+ Slim down D&D 5e and play it a bit fast and loose
I remember playing "D&D" with my dad at about that age. He used a D6, but basically he used a simplified D20 system with a lot of fudged rolls and minimal mechanics.
Fate Core is great at just telling a really good action adventure without concepts of inventory or death. It has some optional mechanics to let the players add to the story (recognizing the person who has kidnapped them, having been a smuggler in this town before, etc).
If your players enjoy jenga and horror, you can always run [Dread](https://dreadthegame.wordpress.com/about-dread-the-game/) which is very fast to get running and runs very smoothly, even for folks who haven't played an RPG before.
+ Pure D20
+ Slim down D&D 5e and play it a bit fast and loose
I remember playing "D&D" with my dad at about that age. He used a D6, but basically he used a simplified D20 system with a lot of fudged rolls and minimal mechanics.
Fate Core is great at just telling a really good action adventure without concepts of inventory or death. It has some optional mechanics to let the players add to the story (recognizing the person who has kidnapped them, having been a smuggler in this town before, etc).
If your players enjoy jenga and horror, you can always run [Dread](https://dreadthegame.wordpress.com/about-dread-the-game/) which is very fast to get running and runs very smoothly, even for folks who haven't played an RPG before.