Rules light system good for people brand new to roleplaying

[kingcheesepants]

I have some free time for Christmas vacation and I wanted to introduce some of my non gaming friends and family to my favorite hobby. My usual go to games (d&d 5e, starfinder, cyberpunk 2020) are a bit too complex for a brand new player who isn't really familiar with the hobby at all. I want something that I can get up and running and newbies participating in within say a half hour (from introduction to actually starting the meat of play). Yeah I can make a low level one shot adventure with pre gens in D&D but even that I'm afraid might be pushing it with the AC, HP, Spell Slots, advantage/disadvantage, Saves, Skills, Etc. I could probably make it work but if there are any good quality games you all know of that are easier to pick up and play with little to no knowledge going in I'd appreciate some suggestions.

[zarionofarabel]

Chronica Feudalis: A Game of Imagined Adventure in Medieval Europe, if you want simple medieval fare.

Far Trek, if you want Star Trek.

Mouse Guard, if you want anthropomorphic mice that act as knights.

Mouse Guard is probably the most difficult of these three, but also the one that offers the most interesting experience in my opinion. It does have a bit of a different focus as it is based on Burning Wheel. Then again, it really highlights the seperation of GM and Player roles within an RPG. And more than anything is a great "teaching" tool as it focuses the entire experience on the players.

The other two are just simple and fun systems that work well without having to learn hundreds of pages worth of rules.

[Batcathat]

Maybe Risus? It's very rules light, for better or for worse. It can also fit pretty much any genre and it's also free, so all the players could download it themself and read through it in advance, if they like.

[Mastikator]

I've heard Savage Worlds is supposed to be extremely light. The fast paced action might be more engaging to new players.

[Duiker]

I'd suggest something Powered by the Apocalypse (give everyone a playbook and they're set), or Cortex Prime without any mods whatsoever if you're willing to use a meta-currency. The latter is nice if they get into it and you want to ramp up the complexity: you've got full control over how you tweak things.

Both can be encapsulated into a page of reasonably formatted text per player. PbtA games tend to be low-priced at most, and enough-for-play of Cortex Prime's rules are free on the official website.

[Yora]

If something like D&D is an option, I think Basic Fantasy is the easiest version you can find. It's pretty much the 1981 Basic game, but with the math updated to make intuitive sense.
As a D&D GM, it should be very easy and quick to learn, and there are very few rules that players need to know.

[Pelle]

Into the Odd. Super streamlined, capturing the essence of old versions of D&D. The rules fit one page, and the random character generation is a great fun way of making interesting characters.

[Anonymouswizard]

I've heard Savage Worlds is supposed to be extremely light. The fast paced action might be more engaging to new players.

Eh, it's about as complex as D&D 5e.

My personal recommendation would be Paleomythic, the core resolution mechanic is simple (roll a bunc of d6 and look for a 6), it's based mainly on descriptive traits (total number is your base dice pool, plus one if you have a relevant trait),, and it's got a cool stone age aesthetic. It even manages to do things like breakable tools wit4hout driving me insane (they're fairly easy to repair or replace). On the down side of the the Talents (think Feats) are a bit complicated.

I'm also going to second Basic Fantasy. It's B/X, but with the system changed to a universal 'higher is better', race as class removed, and some other changes. It's also cheap, not only is it free in pdf the physical versions are sold at cost, meaning the core rulebook, first Field Guide, and Euipment Emporium set me back less than a tenner.

[Grod_The_Giant]

This is exactly the sort of thing STaRS excels at. It's light without being vague, doesn't ask you to think about narrative-oriented mechanics, and it runs really well in a "GM is the only one who knows the rules" situation. It's also generally real fast at everything (including character creation) and handles skill challenge/environmental danger type scenes better then anything else I've seen.

[farothel]

If you go with pregenerated characters, Alternity is quite light. Especially the adventure at the back of the Dark Matter sourcebook is very good as a one-off with beginners. And the advantage of Alternity Dark Matter is that it's easy to explain the world (the world as we know it today, everything else is discovered in play) and most of the skills are self-explanatory (if you see, modern ranged weapons (pistol) or medical science(surgery), most people have a good idea of what it does).

The only difficult part of Alternity I find is creating characters, which is why I would go with pregens.

EDIT: I've used that adventure a couple of times with newbies.

