Tabletop System Suggestions for Players with Learning Disabilities

[Legato Endless]

I'm planning on running a game in a few months for a local group, and I would love some advice for a game system that facilities logical understanding and flow of play with conceptual flexibility. Particularly as some members of the group possess reading ability within an Elementary School range. As much as I will irrationally waste gobs of time on cumbersome tedious artifacts build in strange illogical manner without neither internal logic nor overall coherence, I would prefer to avoid that here and introduce a bunch of new tabletop players with something more user friendly and possessing less extraneous moving parts.

The learning curve should be ideally moderate, character creation flexible, and optimization should be forgiving, as most of the players will want to run with a favored concept regardless of its efficacy. It should also move quickly and not prone to getting bogged down in various tedium. Since much of what I have played does not precisely meet this criteria, I would love some advice.


Player 1
-Quick turn resolution
-not highly lethal
-different abilities, not "limited" characters

Player 2
-dimension hopping
-space opera
-post-apocalyptic
-superheroes
-fantasy
-mystery

Player 3
-simple
-big moral choices with impact
-shifting alliances
-knights
-mecha
-different types of magic, summoning
-tough to die

Player 4
-the ability to be a dual wielding winged humanoid with enchanted weapons
-breaking into song/musical cues

[JusticeZero]

You are looking for something rules light, since an increase in the number of rules in use will increase the number of artifacts encountered. The only other option is to use a setting that encourages a physicalist interpretation of the rules wherein the results generated by the rules are explicitly favored over "realism", because the setting possesses inherent unrealism in ways which favor reliance on the rules to determine results.
Your players lists are generally supporting a desire to play a science-fantasy setting; this is an area that I don't normally track because of the preferences of the people i've gamed with.

[Giddonihah]

Well I wouldnt really reccomend DnD its to complex and filled with to many traps, so it might be appropriate for this thread to be in the more General Roleplaying forum.

But I agree that something simple is in order, Savage Worlds has a fairly simple system, with alot of in built flexibility. I think it might also have a setting that fits as well.

I almost want to suggest Paranoia, but it kinda is the opposite of 'Hard to Die'. I kinda wish I had more experiance myself with some additional systems, cause some of the Super Hero ones can be high on flavor light on rules.

[Legato Endless]

Well I wouldnt really reccomend DnD its to complex and filled with to many traps, so it might be appropriate for this thread to be in the more General Roleplaying forum.


That's a mistake from typing on my phone. Thanks for pointing that out. I'll pm a moderator. Yeah, paranoia is fun, but not really thematically appropriate.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I'll suggest my homebrew system, STaRS (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?361270-STaRS-the-Simple-TAbletop-Roleplaying-System-5-0)

Speed, simplicity, and flexibility were the design goals. I've had friends who'd never touched an RPG in their life create characters and start playing within 30 minutes, with virtually no confusion.
Character creation is open-ended enough to accommodate virtually anything, without the complexity of something like M&M
It is a bit lethal, but you could add in a low-impact setting*: Damage doesn't inflict Ability penalties, and heals instantly at the end of the fight. You can fix one point of Injuries per day with First Aid.
It's easy to teach in-play. (If they can roll a check, you can get through 95% of everything by just telling them "make a _____ check." There are only 10 options there)
There's not much optimization. Not in the same way as you can optimize a rules-heavy system, at least.
It's free-- all I ask is feedback if you do use it.
This version is new, but I've gone through 4 drafts before, and run/had friends run plenty of games. It works, I swear.




*The final version will have rules for such, but I want to test this draft of the basic rules before writing the expanded ones.

[sideswipe]

is it only reading difficulties? or mild disabilities as well?

as well as finding a simple system you will want to use a few other things to help immersion and the "fun".

any mild use of props will help them remember what they have. if they find a magic ring, give them a cheap plastic ring.
if they get a mysterious cloak then give them a cool looking bit of cloth to use as a cloak.

this may seem demeaning at the first glance. but with my experience with people with mild to strong disabilities having something tactile will both help them stay focused and help them remember they have the resources they have.

use of music and visuals, even as little as pictures can really help them visualise and be emotionally involved in what is happening.


also, i have role played with the partially sighted, and i created a character sheet for them that was inflated to a very large print to help. so that may be helpful to do.

