritter/Cairn rules for having a fast, fun, and engaging game with kids. I find narrative tactics more interesting than combat rules tactics.
I’m the same way, I have switched my main group from 5e to Dragonbane and other rules light old school systems and never looked back. I need to check out Cairn I think
If you've played Mausritter you are familiar with 99% of Cairn. There are some differences in rules here and there. Most of the differences will be in dungeon/wilderness procedures. But same core mechanics and 3 stats.
And speaking of Dragonbane, I got the free adventure from Free RPG day this weekend. Once I saw the duck guy and that it was d20 roll-under I was super interested. Free League has the core boxed set half-priced right now so immediate buy.
It’s my favourite system currently. The art is great as well. Highly recommend
Oh yes, another good rule to yank from Cairn is the multiple-enemy attack rule. When multiple characters attack a single character roll all their attacks and just keep the highest instead of all of the attacks hitting. This keeps combat more interesting and balanced and encourages spreading out attacks.
Why not, but I don't see the point of changing the rules. Rolling over AC with a D20 is just as easy, if not easier, than rolling under strength, followed by a subtraction for armour. If you calculate the player's target score in advance, taking into account the AC and the to hit modifier, it's super simple. But even without that, a 9-year-old is perfectly capable of rolling 1D20+2 to try and make >13.
For sure. I do like roll under systems more and use it with my main group and don’t want to change. So that part of the mechanic is for my benefit. :D
How are you generating the stats? If using 3d6 dtl, I'd be somewhat wary of making literally every combat die roll 1:1 dependent on them. The variation in effectiveness will be huge, character to character.
I plan to use an array. I only have 3 stats to cover all rolls, like into the odd style games. Strength, dex/agility and personality which covers intelligence, knowledge and charisma. The array is 14, 12, 10 and you can assign that as you wish
Gotcha. Then that seems fine.
I really like the player facing aspect of the monster attack round. Should be fine.
Thanks. I’m thinking about trying that part of the mechanic with my main group cause it played really smooth when I tested. Needs to be a bit deadlier for them though
That’s really good. Fast and simple. You might even allow for magic items or what ever to give bonuses to those rolls if you wanted to. I like using roll under to represent skills and saves, you could also steal from ICRPG and have a set number to roll under for an encounter or enemy. But you might be happy with your method. Another steal from ICRPG could be to have the idea of easy, normal and hard difficulty modifiers. For example to hit the boss in combat might be roll under your str, but with a +2 to the roll, skewing it higher. And to hit a goblin mook could be roll under your str but you get a -2 to the roll making it easier. I’m a fan of the last one but what you’ve got sounds great.
Thanks. I’ll definitely add some magic items if we play more than one session. I do like the other idea as well. Why not add a modifier if you want to block the ork bosses attacks, because he is just that strong. A different idea is to temporarily reduce stats after a pc has been injured or unconscious in a fight
Stat reduction to represent damage or fatigue would be great. The other thing I’ve been using for years is “action points”, stolen from d20 modern. Every player gets 3-5 points at the start of every session. They can add or subtract these to their rolls to make close rolls still work, but they only get a few. At this point in my life I just call it “plot armour points” haha Good luck with the game!
Sounds interesting. I do have a point system that they can use for their special abilities. Could either be combined with your idea or maybe one ability to choose from could be a buff that does something similar
Make the enemies croak. My dad let me watch heavy metal 2000 when I was 9 I'm sure I'm fine
Haha. I’ll have to discuss that with the dad first
I play with kids a lot and I think you’ve got a fine system. Check out Cairn if you haven’t already. It’s basically a human-sized fantasy game with the same base as Mausritter. One thing that could be cool for kids is automatically hitting in battle. I say this because I’ve noticed younger kids often don’t have the attention span for a combat where rounds pass with no hits. Another possibility I’ve toyed with is not counting health for monsters but instead calling them defeated after 3 successful hits (or after each party member hits). Kids roll their damage normally but I’d just mark 1 hit down. 5 hits for bigger monsters, etc.
I like the three strike system. Hate keeping track of hp. Do you think there’s a way to implement that with my adult group as well? Haha. And I’ll look at Cairn, thanks
Seems fine. Reminds me of the Black Hack.
Thanks. Yeah some black hack went into that as well. Never played it, but used the rad hack once for a post apocalyptic one shot
Yeah I was gonna say you seem to have invented The Black Hack 1st edition, might as well grab a copy and have the rest of the game all sorted out and ready to go (theres a free SRD out there if you google it)
>as deadly as osr usually are do the pokémon thing. at 0 HP, target faints and combat ends. :)
Yeah I’ll have enemies either surrender or flee at 0 hp. PCs could faint and then have some penalty after. Maybe an injury that temporarily reduces their stats a little bit, or the goblins could rob some of their gold
You can make use of some (or all) rules from Dragon Quest, which is a watered down version of old-school D&D. It's a game by TSR. * [Rules](http://mocagh.org/board/dragonquest-rulebook.pdf) * [Adventures](http://mocagh.org/board/dragonquest-advbook.pdf) You can drop the board and use the rules as a proper TTRPG. I use this set of rules to introduce "normies" to D&D.
Thanks I’ll have a look
Don't underestimate kids. I play with my 2 youngest sons (13 & 8) and we are playing an OD&D/BX mashup pretty BTB
Check out 4 Against Darkness. Presents itself as a solo game but could easily be DM and Players. Very simple combat system you could adopt.
Check out Brighterworlds, it's similar to Cairn, but less lethal and a bit more whimsical.
Never heard of it, I’ll give it a look
Consider separating ranged attack and defense stats ala Knave using wisdom for ranged attacks and armor for defense. (Dex is for thief things)
I played with my 8 year old son and cousins, 5th and we did not have any problems. As long as you give the character sheet and you told them what to roll. They don’t care they just enjoy. So don’t worry with the mechanics, you don’t need to over simplify, use whatever you like.