[Glimbur]

Maybe Risus? It's very rules light, for better or for worse. It can also fit pretty much any genre and it's also free, so all the players could download it themself and read through it in advance, if they like.

Came here to recommend this. The game master needs to keep things moving along, but that is true of most games. A 'boss monster' with high dice they all have to cooperate to take down sounds awesome but can drag on. But it's a very rules light place to start.

[Chogokin]

How about Advanced Fighting Fantasy, from Arion Games? You may recall the old Fighting Fantasy gamebooks by Steve Jackson (the British one, not the U.S. one), where you had a pretty simple character sheet and rolled 2d6 to fight monsters, avoid traps, etc? Apparently, the original book authors (Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone) had released a standalone RPG based on the gamebooks. This was later acquired and reprinted by Arion Games in 2011. I believe the current core rulebook is the core rules, a monster manual, and the basic setting, all in one packaged called AFF Deluxe.

Characters are defined by 4 stats: Skill, Luck, Stamina, and Magic. Magic is optional. In addition to Skill, you have some 'Special Skills', which basically make you better at doing certain things (like being Stealthy, etc.), and Talents, which can help further define your character's focus.

I think it's actually a really elegant system. Simple on the face, but with a lot of potential depth. Characters grow organically over time through experience. The setting has that peculiar flavor of British fantasy from the 80's - dark, gritty, grimly humorous and randomly bizarre.

[SwordCoastTaxi]

Maybe Risus? It's very rules light, for better or for worse. It can also fit pretty much any genre and it's also free, so all the players could download it themself and read through it in advance, if they like.

If D&D is too complex, yes, RISUS works.

[Kraynic]

I hope your friends don't come here and see you don't think they would be able to pick up a game intended for people ages 12+ (5E).

I think you are really overestimating how hard it is to pick up one of these. I would say choose the game you know and like the best. That will most likely be the game for which you will be the best teacher.

[kyoryu]

PbtA (Powered by the Apocalypse) games like Apocalypse World are very good if there's an appropriate one for the genre you'd want to run.

Old versions of D&D like Basic can work well.

Fate Core/Accelerated can work if you make sure you have the GM run "the system" and the players say what they want to do in terms of the game world.

[kingcheesepants]

I hope your friends don't come here and see you don't think they would be able to pick up a game intended for people ages 12+ (5E).

I think you are really overestimating how hard it is to pick up one of these. I would say choose the game you know and like the best. That will most likely be the game for which you will be the best teacher.

Haha, yes that's definitely true. I suppose it's less a case of thinking it's actually too complex or difficult for them and more a case of not wanting to spend an hour making characters (and yeah I can use pregens but I really feel like making a character yourself gives you a connection to them and invests you into the game a bit more, plus it's one of the most natural times to explain what the stats and skills are) and then another hour slowly getting used to the various mechanics. Plus with all the spells/feats/abilities/items that we're just skimming over or skipping entirely, well suffice to say that there's a bunch of stuff and it can be intimidating. And for people like say my sister in law whose entire experience with the fantasy genre is Harry Potter and Disney movies. I have a fear that it's going to seem too difficult and cause her to just say no thanks. So my hope is that a lighter system that's faster and less intimidating might be more fun for the newbies and can serve to get their feet wet as it were before jumping into something like d&d proper.

In any case thank you all for the recommendations, I've not yet had a chance to check out all the various games you guys recommended but I'll look into them some of them sound really fun and I'm sure at least one will serve as a good gateway into RPGs.

[Batcathat]

(and yeah I can use pregens but I really feel like making a character yourself gives you a connection to them and invests you into the game a bit more, plus it's one of the most natural times to explain what the stats and skills are)

Yeah, I was about to say something along those lines as well. To me, creating characters has always been one of my favorite parts of role playing and if introducing someone new to it, I'd try to include that part. Of course, with a more complex game you could always just have them explain what kind of character they want and handle the mechanics yourself.

[Friv]

I'd honestly just go with something like Lasers and Feelings - there's only one mechanic, it ties to your character concept tightly, you can easily adjust the length, and it doesn't demand too much control from players. Everyone I've tried it with has loved it.

Plus it's free, which is always nice.

[Anonymouswizard]

I hope your friends don't come here and see you don't think they would be able to pick up a game intended for people ages 12+ (5E).

And the other games suggested here aren't?

