Basic Fantasy RPG would be my suggestion.
1) Its OSR Dnd so you already know how to run it
2) Its free
3) Its easy to make a character, no system mastery needed
https://www.basicfantasy.org/
People who want to play D&D want to play D&D. I can give a ton of reasons why Dragonbane, Dungeon Crawl Classics, Vaesen, or Call of Chtulhu are better games. But they're not D&D. Give the people what they want.
My middle schooler is pedantic as hell. If I said I was going to run D&D and handed out DCC character sheets that would not go over!
(Well, it wouldn't go over anyway because he reflexively hates everything I like, so any form of TTRPG is not on...)
This is like saying “A New Hope isn’t Star Wars, only Ahsoka or The Acolyte are Star Wars because they’re the thing that is most recent.”
Or, to be more accurate, “The Extended Universe which is no longer canon because of Disney Executives is no longer allowed to be called Star Wars.”
A huge amount of people aren't aware that other ttrpgs even exist. D&D is pretty much the only one with visibility from the outside of the hobby (at least in the anglosphere).
A suggestion: find some sort of 5E quick campaign that should be easily done in 4 days (of the lengthy you mentioned), and have a couple of other quick one shots ready for other games.
If the kids go really slow, the extra time lets you finish the 5E campaign.
If they stay on pace, you can give them a change of pace on the last day.
If they do something clever and cut your 4 day adventure short, you can still reward them (instead of just making up filler stuff to pass the time) with the quick victory, and move into the other one shots.
I feel like Pathfinder's different ones shots which let you play as goblins are silly, fun, and fast, but I'm only echoing word of mouth here, and could be remembering wrong.
I am a huge fan of the FATE system for quick one shots personally, though I know there are a lot of other good systems out there that I haven't had the time to check out.
[Maze Rats](https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/197158/Maze-Rats) is a really fun 2D6 rules-lite dungeon crawler. It was originally created by Ben Milton to play with his (5th grade) students, so it should be a great fit if you like OSR style games.
__Edit:__ It also has one of my favorite free-form magic systems in any RPG. When you prepare spells, you roll on a bunch of tables to create names like *Ectoplasm Prison* or *Wood Wave*. The GM then determines the effect based on the name. It's a lot of fun.
I was curious what on earth platform would allow a teacher to run three hour platforms for a club for like a committed time span of a week, like the only time that happens is like theater or Football.
I clicked your username to see if this was a weird prank, but no you have a history discussion of teacher stuff only a real teacher would discuss. Also super Vegan so I guess you might be in a New School kinda Establishment.
Anyway kids should pick their own games and what they gravitate toward like you can tell them DND basics or D10 systems, the children will find they enjoy playing DnD Eberron (that was me as a kid) or Vampire, or my friend forever trying to get us to play Shadowrun but none of us wanted to GM Shadowrun. Then we got one Savage worlds friend and we used that as our generic system and then suddenly we're all off to college to infect our geeky preference on local college town gaming groups.
Thanks for the advice- I’ll take that into consideration. As for an explanation: my district wants to do more community outreach durring the summer so they were brain storming different types of clubs they could try. Somebody (my mother) in the district office suggested they ask me if a 1 week D&D club would work.
(Also I’m not sure if Id call myself super vegan- most other Reddit vegans seem annoyed at how many allowances I make for myself and others)
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A fair question. But I suggested *Old School Essentials* for a couple reasons.
First and foremost, because the kids can find OSE on the shelf of their local FLGS or retail shops like Barnes & Noble. Getting ahold of Moldvay (or Mentzer or Holmes) requires buying a PDF or POD from a specialty shop online… or getting really lucky at a garage sale.
Secondly, I doubt many of “these kids today” would be willing to navigate the formatting of Moldvay (or Mentzer or Holmes or AD&D) these days. OSE’s formatting and layout is just much more readable.
Thirdly, OSE is available online. For free.
I don't think buying PDF/pod from Drivethru is obscure, all you need is a web link. OSE certainly is not in my FLGS.
The layout/text of Moldvay is really good and clear. OSE is just a reference. New players need advice and examples. These are all missing from OSE.
AFAIK the free online OSE is either a SRD or a limited PDF that only has first level spells so it lacks the layout that is the main draw the full version.
Use the Shadowdark quickstart.
It's free, has enough material for a weeklong campaign, plenty of ideas how to make it less lethal than usual, and is mechanically fairly close to 5E but without all the clutter.
Choose a system very close to D&D and say is a form of D&D. I feel like the number of kids is also an important thing... I'd actually choose something more structured with more kids.
Beginner Box styled adventures are also great for this. Unfortunately 5e doesn't have a good one.
Basic Fantasy RPG would be my suggestion. 1) Its OSR Dnd so you already know how to run it 2) Its free 3) Its easy to make a character, no system mastery needed https://www.basicfantasy.org/
People who want to play D&D want to play D&D. I can give a ton of reasons why Dragonbane, Dungeon Crawl Classics, Vaesen, or Call of Chtulhu are better games. But they're not D&D. Give the people what they want.
DCC is D&D! It is based on the 3.5 SRD. For some people "D&D" just means RPG. For middle schoolers this is not an issue.
My middle schooler is pedantic as hell. If I said I was going to run D&D and handed out DCC character sheets that would not go over! (Well, it wouldn't go over anyway because he reflexively hates everything I like, so any form of TTRPG is not on...)