[mabriss lethe]

@Grod. That is a pretty slick system you've put together. It reminds me that I still need to finish hashing out the latest batches of revisions for my system. Once I get it tweaked and written out, it will finally be in a form I'm happy to test.

[Red Fel]

I'd propose GURPS, honestly. It's a great classless system, everything is point-buy, and you can do basically anything with it. Want wings? You can add those. The ability to come back from being killed? There's that. (Seriously. There's "Unkillable," "Unkillable 2," and "Unkillable 3," and all of them can be purchased by PCs.) Magic or magic-like effects? Done.

There are also plenty of settings for GURPS. One of my favorites is actually a dimension-hopping one (although the name escapes me). Basically, it's like the TV show Sliders, with the PCs able to shift from one dimension to another. Some dimensions are almost exactly like ours with slight differences (e.g. all people are ponies), others are exactly like ours but in a different time period (e.g. ancient Rome, or hey guys look dinosaurs), and still others are completely different (world is run by genetically-engineered dinosaur-riding Nazis who weaponize psychics-in-cans). Power levels can be adjusted depending on what you and your players want in a campaign.

Another major plus for GURPS is that pretty much everything is resolved by a 3d6 dice roll. That's it. Attack? 3d6. Skill or spell? 3d6. Couldn't be simpler.

The only real downside is that, as a point-buy system where virtually anything is possible, character generation can be a bit time-consuming. But once things are underway, it's tons of fun. I played in a campaign once where one PC was a deranged masked lunatic with a paintbrush that produced an endless supply of plastic explosive, another character who was mute and had a tendency to use mooks as weapons against other mooks, another character who simply wandered around shooting lasers out of his EVERYTHING, and so on. It can be as serious or as crazy as you like.

[AMFV]

In order to better suggest anything, I'd need more specifics about their disabilities. For example do they have issues with attention span? Do they fixate on things? Are they capable of doing math even though they might not be good at reading? Are they able to deal socially with situations involving the others in this group?

We can make a few suggestions, but without knowing more details about the people in question, we can't really give any good suggestions, and we'd really need to know them. I'd recommend trying a few things and seeing what they like and what they don't like. I imagine you'd be better suited houseruling things that turned out to be issues than dealing with finding the perfect system.

[Kid Jake]

Mutants and Masterminds can do about anything and is a snap to learn/teach. So long as you know the PowerLevel of the character in question you've pretty much got all the information you need without having to reference the character sheet and everything is resolved by a single d20 roll. It's the only system my players will touch anymore.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Mutants and Masterminds can do about anything and is a snap to learn/teach. So long as you know the PowerLevel of the character in question you've pretty much got all the information you need without having to reference the character sheet and everything is resolved by a single d20 roll. It's the only system my players will touch anymore.
M&M is pretty fantastic, but it's not as simple as kidjake makes it out to be. In play, it's a fairly quick, rules-middling system-- faster and simpler than D&D, but crunchier than something like Fate. On the other hand, character creation isn't particularly simple to figure out at first. I'd compare it to learning a language-- it's slow and confusing at first, but eventually it clicks and you can rattle powers off as fast as you can type. Power Level can tell you the numbers, sure, but nothing about powers.


@Grod. That is a pretty slick system you've put together.
Aww, thanks :smallredface:

[Legato Endless]

I'll suggest my homebrew system, STaRS (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?361270-STaRS-the-Simple-TAbletop-Roleplaying-System-5-0)It's free-- all I ask is feedback if you do use it.


Ah, thank you kindly. I'll check it out at the first opportunity.


is it only reading difficulties? or mild disabilities as well?


In order to better suggest anything, I'd need more specifics about their disabilities.

Mild and Mild to Moderate learning disabilities. Some cognitive impairment, and difficulty with multi-complex steps. Basic math is fine. One of the players has a pronounced tendency to fixate on things.



any mild use of props will help them remember what they have….

Ah, that's excellent advice. I was indeed thinking about that.


M&M is pretty fantastic, but it's not as simple as kidjake makes it out to be. In play, it's a fairly quick, rules-middling system-- faster and simpler than D&D, but crunchier than something like Fate. On the other hand, character creation isn't particularly simple to figure out at first. I'd compare it to learning a language-- it's slow and confusing at first, but eventually it clicks and you can rattle powers off as fast as you can type. Power Level can tell you the numbers, sure, but nothing about powers.

