Best system for introducing my 6 year old daughter to TTRPGs?

[Asmotherion]

For referance, she can do additions/subtractions very well.

I need it to be rules light and focus more on the narative. Bonus points if she can play as a pony, as she seems to be into this kind of thing at this age :P

[NRSASD]

As someone who was introduced to TTRPGs at age 6, play a super stripped down version of whatever system you're most comfortable with. I learned heavily homebrewed 1st Ed AD&D, but I got to play a shapeshifting dinosaur who had a basket full of giant strength magic cookies. I got to stomp around and eat giant bugs, which was just the best. I had very little idea what was going on, but I had an absolute blast.

[Brookshw]

My 4 1/2 yro likes animal adventures (https://steamforged.com/products/animal-adventures), let's you play as cats & dogs. The starter set is simplified 5e with premade characters, the source book assumes you're using 5e core and includes character creation rules. The animal focus is a huge selling point for her, she's asked to play it fairly often. No ponies though.

[Batcathat]

Maybe something like Risus? The rules are very easy and it's flexible enough for pretty much anything, including ponies. It's also free, which is always nice.

[Calen]

You could look at Strike! (https://www.strikerpg.com) ignoring the tactical combat module it is very simple. There are no races, you make a character with skills and flaws that the GM approves. These affect your dice rolls.

[LibraryOgre]

I started my son at about 5 (https://rpgcrank.blogspot.com/2020/06/han-solo-jedi-knight.html). Two of them, specifically designed for kids, are Amazing Tales (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/222950/Amazing-Tales-complete-kids-RPG?affiliate_id=315505) (which I have played) and Mermaid Adventures (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/217101/Mermaid-Adventures-Revised?affiliate_id=315505) (which I have not, though I've done some work for 3EG on unrelated (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/283068/H-P-Lovecraft-Preparatory-Academy-Savage-Worlds-Edition?affiliate_id=315505) projects (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/84261/API-Anthology-Volume-1?affiliate_id=315505)).

[Eldan]

For something very rules-lite, there's The Adventures of Baron Münchausen, though it's debatable if that's really an RPG. It's a storytelling game, where players try to tell stories while hte others throw them off.

[sktarq]

I started at that age on BECMI...and wasn't bad and far less of a deal than people make it out to be (kids are super adaptable)
TBH but the world has come a long way...

If you want something very simple for you I found great success with Pugmire (I have run it for 6-12 year olds) over several campaigns where you play humanoid dog...pick your favorite puppy and send them on fetch quests...the fact that it is hinted that these are the remains of a post apocalyptic earth and were created by humans helps keeps any adults playing along with the kids invested too. And it is basically a mildly tweaked core 5e DnD in party hats.

[Tanarii]

Hero Kids. It's a bit board game / combat feeling, but it's super light weight.

If you're after something less combat-y, I'd still recommend reading it, then home brewing something using the simple mechanics for social or exploration or whatever.

Of course, you could just homebrew something using a d20 and some kind of bonus to specific things her hero is good at. Really for something you won't be bashing a lot of heads with, you can get away just using a straight forward resolution of one die plus possible bonus vs TN whenever you need a roll, and go from there. If you need something more complicated, make it up on the spot.

I once introduced someone (an adult) to roleplaying with a coin to flip to resolve things, a home base castle (loosely based on my memories of the Keep on the Borderlands) to explore and interact with NPCs in the first half of the session, and a resulting mission to scout some goblin caves and bring back intel to the castellan.

[animorte]

For referance, she can do additions/subtractions very well.

I need it to be rules light and focus more on the narative. Bonus points if she can play as a pony, as she seems to be into this kind of thing at this age :P

I think I won this one as I've mentioned Tails of Equestria (https://i.4pcdn.org/tg/1507416249335.pdf) several times on these forums. Our daughter (4) is getting about that age and our niece (9) has already played it with us a couple years. Very fun and simple system that still allows decision making with your customization.

Yes, it is directly based on My Little Pony. Body, Mind, and Charm are your stats. Fairly self-explanatory.

[Lord Torath]

I started on B/X at about 5 years old. Aside from not realizing that "missile" has a definition other than "a rocket-propelled, guided explosive like the kind the Sky Strikers and Rattlers launch on GI-Joe", I did fine! Granted, my first characters were all dwarves, since I'd recently watched the cartoon version of The Lord of the Rings...

I started my kids on 2E AD&D at about 8 and 4 (the four-year-old played a cleric, and loved bashing skeletons with her mace), and they took to it just fine (I had to help my youngest with with XP tracking, and we kept the sessions pretty short, but she still loves it, 14 years later).

[Tanarii]

I started on B/X at about 5 years old. Aside from not realizing that "missile" has a definition other than "a rocket-propelled, guided explosive like the kind the Sky Strikers and Rattlers launch on GI-Joe", I did fine! Granted, my first characters were all dwarves, since I'd recently watched the cartoon version of The Lord of the Rings...
BECMI dwarf is how I introduced my 8 yo brother and my 10 yo DMing self to D&D :)

Honestly tho, if they're mentally prepared to play commanding/running a squad, BECMI fighter, cleric, dwarf or halfling with decent Cha commanding with a bunch of redshirt retainers would work pretty well. But that might be too much for a 4 yo

[elros]

I love the Mouse Guard RPG.
Mouse Guard RPG (https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1608867552/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=)

You would have to help her with some of the rules (e.g. character creation), but it has a wonderful setting and artwork. The system also has enough depth to develop as your daughter gets older and more interested in games.

