So, I know there are some systems/games out there specifically for this, and I also know that  some systems definitely would be ideal. I put it to the community to throw out some suggestions for a fairly rules-light, easy to teach and play tabletop system, preferably with some pre-built adventure or something, suitable for running with or for a nine year old.  My nephew is interested in the general idea of tabletop gaming, and he's a smart kid, but I don't want to overwhelm him with my usual fare's mathematics heavy stuff (D&D) or Themes (Godbound, Exalted, WoD, ect) or anything that requires a ton of pre-existing setting familiarity.

Ideally, I wanna help him create a character to play, get him into the storytelling aspect of Roleplaying.

The Black Hack: http://the-black-hack.jehaisleprintemps.net/english/

There's one mechanic: roll under your attribute.  Only the player rolls, e.g. roll under your STR to hit.  Also, roll under to avoid being hit.

Since it's OSR, just about anything can work with it.

Trilemma Adventures has dozens of one page adventures you can use as a basis for all kinds of storytelling.

http://blog.trilemma.com/search/label/adventure

Even in systems that are normally math-heavy, the GM can handle all the math and present the players with a very abstract system. I've even done it in D&D.

I'll admit that I'm amused that themeing is your main concern with introducing Exalted, since for me it would be the massive difficulty I always experience trying to sort out Charms and such during chargen (which is odd, I'm told, since I understand Scion so well). However, my amusement is not our purpose here, it's your nephew. So.

No rules-lite system list would be complete without the totally free Risus: http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/downloads.htm#Risus

The rules are a grand total of 6 pages long (over half of that is examples) and you can literally do anything with it. There are, however, still adventures available for download at the same link.

I hear that BFRPG is a good way to go about things. I haven't played it myself, so I don't know how much it costs (if anything) or just how basic it is, but I hear a lot of people tell me it's much simpler than D&D, for what that's worth.

And then there are always things like the "One Page Dungeon" compendiums which you can download for free through DTRPG or other places on the net (legitimately free, of course, compiled by people with kind hearts and more artistic skill than I).

Honestly though, any system you think is good can be adapted to any setting or theme. Some even provide rules for doing so. ^_^ Hope this helps!

The Pathfinder Beginner Box is actually pretty streamlined as far as beginner rules go.  I'd recommend it for a try - my 10 year old managed it fairly well.

Basic Fantasy RPG is a good introductory game for kids. It's basically classis Basic D&D modernized with a d20 type ascending AC mechanic. It's free in PDF form and you can buy an actual copy of the game for like $5.

Very easy, fun game.

You could go in the direction of something like Happy Birthday, Robot!.  Which is a great way to introduce kids to collaborative storytelling.  But, it is a storytelling game, and less in the traditional vein.

Dungeon Squad 2 is super lite at 2 pages of rules, and designed to be a very very basic, easy to learn game oriented towards kids with a more traditional format.  It's also free.

First Fable is also free.  It's a bit more complicated, but still very very simple.  It was also designed specifically for children and the character creation process is very organic.

A little more complicated, but still more story and less math crunch is The Secret Lives of Gingerbread Men.  It has the great advantage in that the miniatures used are edible.

I've not read Hero Kids, but I have seen a couple recommendations for it floating around.  The introductory adventure in the main book also comes with some printable maps, so there's that particular bit of tradition if you're looking to introduce your new player into it.

If you're focused on the story-telling aspect of RPGs, I'd recommend Fate Accelerated. It's free, it's math-light, and the game requires you to be able to describe who you are and what you are doing because it uses "aspects" and "approaches" to situations instead of stats. Are you a rugged ranger with a heart of gold? Want to attack a goblin? How are you doing it. Are you going to smash it with a heavy blow? That's a Forceful Attack, so use that approach's value. Are you going to misdirect it with a feint before backstabbing it? That's a Sneaky Attack, use that approach's value.

I like the system, and I run it for my friends who are new to RPGs. It's especially useful if someone wants to play a character that makes no sense in other games. She wanted to be a walking, talking tuxedo cat that used magic. That description became her main aspect. I teased her a bit whenever she wanted to do things that cats normally can't do (like operate a subway), but she could usually explain it.

It's out of print, but I introduced an awful lot of people to RPGs with West End Games' 'Star Wars' system (the D6 System).  The character templates that come with the game make for a good, easy intro, with enough options for customization to keep it interesting for more experienced players.  Mechanics are pretty straightforward and easy to grasp, and there's an abundance of pre-written game material.  I could, and did, take people who'd never tried gaming before, and have them up and running in an hour or less ...

Put me down as another vote for Risus.  It is beautifully rules lite and doesn't make my brain melt the way Fate does when I try to grasp it.  Risus is a work of genius.

