Free\Homebrew Mini and\or Dice Games?

[herebewonder]

Hey cool guys,

I'm looking for suggestions for some simple games using minis and\or dice that wouldn't be to hard for kids.

Currently, my kids and I play the D&D Castle Ravenloft boardgame and while they like it, it's still a little complicated for the youngest. I've altered the rules in a few places to make it easier for them to understand, but it's still a bit much sometimes.

They like rolling the D20 and using the minis, so I'm wondering if there are any recommended simple system I can make use of.

thanks!

-c

[dantemarx]

It really depends on how old the kids are. A lot of games that work for 9+ won't work for 6-9.

If you are set on RPGs, I have heard good things about Faery's Tale and Mouse Guard, and have heard they are fairly friendly to younger players. I recall first learning about D&D as a teen, but not really getting into it until much later.

There are a handful of RPG/Boardgame hybrids. A few that come to mind are Hero Scape, Descent, and Talisman. Talisman is competitive and probably the most board game like, Descent is complicated, and Hero Scape is a bit more of a strategy game with miniatures and terrain. I would suggest Hero Quest, which I loved as a kid, but its out of print and expensive to get.

As for board games, you can go with the classic Hasbro/Milton Bradley, for example Life, Yahtzee or Trouble. If you don't mind things a bit more exotic, you can play Gulo Gulo, Survive: Escape from Atlantis or Zooloretto. There are other ones on the boardgamegeek webpage, but I am not familiar with them.

Hope these ideas help
Dante

[dantemarx]

I have now realized that I missed the point. As for free/homebrew games, D&D is a pretty good choice if you already have the dice. The trick to D&D with younger kids is to give them an objective and rewards for meeting the objective and to simplify the rules. It sounds like you are mostly doing that already, but dont be afraid to take D&D off the game board, and just role play. Kids like story telling.

There are several simple dice and card games available with standard playing cards or six sided dice.

I mentioned Yahtzee, but there are several variants on the theme. Consider looking up the rules for delve, a cross between dungeon crawling and Yahtzee. Another game with six-sided dice is greed (which I have only played as five dice greed, not six) and liar's dice, a simple bluffing game. You can find them on the wikipedia for details.

As for cards, consider dutch blitz. My family loves it. Or, in the same theme, you have peanut, which is basically the same as dutch blitz, but with face cards. For either game, you will need a deck per person, with distinct patterns on the back.

[Xian]

Kids who haven't had their imaginations dulled or spirits crushed are incredible and enthusiastic storytellers... I've been enthralled by what they come up with given basic prompts.  If you don't mind a little rambling, but like dice, try a set of Rory's Story Cubes from Wal-Mart / Amazon / etc.

[herebewonder]

Wow, I should really remember to check back on my forum posts.

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll check them out!

-c

[Revenant Sorrow]

Just an idea that came to me a few days after reading this post. You could create character's with you kids for D&D 4e the just tell them a story and have them use only the skill portion of the character of the sheet. You could even have the skills challenge like Rodrigo does or just have them roll skills to move the story along. After a while if they're still into it you can introduce them into the combat style of the game and go from there.