Considering I've seen people take over a month to pick up the basics of D&D (, by which I mean 'unless it's for damage or a table roll 1d20 and add the score I told you) wanting something simpler. Plus all the complexities of creation compared to something like Risus or Fate Accelerated.

[farothel]

If you want to do character creation, maybe do an L5R session (4th edition). Character creation is rather simple, especially if you don't take shugenja and for a one-off you can skip things like advantages and disadvantages. Do a shadowlands game and you also don't need to worry about them knowing the background of the world and the political stuff. Just don't throw invulnerable oni at them.

And for L5R there's also somewhere a nice one-session adventure where the characters are young samoerai going to the Topaz Championship (a special gempukku ceremony). That's a quite fun one (we used it at the start of our last campaign).

[Grod_The_Giant]

I think you are really overestimating how hard it is to pick up one of these.

Never underestimate the ability of a nerdy 12 year old to master rules their parents will never understand. When I was a middle/high school kid I read 3.5 D&D books cover to cover; now I'm approaching 30 and barely skimmed the newest 5e book, and RPGs are one of my main hobbies. I had a new player who's an engineer at Google Pittsburgh, and they literally took months until we stopped needing to remind them what to add to a roll. It's not a question of intelligence, it's a question of free time, commitment, and spare mental capacity not already dedicated to work/life/relationships/politics/whatever.

[kyoryu]

Never underestimate the ability of a nerdy 12 year old to master rules their parents will never understand. When I was a middle/high school kid I read 3.5 D&D books cover to cover; now I'm approaching 30 and barely skimmed the newest 5e book, and RPGs are one of my main hobbies. I had a new player who's an engineer at Google Pittsburgh, and they literally took months until we stopped needing to remind them what to add to a roll. It's not a question of intelligence, it's a question of free time, commitment, and spare mental capacity not already dedicated to work/life/relationships/politics/whatever.

It's barrier to entry. Can anyone? Sure. Will they care enough to? Maybe not.

If you give them a lower barrier to entry, you turn fewer people away.

[gijoemike]

I would have suggested basic savage worlds. Assign dice types to a few stats. Roll for target # of 4. Magic is a single advantage.


It has been years since I have played this, but what about Spirit of the Century?

You were all born Jan 1, 1900, the Great war is now over. You are a PULP comic book hero (Think dinosaurs, ninja, time travelers,and space cadets even though its 1921). It is early fate system at its core. Each player gives 4 sentences or one liners about what his/her character is.

Batman
Where does he get all those wonderful toys?
Worlds Greatest Detective
The Dark Knight of Gotham
Upper Crust of Society

Dr. Henry Jekyll / Hyde
Brilliant Alchemist/Chemist
Murderous Hidden Secrets
Suicidal Intent
Dual Personalities



Dice roles are roll 4 fudge dice. +,[ ], - (its a d3). All players and DM get a number of bennys/chips/tokens that one can tag an attribute for a + or - 2. Tagging an attribute for -2 gives that player the benny/pip/token. There are stress tracks and wounds. Observations can be placed onto characters and scenes which can be tagged. Heavy role-play and being in character are encouraged. Clever/funny/true to character actions gets more pips. + is good. more pluses win. The system makes players WANT to play up their weaknesses.


There is also a small skill system that acts like a +1 to +3, iirc. To have a skill at +2 you have to have 2 skills at +1. This builds a skill pyramid. There are more skills than can be in a given characters pyramid.

[gijoemike]

It's barrier to entry. Can anyone? Sure. Will they care enough to? Maybe not.

If you give them a lower barrier to entry, you turn fewer people away.

I read every single 3.0, 3.5, and many of the PFS book when they came out 15 to 20 years ago.

I am now over 35 and when I read over the SRD and PFSRD I wonder how the the hell can any person possibly get into the hobby now. There is so many ACF, alternate build rules, archtypes, and feats I would easily take full 3 hours to build even a simple lvl 4 character. Yet somehow, I did it back in the day. But I have no earthly clue how I did it. I don't know how to introduce my kids to the hobby and actually have it stick.

[Batcathat]

I am now over 35 and when I read over the SRD and PFSRD I wonder how the the hell can any person possibly get into the hobby now. There is so many ACF, alternate build rules, archtypes, and feats I would easily take full 3 hours to build even a simple lvl 4 character. Yet somehow, I did it back in the day. But I have no earthly clue how I did it. I don't know how to introduce my kids to the hobby and actually have it stick.

