He “adventured” around the village with an 8-year-old girl whose mom had taught her one magic spell. (IIRC, “Light.”)

If you’re thinking that’s not very D&D, it wasn’t. It was a sorta freeform PbeM storygame set in a D&D world. Didn’t last long, but was a great time. I feel like there’s a LOT of systems to choose from if someone wanted to try a game in that mode or style today. And that’s a great thing!