Okay, that helps a lot.


I'd propose GURPS, honestly. It's a great classless system, everything is point-buy, and you can do basically anything with it. Want wings? You can add those. The ability to come back from being killed? There's that. (Seriously. There's "Unkillable," "Unkillable 2," and "Unkillable 3," and all of them can be purchased by PCs.) Magic or magic-like effects? Done.

The only real downside is that, as a point-buy system where virtually anything is possible, character generation can be a bit time-consuming.

This is my one hesitation, that the sheer number of options combined with the reading ability will make things hard to get off the ground. Granted, one of the players in a regular group of mine thinks the setting books are so good you should buy them anyway even if you don't play the game.

[Airk]

I'd try something like Dungeon World; The mechanics are super simple and straightforward, chargen is a few quick decisions. You do still need to be able to read though, or you won't know what your moves do.

[kyoryu]

Dungeon World would be great.

Fate, or specifically FAE, would be a great generic system.

[Cronocke]

Dungeon World would be great.

Fate, or specifically FAE, would be a great generic system.

FAE and FUDGE both sound perfect for this, really. It depends whether you want to have a list of Things they can write their character as being Fair, Good, Great, and Excellent at, or just want them to be able to write whatever skills they think would make sense.

[Knaight]

FAE and FUDGE both sound perfect for this, really. It depends whether you want to have a list of Things they can write their character as being Fair, Good, Great, and Excellent at, or just want them to be able to write whatever skills they think would make sense.

I'd recommend Fudge over Fate, if only because it's a bit more traditional*. It's a skill based roll and add with modifiers system, with the notable thing being a 0-centered die curve which allows a unified scale (difficulty, skills, etc. use the same numbers), along with a label system for every level on the scale. It's also notable for the modularity - not only do you choose which skills and attributes you use, you can do things like pull the attribute system out entirely without harming the skill system, though you can also tie them together.

*Plus I like it better.

[Cronocke]

I'd recommend Fudge over Fate, if only because it's a bit more traditional*. It's a skill based roll and add with modifiers system, with the notable thing being a 0-centered die curve which allows a unified scale (difficulty, skills, etc. use the same numbers), along with a label system for every level on the scale. It's also notable for the modularity - not only do you choose which skills and attributes you use, you can do things like pull the attribute system out entirely without harming the skill system, though you can also tie them together.

*Plus I like it better.

There's an attribute system to Fudge?

Anyway, FAE isn't quite the same as Fate, it's a much simplified version. You get only two aspects default, your character concept and their trouble, and instead of skills, you rank methods - Stylish, Forceful, and such.

EDIT: Also, most of what you said (mainly excluding the part about attributes, as it doesn't have any) is also true of Fate and FAE. :smallwink:

[Knaight]

There's an attribute system to Fudge?

Anyway, FAE isn't quite the same as Fate, it's a much simplified version. You get only two aspects default, your character concept and their trouble, and instead of skills, you rank methods - Stylish, Forceful, and such.

EDIT: Also, most of what you said (mainly excluding the part about attributes, as it doesn't have any) is also true of Fate and FAE. :smallwink:

Fudge is much more traditional in a lot of ways. The big things.
1) Fate removed gifts, faults, and attributes (as of Fate 2.0), while introducing Aspects to the core system (though it existed on the Fudge Factor ezine earlier).
2) Fate pretty much dropped modifiers. They've been declining with each iteration, with Aspects taking a more and more major approach.
3) Fate changed the ladder. It's minor, but they did make it longer, introduced some intermediate levels, etc.
4) Fate completely dropped some of the more simulationist mechanics - weapon and armor damage (though they were reintroduced), a more simulationist wound track, mass and speed scale, etc.

Basically, if you're familiar with Fate, think of Fudge as a Fate-GURPS hybrid. Fudge descended from GURPS, and was written by a GURPS author who decided to make a much more streamlined system. By now, they're majorly different games that share a ladder concept and die mechanic.

[GolemsVoice]

The GUMSHOE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUMSHOE_System) system does great for investigative scenarios where the focus is more on finding and interpreting clues than on fighting and killing and action. It does very well for Call of Cthulhu and is fairly simple and elegant, if a bit restricted due to it's focus on investigation.

Aside from that, Savage Worlds is an all around fine system for most any game.