[Gnoman]

There are real advantages to the One Roll System for this age group, assuming you have a bunch of D10s. That system is based primarily on die matching, which would be easy for a kid.

[LibraryOgre]

I'll also add: HeroQuest. It's an expensive board game, but if you're willing to make up mechanics to handle things, it's an ok combat-simulator RPG.

[H_H_F_F]

Honestly? I feel like kids that age should start with ultra-minimalist systems.

How about this? D6, 3 abilities (Strength, speed and Endurance could work for a pony), equal or lower than ability score succeeds, higher fails. She can distribute 10 points overall between these stats.

The most important things to learn are fact that this let's believe is being run by someone else, and getting acquainted with the basic idea of rolling dice to determine success/failure (which can be easier or harder based on how well suited you are to the task).

Add an advantage/disadvantage system to get familiar with the idea that some tasks are easy while others are hard, and that gets some mechanical representation. This isn't what advantage in 5E, but it represents that idea well when the number you need to hit is static.

Run a short story with a system like that, in which she's a pony trying to save her kid owner from some mild kid-friendly danger. Her owner falls in a well, and she needs to make it back home and get help, facing different challenges along the way, and meeting wild animals who help her along her journey. Something cute like that. 2 or 3 short sessions.

Once you've done that, you can introduce her to one of the systems mentioned above, and she can play the daughter of the previous pony, who was born with magic powers. But dropping a whole bunch of numbers on a kid before they even grasped what roleplaying is just isn't great, IMO.

[Socksy]

Powered by the Apocalypse only requires 2d6 and lets you describe within reason what happens on a success, if I recall correctly. It also has bonds to other characters as a mechanic and very easily homebrewable/ponifyable to make a My Little Pony world with classes like Pegasus and Earth Pony.

[farothel]

There is a Cat roleplay made by John Wick I think. Not a pony, but a cat can also be fun.

[ReallySeamus]

I have a three boys, 6, 4, and almost 2. Definitely going to take a look at a lot of these recommendations!

I've played what we call Dungeons & Dragons with 6 and 4. The first time we played, I think the oldest was 4 and middle had just turned 3. I just told them a story during bathtime while they had little dragon bathtoys as their characters, and I would ask them what they wanted to do. This summer, I started having them sit with me at the kitchen table on Saturday afternoons while their baby brother was napping and I would run them through a kid-friendly version of the adventure I would be running for my normal game that night. I would have them tell me what they'd want to do and ask them to roll dice (fudging the DC if necessary to keep the fun going). My 6 year old can do basic arithmetic, so I'd give him modifiers. I haven't bothered with character sheets yet because the 4 year old can't read yet. What's interesting is that they've gotten really comfortable with waiting for their turn and moderating how powerful their characters are. At first, their characters could basically do anything whenever, but they've stopped trying to dictate what the monsters do and haven't been assuming that whatever they try is going to work. It's been fascinating to watch.

[Willie the Duck]

For referance, she can do additions/subtractions very well.

I need it to be rules light and focus more on the narative. Bonus points if she can play as a pony, as she seems to be into this kind of thing at this age :P

So here is the question -- what does she/you actually want to do? If she's seen you play your RPGs and wants to play too, I would suggest a stripped down version of something you play. PbtA has some pretty simplified games. Plenty of OSR games are really quite simple, although usually not narrative-focused. If you want her to try RPGs or she wants to learn RPGs but not necessarily what you play, consider a specifically kid-friendly game like Tales of Equestria or Mouseguard or the like.

I started with BX/BECMI* at around that age, and we just played a stripped-down version of it (did not calculate attributes into things like HP and attack/damage, you just used the line on the table, etc.). On the other hand, a whole lot of my peers tried out TTRPGs at the same time with the same model, and didn't stay as gamers (despite otherwise being in the demographic to do so), so it's worthwhile to consider whether old school D&D is the best fit (in particular, I don't know many young kids that love the lethality of such games).
*started with learning off Holmes/Moldvay-Cook, but by the time I could get a copy for myself BE of BECMI had come out


There is a Cat roleplay made by John Wick I think. Not a pony, but a cat can also be fun.
Magical Kitties Save the Day (https://www.atlas-games.com/magicalkitties). It's good at what it does.

[GreenDragonPage]

Fate might be an easy system for a young kid to learn, especially if you interpret what they want to do through the lens of the mechanics of the game.

[Ameraaaaaa]

https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/-zMNd4JOoJvv

The other systems recommended are great but this is basically the easiest system i can think of. As long as you can improvise well it should work wonders.

Oh and do tell us how the game goes afterwards. I love hearing how kids play rpgs.

[u-b]

I've had some fun and success playing this one (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TabletopGame/StickGuy), both with and without the drawing. As rules-light as it possibly gets, but still fun.

[northernbard80]

Toon by Steve Jackson Games! It's fun, it's simple and you can't really "die". You're just inactive for three minutes.

If you can't get the book or PDF, there is a copy of the older version up on Internet Archive.

https://archive.org/details/SJG-toon