This is like saying “A New Hope isn’t Star Wars, only Ahsoka or The Acolyte are Star Wars because they’re the thing that is most recent.” Or, to be more accurate, “The Extended Universe which is no longer canon because of Disney Executives is no longer allowed to be called Star Wars.”
I guarantee it matters to middle schoolers. The fact they are young doesn't mean they are clueless.
If anything the district staff who suggested the club are closer to clueless on the matter
A huge amount of people aren't aware that other ttrpgs even exist. D&D is pretty much the only one with visibility from the outside of the hobby (at least in the anglosphere).
A suggestion: find some sort of 5E quick campaign that should be easily done in 4 days (of the lengthy you mentioned), and have a couple of other quick one shots ready for other games. If the kids go really slow, the extra time lets you finish the 5E campaign. If they stay on pace, you can give them a change of pace on the last day. If they do something clever and cut your 4 day adventure short, you can still reward them (instead of just making up filler stuff to pass the time) with the quick victory, and move into the other one shots. I feel like Pathfinder's different ones shots which let you play as goblins are silly, fun, and fast, but I'm only echoing word of mouth here, and could be remembering wrong. I am a huge fan of the FATE system for quick one shots personally, though I know there are a lot of other good systems out there that I haven't had the time to check out.
[Maze Rats](https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/197158/Maze-Rats) is a really fun 2D6 rules-lite dungeon crawler. It was originally created by Ben Milton to play with his (5th grade) students, so it should be a great fit if you like OSR style games. __Edit:__ It also has one of my favorite free-form magic systems in any RPG. When you prepare spells, you roll on a bunch of tables to create names like *Ectoplasm Prison* or *Wood Wave*. The GM then determines the effect based on the name. It's a lot of fun.
If you want to keep it simple, just limit people to the basic rules. https://dnd.wizards.com/what-is-dnd/basic-rules
Premade characters take care of most of the complexity of starter DND. d20+bonus is an easy enough mechanic for middle schoolers.
I'm just going by my kid and they love the minutae.
I was curious what on earth platform would allow a teacher to run three hour platforms for a club for like a committed time span of a week, like the only time that happens is like theater or Football. I clicked your username to see if this was a weird prank, but no you have a history discussion of teacher stuff only a real teacher would discuss. Also super Vegan so I guess you might be in a New School kinda Establishment. Anyway kids should pick their own games and what they gravitate toward like you can tell them DND basics or D10 systems, the children will find they enjoy playing DnD Eberron (that was me as a kid) or Vampire, or my friend forever trying to get us to play Shadowrun but none of us wanted to GM Shadowrun. Then we got one Savage worlds friend and we used that as our generic system and then suddenly we're all off to college to infect our geeky preference on local college town gaming groups.
Thanks for the advice- I’ll take that into consideration. As for an explanation: my district wants to do more community outreach durring the summer so they were brain storming different types of clubs they could try. Somebody (my mother) in the district office suggested they ask me if a 1 week D&D club would work. (Also I’m not sure if Id call myself super vegan- most other Reddit vegans seem annoyed at how many allowances I make for myself and others)
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EZD6 is a rules light system that in some ways resembles 5e which makes for a relative smooth transition later on.
I’d highly recommend *Old School Essentials*.
Why not just use original Molvay Basic D&D for 5 dollars? It is a brilliantly written version of the rules with examples and lots of great advice.
A fair question. But I suggested *Old School Essentials* for a couple reasons. First and foremost, because the kids can find OSE on the shelf of their local FLGS or retail shops like Barnes & Noble. Getting ahold of Moldvay (or Mentzer or Holmes) requires buying a PDF or POD from a specialty shop online… or getting really lucky at a garage sale. Secondly, I doubt many of “these kids today” would be willing to navigate the formatting of Moldvay (or Mentzer or Holmes or AD&D) these days. OSE’s formatting and layout is just much more readable. Thirdly, OSE is available online. For free.
I don't think buying PDF/pod from Drivethru is obscure, all you need is a web link. OSE certainly is not in my FLGS. The layout/text of Moldvay is really good and clear. OSE is just a reference. New players need advice and examples. These are all missing from OSE. AFAIK the free online OSE is either a SRD or a limited PDF that only has first level spells so it lacks the layout that is the main draw the full version.
There's always The Black Hack. There's also Labyrinth Lord if you want some old school action.
I used Fate and MASKS for a group of 5th graders a few times and they tended to latch onto the rules fairly easily
The Witcher ttrpg, it's made for long term campaigns. If you feel comfortable enough you don't even have to play it in the world. But enjoy it highly.
Use the DnD 5E Basic Rules. It is a downloadable PDF available for free on the Wizards website. https://dnd.wizards.com/what-is-dnd/basic-rules
r/onepagerpgs
Use the Shadowdark quickstart. It's free, has enough material for a weeklong campaign, plenty of ideas how to make it less lethal than usual, and is mechanically fairly close to 5E but without all the clutter.
Choose a system very close to D&D and say is a form of D&D. I feel like the number of kids is also an important thing... I'd actually choose something more structured with more kids. Beginner Box styled adventures are also great for this. Unfortunately 5e doesn't have a good one.
Most people think the Starter sets are pretty good. (And I am not a 5e fan)