What system would go with this game type and story?

For a 7 years old that would probably be more interested in freeform than learning rules, I would say fate in any version.

The Question said: *sighs* Fiiine, you Mentors never let me just start an edition war...geeze! Anyway since we're on the topic of systems and such, what system do you think would be effective to teach a 7 year old, something not too complicated but would allow them to feel accomplished with their own creativity? I'm always up for a good edition war. Let me try: 4th edition Pendragon was the best of all time! OF ALL TIME! For a seven year old, I'd go with Risus, which just came out with it's second edition. MiniSix is a cut down version of WEG's D6 system and that would work too. My nine year old brother seemed to get a handle on Star Wars D6 back in the day and he ate pre-1976 paint chips constantly (just kidding Matt!). Fudge also might fit the bill, but be prepared to do most of the heavy lifting in getting the game set up.

Risus would work and so would any system that is lite on the rules. If you can find Toons might work.

For the 7 year old, I'd second Fate naturally. But also, I'd recommend Prince's Kingdom , a game specifically written for children.

7 year olds would naturally fall into the fate system as they have no preconceived notions to unlearn. I believe with Fate you can make it almost no dice at all. GG and others will correct me if I'm wrong.

Just and update I still want to learn the d20 system but I made a crappy little d6 system of my own with only a few skills, but it was still lots of fun. So I am going to be using the easy to learn risus system mentioned earlier on a friend and try to get the hang of GMing before I GM a d20 game.

That's the best approach, Dereck. I'm glad you had fun!

Kristin C. said: It depends, Metroknight. The dice in Fate are rolled whenever (1) a failure of a possible action would present an interesting twist to the narrative or (2) a conflict needs to be resolved between a PC and a NPC, a PC and another PC, or a PC and the Environment. Whether a roll is needed depends on the actions of the players and whether the GM thinks its warranted, which I think isn't so different from any game out there. But I thought there was an optional rule (could have been a house rule) that allowed the dice to be removed and it was all determined by fate points and players descriptions. Even if the dice was rolled, the system should still favor the mindset most youngsters have. It's the older kids (like me) that have a problem unlearning all the years of gaming to rethink in the manner the game needs.

Metroknight said: Kristin C. said: It depends, Metroknight. The dice in Fate are rolled whenever (1) a failure of a possible action would present an interesting twist to the narrative or (2) a conflict needs to be resolved between a PC and a NPC, a PC and another PC, or a PC and the Environment. Whether a roll is needed depends on the actions of the players and whether the GM thinks its warranted, which I think isn't so different from any game out there. But I thought there was an optional rule (could have been a house rule) that allowed the dice to be removed and it was all determined by fate points and players descriptions. Even if the dice was rolled, the system should still favor the mindset most youngsters have. It's the older kids (like me) that have a problem unlearning all the years of gaming to rethink in the manner the game needs. Since the dice peak strongly at 0, that pretty much is the rule.

Metroknight said: But I thought there was an optional rule (could have been a house rule) that allowed the dice to be removed and it was all determined by fate points and players descriptions. Even if the dice was rolled, the system should still favor the mindset most youngsters have. It's the older kids (like me) that have a problem unlearning all the years of gaming to rethink in the manner the game needs. That optional rule isn't in the main rulebook, but might be in the fate system toolkit, the supplement for rules tinkerers. It's a well-known house rule though, having been discussed several times in fate communities over the years.

G G said: That optional rule isn't in the main rulebook, but might be in the fate system toolkit, the supplement for rules tinkerers. It's a well-known house rule though, having been discussed several times in fate communities over the years. I knew I read it somewhere when I was researching the system.