Totally agree. I'm about the same age and in some ways I don't think I've ever been as intelligent as I was when I was about twelve years old. I probably know more now but I don't think I have half the capacity for learning I did then.

[Anonymouswizard]

I read every single 3.0, 3.5, and many of the PFS book when they came out 15 to 20 years ago.

I am now over 35 and when I read over the SRD and PFSRD I wonder how the the hell can any person possibly get into the hobby now. There is so many ACF, alternate build rules, archtypes, and feats I would easily take full 3 hours to build even a simple lvl 4 character. Yet somehow, I did it back in the day. But I have no earthly clue how I did it. I don't know how to introduce my kids to the hobby and actually have it stick.

Partially because, while I have issues with it, D&D 5e does streamline character creation. No need to spend individual skill points, most classes/subclasses don't need to pick powers, spell lists are smaller, and premade backgrounds make picking your 'flavour' skills and proficiencies as easy as picking off a list of packages if you want.

Other games are even easier, Paleomythic is 'pick five things you want to be good at, one special talent, and up to two things you're bad at for more good things and special talents'. It can get incredibly simple, especially with the one page RPGs, but D&D is still on the very edge of 'possible to pick up for people with busy lives'. It's not what I'd recommend, but if you can spend an hour with each player or trust them to skim through chapters 2, 3, and 4 of the PhB and find a thing from each they like before the session it's really not that hard (heck, just race and one of the others makes things a lot easier).

[olskool]

I have to push BASIC FANTASY as a "D&D lite" RPG as it is cheap and fairly easy to understand while using the more modern D&D systems (no THAC0). FIVE TORCHES DEEP is a D&D 5e variant that is quick and easy to learn by greatly simplifying 5e's "crunch." It would give you the ability to "grow" a new player into 5e.

For an alternate gaming system, I'd recommend The Design Mechanism's MYTHRAS or for the lighter version of its system, LEGEND from Mongoose Publishing. This is a percentage-based roll under system where you combine two Characteristics rated from 3 to 20 to get a base Skill rating and then use a lifepath system to expand those abilities. The Magic systems range from THREE DISTINCT systems in LEGEND to FIVE in MYTHRAS but all of them use the roll under a skill system so they are easily mastered.

[zarionofarabel]

Mythras Imperative is a good "lite" version of Mythras if you want to give it a try.

As for the suggestions of D&D and other complex games, well, I have to disagree that they are good as intro games unless one has a lot of time and sessions to help new players learn them.

D&D, especially the newer editions, is actually a complex and complicated system from the standpoint of those completely unfamiliar with RPGs. I'm not a fan of introducing new players to RPGs using D&D, even just explaining the basics and I watch people's eyes glaze over. Stick with stuff that is super simple and actually get a game session going. Getting a new player actually PLAYING a game in a half-hour is the best way IMHO. Actually PLAYING is far better than teaching them how to make a character.

My advice is to stick to a game that can be played quickly. Has a conflict resolution system that works with only a few rolls per conflict. And can highlight the aspects of RPGs that make it different from minis combat and boardgames, the conversation and character interaction parts. Once you have the new player hooked, then you can add complexity such as tactical minis combat or in depth character mechanics.

I've always started "new to roleplaying" players with the KISS principal. Keep It Simple Stupid.

[Wraith]

The simplest rules I've used in recent memory is in Feng Shui, wherein character creation takes all of 2 minutes and the players are actively encouraged to dream up 'cinematic' actions and roll whatever dice the think it vaguely appropriate to see if it succeeds or not, rather the pick an action off a set list and roll only the corresponding trait attached to it.

The setting is a lot of fun, too - easy to understand if you've ever seen even a single action movie, and just as random in content.

[Pauly]

I think the setting will be more important than the mechanics.

You want an environment the players can grok and can imagine what they want their characters to be doing.

I would avoid any game that has its own extensive back story, because almost always there is something important the newbies just don’t get.

I like Dread very much. The Jenga tower mechanic creates it’s own natural tension and everyone gets the idea of being in a slasher movie.

A light superhero system is another candidate. My personal favorite is BASH (Basic Action Super Heroes by Basic Action Games)which gives you a rules light environment that you can tweak to published mainstream material, more niche material or your own custom setting.