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GryffonDurime
2008-08-31, 10:06 PM
So, I'm staring down the west-side of Hurricane Gustav, and we've got a solid block of time coming up wherein...well, suffice to say, we're going to be in a hall without power. So I come to you, my friends of the Playground, in search of a simple, fast, and free game system that would allow me to run something interesting.

Any suggestions/guidance?

RTGoodman
2008-08-31, 10:09 PM
The two that come to mind are Wushu (http://www.bayn.org/wushu/wushu-open.html) (which is free and online, available here), which can be used for a very cinematic game of any genre and doesn't look to difficult (though I haven't played it yet), and Minimus, supposedly the world's shortest RPG (it's one page front and back). The rules for it are here in this handy PDF (http://www.adastragames.com/downloads/RPGs/Minimus.pdf).

Or, if you're into it, I guess you could just do some free-form RPing, but a lot of people aren't into that.

CASTLEMIKE
2008-08-31, 10:40 PM
So, I'm staring down the west-side of Hurricane Gustav, and we've got a solid block of time coming up wherein...well, suffice to say, we're going to be in a hall without power. So I come to you, my friends of the Playground, in search of a simple, fast, and free game system that would allow me to run something interesting.

Any suggestions/guidance?

Well if you can print out some pages before hand and bring say the 3 core books and some dice some of the low level adventures could be fun:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20030530b

A Dark and Stormy Night and a few of the other low level adventures.

If you are really pressed on what you can bring consider printing out the SRD Generic Classes, a PHB and some dice.

A Deck of cards always a nice staple and fit in a pocket.

If you have an extra or old dueling decks like MTG.... they could be nice for a change of pace.

Grynning
2008-09-01, 01:47 AM
Haven't tried this myself, but someone else linked it here a day or two ago, and I found it intriguing. It's called Minimus and it's probably the shortest set of RPG rules ever made.
http://www.adastragames.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=10411&sid=913940b66b5a32f309d24421fbcf22c0

Waspinator
2008-09-01, 02:02 AM
Various fast-plays and whatnot:

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=2979&it=1
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/ADND_Fast_Play.pdf
http://www.wizards.com/starwars/article.asp?x=rpg_fastplay_intro
http://www.wizards.com/diabloii/Diablo2FastPlay.pdf
http://www.white-wolf.com/downloads.php?category_id=20
http://www.white-wolf.com/downloads.php?category_id=75
http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=1868&it=1
http://alternityrpg.net/downloads/sourcebooks/Alternity_RPG_Fastplay_Player.pdf
http://alternityrpg.net/downloads/sourcebooks/Alternity_RPG_Fastplay_Gamemaster.pdf
http://alternityrpg.net/downloads/sourcebooks/Alternity_RPG_Fastplay_DarkMatter.pdf

bosssmiley
2008-09-01, 04:24 AM
There's always D&D 4E, if you know where to look. :smallwink:

Bryn
2008-09-01, 04:32 AM
Risus (http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/risus.htm) would probably be great for this. The rules are about as simple as you can possibly get without going freeform (or, uh, playing Minimus, which I just noticed is even simpler :smalltongue:).

Thane of Fife
2008-09-01, 09:54 AM
While I've never actually run it, The Sun Never Sets (http://www.1km1kt.net/rpg/the-sun-never-sets) looks interesting.

Stickguy the Roleplaying Game (http://www.1km1kt.net/rpg/stickguy-the-role-playing-game) also looks fun.

Raum
2008-09-01, 10:57 AM
You can pick up Savage Worlds Test Drive from here (http://www.peginc.com/downloads.html). While you're there print out a few copies of the "Training Wheels" character sheet and the Combat Survival Guide. There are also several free "one sheet" adventures available.

Hope Gustav passes through with minimal damage!

Lord Tataraus
2008-09-01, 11:04 AM
Risus (http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/risus.htm) would probably be great for this. The rules are about as simple as you can possibly get without going freeform (or, uh, playing Minimus, which I just noticed is even simpler :smalltongue:).

Awww, you beat me to it. I always suggest Risus, even though it was originally designed for comedic games, it does very well in serious games.

Prometheus
2008-09-01, 02:20 PM
Persona (http://tckroleplaying.com/persona/web/part1.html) has more RP in it than RPG compared to the other games mentioned but it's a great system that requires absolutely no reference material or character sheets once you learn how to play the game.

Knaight
2008-09-01, 06:57 PM
Fudge. Sure you normally require a character sheet, but a note card is more than enough. Heres the link:
http://www.fudgerpg.com/
I've seen the rules distilled into as few as 4 pages. Plus there is the whole fudge on the fly thing where you fill in the stats as you go, a nice option that was mentioned by other games mentioned here.

turkishproverb
2008-09-01, 09:10 PM
Time Lord: Being the second Doctor who RPG (from the ninteis). The game designers placed it on the net legally after their option allowed them to do so.

Rules can be found here
http://www.geocities.com/sege1701/TimeLord/tldload.htm


or, for more updated rules and extra suppliments, they can be found

http://www.torsononline.com/hobbies/timelord/main.htm