Wow. Thanks, everyone, for all the great suggestions~! I'll have to sort through them and see what works. I'm not sure when he and I will get to sit down at a table and get started, but I think it's good that I've got some clearer options now~! Thanks, everyone~!

Feel free to leave more ideas here, by the way, a repository for this sort of info is definitely helpful.

I'm not going to weigh in on system -- that seems well covered already.

I'm going to pitch finding out what setting/genre really appeals to him and let him play in it. Who's his favorite hero? I probably wouldn't let him play a canon character, because it's too apt to devolve into arguments about whether Batman would do that or could do that. But let him play in Gotham and let him make up a hero to be, or a hero-to-be.

That's a rather good suggestion that might work well with Risus :D  I'll see what comes to mind :D

In reply to Flarelord (msg # 13):

When my daughter was about nine, she had spent a couple of years sitting on the basement steps, watching me GM games with my group every couple of weeks. She was very anxious to RP.

I started with a freeform adventure that we would play whenever I was driving her to her various activities. It centered around a group of desert tribe kids in no particular setting or era, who were kidnapped and taken to another town. The play proceeded as she and her companions escaped from captivity and made their way across the desert and home.

It covered the basic idea of RPGs, being someone else, somewhere else, using your ideas and skills to overcome obstacles. A few months later I started GMing a group for her and her friends that went on for several years, playing Dragonlance (she GMed a couple of sessions), Deadlands, and Call of Cthulhu.

When she was 13, she went to Origins with me. At 15, we began running games games together, then she soloed at 17. She's 30 now, writing her doctoral dissertation, and we're plotting out our scenarios for Origins 2017.

You might try No Thank You, Evil! by Monte Cook Games.  It's a simplified version of the Cypher System (an already fairly straightforward and uncomplicated set of rules) and the rules can be made easier or simpler, even within the same game, for different ages or understanding of the rules.

In reply to Gaffer (msg # 14):

soooo jealous. My kids show 0 interest in roleplaying for now.

OT: my favorite kid-size RPG, Shadows.

http://mozai.com/writing/not_mine/shadows.html

If he's a particularly mature kid, Little Fears with actual children would probably be AWESOME...

Both of my sons enjoy Video games, I hope in a few years they will join in on rp. Only problem is rpol is the only rp they ever get to see. They are 6 and 4 so you never know what happens.

But I would not worry to much about complexity. I started with basic dnd when I was 8. Just dont dump Gurps on the poor kid!

EDIT: I always had a head for numbers and would track lv boosts on rpgs as early as, well... I started playing them! So maybe I am an weird?
This message was last edited by the user at 17:11, Wed 14 Sept 2016.

If it's just you and one other, I recommend just doing a collaborative, improvised thing at first. That's not my thing when it comes to rpol or any group I don't know well, but when I was thinking about teaching my kids to play, I just talked about them about a simple situation, sometimes just when we were driving. I basically just have them focus on their own basic fantasies, like an animal they wished they had. Add in some questions and choices and build from there.

Later, when you add in a system, they'll be used to imagining doing whatever they want to do and having to make interesting choices, and the system will supplement that, rather than act as a brake on it.

Take a look at the 1PG rules by Deep 7 Games. They're not quite free, but only cost pocket money. They're modular, with core rules that are common to all modules, and genre-specific rules for each genre module. There are modules for dungeon crawling, sci-fi, secret agents, oriental, wild west, modern, 30s pulp, zombies, etc.

Each module comprises 16-20 pages including 1 page of core rules, 1 page of genre rules, 1 page of GM tips and several sample adventures.

Just Google Deep 7 Games.

I like C.O.R.E. for this sort of thing, because it was designed to easily scale up or down to different levels complexity. Also, it uses D10s. Even kids can appreciate how good or bad something can be on a scale of 1 to 10. Unfortunately, the adventures designed for this system seem to have been lost when the Dragons Landing forums vanished from the face of the web, so this leaves a fair amount of work for the gamemaster when planning a game.

DriveThruRPG and RPGNow both have categories of games which are designed for playing with kids, including a few of the systems mentioned in the comments of other gamers above.
This message was last edited by the user at 18:56, Sat 24 Sept 2016.

I'm the GM for a group of 10 year olds at the moment, and they are handling 5E well. They need some help with their additional character traits, but for the moment, they are having a ball. If they forget thing, I give them gentle reminders about looking at their sheets.

I've just had to split the group up into two days because a) 6 was too many for the time I had allowed for the game, and b) clashes between the kids. The two boys wanted to rp with their characters where the girls wanted to kill and seek treasure.

In reply to placeofold (msg # 22):

I find that... ironic, and also very refreshing~! Screw gender stereotypes~!

It is both ironic and very refreshing! I think the reasoning behind it is because boys have outlets where that kind of action is normalised, whereas most girls do not, and these four are using D&D as a way to express that, which is awesome.