With the weather getting better and summer on the horizon, I had a feel for getting into some outdoors-themed TTRPGs. These can be great for rainy sick days when you wish you were outside, themed games to take to camp for playing together around the fire, or celebrating the magical aire of the woods with your gaming friends. My goal with this list is to provide you with a handful of games that have full, deeper reviews so you can more easily find a TTRPG that you and yours will love playing together!

Nancy Druid

Nancy Druid has you take on the roles of a group of scouts… who are also all druids! You have animal-focused powers, and the setting and mechanics both naturally lean towards solving mysteries in natural settings. The combination of scout-themes and druidic abilities being there to help you on the way is a perfect combo for capturing the essence of the outdoors in a very playful way. Find my full review of Nancy Druid here!

Overgrown

While Nancy Druid has you playing with animal-focused druid powers, Overgrown has you playing as an animal hybrid! For me, this setting felt like it was in the far future after nature had reclaimed the earth, and you’re taking the role of one of the creatures that evolved to live in this world. There was a strong focus on exploration, and you’re always running into new animal hybrid folks out in the wild! We had a lot of fun with this, and it definitely has some untamed wilderness feels to it. Find my full reivew of Overgrown here!

Cryptid Creeks

Cryptid Creeks is another scout-centric mystery-solving tabletop RPG, but with a much different feel. It’s a bit more moody, and definitely focused on fishing village myths and legends. There’s some mysteries to solve here that take place in the town, but, both when I playtested this and when I wrote one of the mysteries for it, even the town-located mysteries involved a lot of getting outside and exploring to gather clues and understand the big picture. To me, this TTRPG felt like playing out a scary-ish scout camp story I might find in the tween to teen section of my library, and it’s one I would take camping. Find my full review of Cryptid Creeks here!

Badger + Coyote

Badger + Coyote is a rules-lite 2-player tabletop RPG where one player is a down to business, survival oriented Badger, and the other is a playful and excitable Coyote. The game’s focus is on collaboration, leaning into reliance on each other’s strengths (and seeming weaknesses) to survive, explore, and socialize out in the wild.  Content is designed to be adjustable with plot hooks ranging from sticky situations, to more intense encounters, to magical shenanigans, making it easy to tailor to what you and your gaming buddy want to play, all while enjoying the outdoor setting that it takes place in. Find my full review of Badger + Coyote here!

Happy Little Treants

Whether you loved watching Bob Ross painting tutorials or just want to save some trees, Happy Little Treants is a great TTRPG for appreciating nature and small momments in life… and also fighting for the forest! In this game, you’ll explore the forest, interact with the forest, learn with the forest, and hopefully save the forest as you take on the ultimate force behind the issue. The whole game is set outdoors and, if the lessons of Bob Ross that are lighly woven into here don’t help you appreciate nature just a little more, I don’t know what will. Find my full review of Happy Little Treants here!

Kiwi Acres

Kiwi Acres is a Mausritter campaign set on an New Zealand farm! You play as mice who need to gather food at a farmer’s market without being caught, dodge bigger animals who inhabit the fields, and explore the area to solve larger problems or discover New Zealand legends. It’s outdoorsy in a different way – focusing on outdoor work and life instead of solely roaming through the woods, which is why I wanted to make sure to include it here. It’s a bit of change of pace, in a good way, and this mostly had summer to fall work and play vibes. We really enjoyed the sessions we played as a family as they were easy to get into and had lots of lighthearted plotpoints to keep everyone engaged. Find my full review of Kiwi Acres here!

All-ages outdoors-themed TTRPGs made by TTRPGkids

In addition to featuring games from others, I make my own games too… and I have made some that are outdoors-themed because I love camping and live in a fairly wooded location (which I fully enjoy)! You can find these on my itchio page, and I hope you like them:

Ranger Mech Squad – play as a park ranger balancing your duties with help from a team of animal mech helpers!

A Construct’s Nature – traverse the wilderness while uncovering lore of past civilizations and gaining a unique perspective on the story with each playthrough.

Energeodes – use the special powers contained in mysterious geodes that you and your fellow campers wield to challenge the rival campaing team or save the day from greater danger.

Recommend an outdoors-themed TTRPG!

For other recommendations, let me know what you think I should check out! There’s a lot of great outdoors-themed TTRPGs out there, and, for this list, I’m searching for ones that specifically have an all-ages focus and that are very specifically focused on outdoors vibes (not just taking place outdoors, but significanly iteracting with it as part of the story or mechanics).

If you have a suggestion for a game to check out, let me know in the comments or by one of the methods on the contact page here so I know what to investigate!

I hope this list helps you to find some awesome games to try out, and… If you liked this post, make sure to subscribe to the TTRPGkids monthly newsletter to stay up to date on the latest reviews, tips and tricks, game and podcast list updates, and more! Thank you for playing tabletop RPGs with your kids and sharing this awesome hobby with the next generation!