Help! Need a game, fast...

[tribalxgecko]

My 5e gaming group will be short 2 players tonight, generally I could make do, problem is the two players who can't make it were integral to the storyline, and thus, it is a little hard to go on without them tonight. So, what I am looking for is a quick, preferably cheap or free, print and play all inclusive game / rules system. I have a bout 4 hours until game time...soo, kinda don't have much time to memorize rules or do much prep. What I would like is:

- Fast & easy to play rule set.
- Preferably fantasy, horror, or sci-fi.
- Pregen characters or fast character creation.
- An included adventure, or something I can work with on the fly.

There will be myself and 3 players, possibly 4 if one of them brings his brother (both would be brand new to RPG games). Oh, yeah, I am looking for a roleplaying game, not a board game or anything like that. Games I am familiar with include D&D (all forms), Dungeon World, Fate, Dungeon Crawl Classics, and Traveler. I might fall back on a FATE or DW one shot, but was really hoping to find something new and/or different.

Any suggestions? Links? Ideas? Anything at all?? Help a fellow GM out, eh?

[Jaycemonde]

Try Paranoia with the Zap! rules.

[blacklight101]

Have you tried RISUS? I've heard its good for quick games.

[Honest Tiefling]

Any chance of social/RP events for the main group? Or are they in a situation where this is impossible?

[tribalxgecko]

Thanks, I will check out both of those games now.

Not really is a spot for that. The group just entered a labyrinth that has a tome that the parties wizard needs to fulfill a ritual. He was recently imbued with the temp ability to see and speak with souls, which are the only clues to get through the labyrinth and find the tome. The wizard's player won't be able to make it.

I can probably come up with something if needed, but being that this was all designed around the wizard and his player (a big back story element and such), I would hate to go through this without him here.

[Milodiah]

Traveler, you say? Clearly you just need to roll on every single table they have and glue the insane outcome together into a hilarious simulacrum of a plot.

Try Don't Rest Your Head. Character sheet is one of the simplest ones I've seen for a game, and from what I can see it's pretty much designed for this situation. It's not well adapted to campaigns, because after two or three games your players start to understand the world they've been dropped in, whereas it's supposed to be an odd semi-dystopian version of Alice in Wonderland. However, you drop your players in it for one session and toy with them as they try to puzzle out what the hell is going on. Takes a whole bunch of d6s, preferably color coded, but it's very easy to cobble together a semblance of a storyline and very easy to learn the mechanics.

[Honest Tiefling]

I can probably come up with something if needed, but being that this was all designed around the wizard and his player (a big back story element and such), I would hate to go through this without him here.

Not going to bash the suggestions, but if they don't want to try something new, perhaps while the wizard is busy (or possessed) some souls go to the party and force them to relieve their own memories, interpreted as a very real-seeming shared dream. Some souls might be helpful and give other members some hints or tips through this shared memory, but once the session is over and the wizard comes back he has just barely gotten them out of this dream.

I have not had an oppurtunity to play Paranoia, but I have heard many good things about it, so +1 here for it.