[Warrior, Rogue & Mage] Free, rules-light fantasy game

[Kiero]

I was pointed in the direction of this little gem the other day:

Warrior, Rogue & Mage is a simple, lightweight roleplaying game that allows a group of players and a game master to experience epic adventures in a fantasy world filled with wondrous magic. This book contains the complete game rules, including character creation, combat, magic, equipment and monsters, as well as a complete fantasy setting, the Fallen Imperium of Vaneria.

Although WR&M uses three basic fantasy RPG classes in its name, it doesn't make use of classes. Players are encouraged to create their characters freely without having to fit them into archetypal roles. Warrior, Rogue and Mage are actually the character's basic attributes, which measure their capabilities in combat, stealth and academics respectively.

Vaguely reminiscent of Barbarians of Lemuria, and maybe some of the ideals of the very earliest edition of D&D. Its actually quite complete in 40-ish pages, I'd imagine its pretty good for one-shots, pickup games and the like.

Check it out.

[Crow]

Thanks for posting this, I will give it a look. :)

[Jolly Steve]

Dungeon Squad uses a similar system.

[Kiero]

Dungeon Squad uses a similar system.

If I'm remembering correctly, that does it by die types assigned to each stat, doesn't it?

[Jolly Steve]

That's right.

[Swordgleam]

I know the guy who made that. It's cool to see it come up here!

[Kiero]

I've already made a couple of minor changes to make it more to my tastes.

Firstly, the dice mechanic. In place of a since d6, it's 2d4-1. Means explosions are much less frequent, and we get the tendency of results towards the middle.

Secondly, a tweak on the skills. Out go the weapon-specific ones (Axes, Bows, Daggers, etc) and in their places are two skills: Melee Weapons (W) and Ranged Weapons (R). Unarmed (W) remains. That way we don't have characters with boring lists of skills that simply cover the weapons they commonly use.

Thirdly, three new social skills. Impress (W), Deceive (R) and Mediate (M).

That does it for me, nice for one shots or a handful of sessions.