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View Full Version : Wanted: Rpg with as rules as possible!



Fruchtkracher
2010-09-14, 01:10 PM
Well the title says it all I suppose:
I've got a few people that want to role-play, but two of them are very
opposed to learning as much rules as D&D happen to has.

So I'm searching for a rather beginner-friendly game system with as few rules as possible.

Any suggestions?

Tyndmyr
2010-09-14, 01:12 PM
Well, I accidentally the entire title.

Also, freeform.

Fri
2010-09-14, 01:14 PM
risus might work. It's completely free and you could easily google it.

Draz74
2010-09-14, 01:17 PM
Google, schmoogle ... Risus is here. (http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/risus.htm)

Kurald Galain
2010-09-14, 01:17 PM
World of Darkness.

The basic rules take one minute to explain, and there's soooo much fluff.

Oracle_Hunter
2010-09-14, 01:21 PM
World of Darkness.

The basic rules take one minute to explain, and there's soooo much fluff.


:confused:

If nWoD, it takes more than a minute to explain the Morality system alone - let alone how the skills actually function or what the devil is going on with vampires/werewolves/mages/etc.

If oWoD - just no. Unless you weren't planning on using the RAW, which is very popular.

I'll second Risus. I never played it, but it is a free system that is much recommended on this board.

Heliomance
2010-09-14, 01:23 PM
I assume by the basics he meant "To work out if you can do something, roll as many dice as I tell you. Anything 8 or over is a success. 10 means you get to roll that die again. Tell me how many successes you got."

Oracle_Hunter
2010-09-14, 01:29 PM
I assume by the basics he meant "To work out if you can do something, roll as many dice as I tell you. Anything 8 or over is a success. 10 means you get to roll that die again. Tell me how many successes you got."
Feh, try building a character with that understanding of the rules. Or even running a pre-made one!

nWoD improved on oWoD mechanics a lot, but it still has a bunch of arbitrary subsystems that confound easy explanation. A "rules avoider" is going to have to go on autopilot whenever contested rolls or combat shows up due to the interplay of Willpower with basic die rolling - not to mention describing (or fishing for) appropriate circumstance modifiers.

Fruchtkracher
2010-09-14, 01:34 PM
Wow, I've gotta say, Risus looks perfect!

So, does anyone have game-experience with it at all?

valadil
2010-09-14, 01:35 PM
WoD is lighter than D&D, but I'd hardly call it rules light. Maybe if you played it with mortals who had no powers and no backgrounds.

Risus gets my vote. The rules PDF is just 6 pages long. 1 of which is examples and 2 of which are optional add on rules. Any lighter than that and you'll just be flipping coins or playing rock paper scissors.

Aharon
2010-09-14, 01:37 PM
I haven't had the opportunity to play it yet, but I really like the idea behind Minimus (http://www.adastragames.com/downloads/RPGs/Minimus.pdf).

Draz74
2010-09-14, 01:40 PM
Wow, I've gotta say, Risus looks perfect!

So, does anyone have game-experience with it at all?

One session. I was actually disappointed overall; there are too many situations that I just didn't know how to handle because the rules don't cover it. Like how to simulate a character getting shot at by a distant archer, or what to do if an opposed roll ends up as a tie.

I still think it could be a good system with a little fleshing out, though.

Also, note that "taking damage" in Risus combat hurts a lot, since it also reduces your offensive capabilities. Whoever wins the first round will often win the overall combat.

Kurald Galain
2010-09-14, 01:48 PM
Feh, try building a character with that understanding of the rules.
That's easy. You get this many dots, you put them in the skills you like, done. There are few RPGs with as elegant a character creation system as this.

Sure, there's a lot of complex rules too, but unless you're intent on systems mastery or min-maxing, it's really not a problem if only the DM knows them.

Elemental_Elf
2010-09-14, 01:53 PM
The Dragon Age game is super easy to learn and get started with, though it only goes to level 5 currently...

kyoryu
2010-09-14, 02:00 PM
http://www.xtremedungeonmastery.com/

valadil
2010-09-14, 02:00 PM
Like how to simulate a character getting shot at by a distant archer...

Also, note that "taking damage" in Risus combat hurts a lot, since it also reduces your offensive capabilities. Whoever wins the first round will often win the overall combat.

I kind of got the sense that Risus wouldn't work so well as a high combat game, mainly because the skills would be so interchangeable. I mean, at some point it would boil down to everyone having a combat stat, be it police officer, archer, boxer, kung fu master, fugu chef, Chuck Liddell, or even school bully. It would become the combat stat and it would most likely start at 4. Then you'd just take turns rolling combat stat against someone else's combat stat.

I feel like the game would do best by putting players into new situations. Make them figure out new ways to use the cliches they have. That seemed like the strength of the system when I read it, but I haven't actually played yet.

Kurald Galain
2010-09-14, 02:07 PM
I kind of got the sense that Risus wouldn't work so well as a high combat game,

True enough. Actually, pretty much every rules-light game wouldn't work well as a high-combat game.

Fruchtkracher
2010-09-14, 02:17 PM
I haven't had the opportunity to play it yet, but I really like the idea behind Minimus (http://www.adastragames.com/downloads/RPGs/Minimus.pdf).

wow, Minimus has just two(!) pages of rules And I think it should work even better then Risus,
the idea of the whole group creating characters seems intriguing =)


True enough. Actually, pretty much every rules-light game wouldn't work well as a high-combat game.

I think Minimus has at least a better chance of working, but of course I have
to try that out first.

valadil
2010-09-14, 02:24 PM
True enough. Actually, pretty much every rules-light game wouldn't work well as a high-combat game.

IMO that's a feature. A game with boring combat is a game where the players will focus on something else.

Shyftir
2010-09-14, 03:38 PM
Wushu (http://wiki.saberpunk.net/Wushu/WushuOpenRules)

You should just check it out. Simple rules, easy character creation, really fun action sequences.

Fiery Diamond
2010-09-14, 04:06 PM
You might want to change the title, OP. Read it again and you'll realize you left out a crucial word.

Rpg with as rules as possible: quite clear that between as and rules there should be a word. Not at all clear what that word should be.

Accurate? Well-defined? Precise? Many? Vague? Few? Loose? Realistic? Unrealistic?

Sure, reading your first post, one can deduce what you intended, but it doesn't reflect well on you that you say the title says it all when you've left out the most important word in the title by accident.

Kaje
2010-09-14, 04:13 PM
Super Awesome Action Heroes.

cupkeyk
2010-09-14, 08:32 PM
Lady Blackbird?