ceeeKay

5imp

SRD5-based rules you can play with 3-year-olds (or drunk adults)

5imp is intended to be a set of lightweight guidelines to introduce tabletop roleplaying games to new players. A game master (GM) can use 5imp to run Systems Reference Document 5.x (SRD5)-compatible adventures with players of varying ages and/or math skills.

This does not mean 5imp is a stand-alone set of rules for new game masters; on the contrary, introducing new players is often best done by an experienced GM who is familiar with the spirit of role-playing games. Most of the below is very mechanically-focused, but the magic of role-playing games is often the narrative flavor, not the raw number-crunching. That said, if 5imp is helpful for you as a new GM, by all means make use of it.

Inspiration

ceeeKay

D&D 5th Edition “Kid Mode” Suggestions and Variants

Why?

After reading and hearing some experiences of parents playing Dungeons & Dragons with their kids, I was sold. Playing a game with kids at an age where they still largely live in a world of make-believe sounded amazing to me. I’ve spent about a year now reading rules, running adventures, and watching/listening to others play. I’m still sold and excited for my kids to be old enough to play.

However, it’s worthwhile to keep in mind that D&D itself is intended to be a very deep game in terms of complexity, as it can easily keep a group of adults entertained. While I firmly believe that 5th Edition (the current iteration of the game) is incredibly accessible and can be taught to a younger audience than many previous versions, for those of us champing at the bit to get started, I wanted to see what I could it pare down to, with the idea that it could be built back up by introducing a concept or two at a time.

I've playtested with the most simplified