You can run this tonight.

Being the Game Master sounds like a big deal. In Brave and Bonkers it's three tasks, and the book does two of them for you.

The three tasks

  1. 1

    Say what's happening. The adventure gives you the words. Read-aloud text is marked, and you read it out.

  2. 2

    Ask “what do you do?” Then go around the table. You're the turn order: no tracking, no math. Everyone gets a turn every round, always.

  3. 3

    Say what the dice mean. A kid rolls, you compare it to one number, and something fun happens either way. The adventure tells you the number.

Your first session, minute by minute

Minute 0–10kids pick heroes. Expect strong opinions.
Minute 10–20the bakery. Mrs. Pockle explains the problem. The kids volunteer, because they’re heroes.
Minute 20–40the well. One friendly fight. The game's first fight is built so the party can't lose it.
Minute 40–60the rescue. A cat is retrieved. There is treasure. Everybody gets a moment.

The promises the game makes to you

Nobody dies

Down is not dead. Heroes get back up. You will never have to explain a character's death to a seven-year-old.

The sheet is the whole truth

If a kid asks “can I do this?”, the answer is on their sheet. If it's not on the sheet, the answer is “roll and let's find out”, and that answer is always allowed.

You control the clock

Every scene is marked with what to cut and what to expand. Stopping early with everybody happy is a win.

I'm ready. Get the kit Questions? The rulebook answers the rest.