Minimal resource TTRPG

[animorte]

Sometimes I have an idea for a new conversation and then I think, “I feel like I start so many threads though,” but then I remember PhoenixPhyre exists.

Anyway, right into it!

A few recent comments in other current threads reminded me of some personal experiences, playing minimal resource TTRPG.

I remember seeing a quote somewhere (paraphrased, of course): “You will always find a game of D&D in two places, military and prison. You can bet that a bunch of people stuck somewhere they probably don’t want to be will find a way to pretend they’re somewhere else.”

• Personally I’ve played with a group having nothing but a pen, notepad, and a single dice set.
• I’ve also heard of 20 slips of paper in a hat, numbered 1-20, to represent the die rolls.
• I have tried out mini character sheets, basically each having HP, AC, singular ability mod, and a couple skills or spells.
• My brother ran a one-shot with a lot of coin flips and note-taking. Instead of pass/fail, it was mostly deciding which obstacle or path to take.

What different experiences do you have with minimal resource TTRPGs? What kind of systems did you develop? Have you not experienced any of those, but you’ve heard of them?

[lesser_minion]

Back when I was at school, nearly any time we were on a coach, at least some of us would pass the time with an RPG session. We pretty much all had calculators with a random number function, but sometimes we didn't bother. Usually we'd do any bookkeeping mentally.

[Eldan]

I've played FATE with a single D6, no paper or pens. We started out rolling four times for every roll, but after a while, we just went eff it:

1: -2
2: -1
3&4: 0
5: +1
6: +2

Which was close enough.

[Quertus]

Sometimes I have an idea for a new conversation and then I think, “I feel like I start so many threads though,” but then I remember PhoenixPhyre exists.

My repetition-fu is too weak to notice? Huh. Well, at least I’m still characterized by my senility, and… um… maybe there’s more?

What different experiences do you have with minimal resource TTRPGs? What kind of systems did you develop? Have you not experienced any of those, but you’ve heard of them?

I’ve used 2 or 3 d6, and written simple conversion tables to emulate other die rolls. I’ve tried the “slips of paper” method (I actually have such set up right now for “choosing a random deck from the MtG decks I currently have together”). I’ve used coins, rocks, slips of paper, and dice as minis… although I must admit, I often prefer those last two over actual minis (“Red 3” or “Red d6” is much easier to write than “Ork with the big Dakka and hula skirt”. Plus, “Red d6” carries free information; that is, the value on the die can hold information, like Wounds or Ammo).

And I don’t know if it counts, but I’ve used paper and tape to build dice when I didn’t bring any.

[Eldan]

Oh, that reminds me. The really lowest resource one was back in high school, when we used Rock, Paper, Scissors between the DM and the Players to decide outcomes.

[qwertyu63]

I had a system I ad hoc designed in high school to play while waiting for the bus. The basic rule was number calling.

The GM stated the Difficulty. Start at 3, going up for more difficulty and down from skill and preparation. The player and GM both choose a number between 1 and the Difficulty, revealing the numbers simultaneously; just hold up the correct number of fingers. If the numbers match, the character succeeds.

If the Difficulty got dragged to 1, success was guaranteed, but anything less was a steep risk. The basic difficulty leaves you with 1-in-3 odds of success. Victory is dependent on finding every excuse you can to drag those Difficulty numbers down; the small range of numbers stops the "difficulty bargaining" from taking too long. It's all about offsetting risk and knowing when to just test your luck.

[Anonymouswizard]

There's published games out there that require nothing more than a piece of paper per player and a single die. As much as some people dislike it, there's no game out there where dice can't be shared (and some that are suboptimal).

Going even further, diceless games can relatively easily do away with anything more than a writing surface and compatible writing implement. Nobilis is almost certainly better with tokens to represent MP, but you can make do with marks on a sheet, and it would be impractical to measure Costs in Glitch with tokens (they top out at over a hundred). Sure they're very much the minority among RPGs, and easy to screw up (look up the noughties-era Marvel RPG), but there are some really good ones out there. I personally plan to pick up Lords of Gossamer and Shadow when my next paycheck comes in, which I hear is based on the old Amber RPG.

[animorte]

My repetition-fu is too weak to notice? Huh. Well, at least I’m still characterized by my senility, and… um… maybe there’s more?

And I don’t know if it counts, but I’ve used paper and tape to build dice when I didn’t bring any.

Ah, I see! You hang out in the 3.x forum a lot too. There’s plenty more to you. Keep being you.

I must confess, I have also made dice out of paper and tape.

There's published games out there that require nothing more than a piece of paper per player and a single die.

I’ll admit I haven’t seen much of these (though I have been a part of my own similar creation), but then I’ve only been on the RPG scene for 10 years, sadly. I could should easily have gotten started 20 years ago.

[Anonymouswizard]

I’ll admit I haven’t seen much of these (though I have been a part of my own similar creation), but then I’ve only been on the RPG scene for 10 years, sadly. I could should easily have gotten started 20 years ago.

Even if we remove the fact that D&D has the majority of the market share, games that simple aren't that popular. It might be due to the 'you could just do it yourself' feeling that makes people unwilling to pay for it.

Like the most popular RPGs after D&D are things like Shadowrun, Vampire, Savage Worlds, and other games of similar complexity. There's still circles out there that consider Nobilis 2e the greatest RPG ever made. So I'm not overly surprised if you haven't really heard of many simple or diceless games. It took me about a decade to leave D&D behind, and even then it took me longer to start seriously looking at simple and diceless systems.

Okay, I actually had that noughties Marvel RPG when I was a teen, and it turned me off dicelesssystems for a decade. But some are great.

[Easy e]

FUDGE (Which later became Fate) played diceless.

However, many of my TTRPG games used a single, common, everyday d6 (or two for that sweet, sweet dice curve), pen, and paper. That was it.

They worked fine to FANTASTIC, but were always fun games at the table.

[Yora]

I'm a big fan of Basic/Expert D&D.

Look at this beauty of a character sheet.



With one or two small changes, you could run a campaign with a single d6. A pdf of the rules on a phone or tablet would be nice for longer campaigns for leveling up and monsters, but you could run human bandits and guards just from memory.

[Anonymouswizard]

I'm a big fan of Basic/Expert D&D.

Look at this beauty of a character sheet.



With one or two small changes, you could run a campaign with a single d6. A pdf of the rules on a phone or tablet would be nice for longer campaigns for leveling up and monsters, but you could run human bandits and guards just from memory.

While you generally need a full dice set as written and a few hours to select starting equipment, yeah it's generally pretty light. I think The Black Hack is even lighter and only requires a d20 and d6?


You can also look into things like Mazes and Minotaurs. It's a far out game, and only available in pdf, but it's also completely free and really quite simple. Casting classes only get six spells, but they're generally pretty strongly themed.

Also the books are just kind of funny to read. Even if I want to roll up an Amazon or Priestess and have a game.

[Easy e]

The typical char sheet for one of my games is....

4 stats from 1-4 (or more depending on the genre)
Occupation, Hobby, Weakness, Terror
1 or 2 items of stand-out equipment

That's about it. The abilities are some version of:

- A social type stat
- A physical stat
- A perception/intelligence type stat
- A Reflex type stat
- 1 unique stat for flavor, such as Nerve/Sanity in a horror game, Matrix in a Hacking game, Fate in a High Fantasy game, etc.

Occupation (and the others) either add or subtract from a roll. Equipment adds to a roll when it applies.

All rolls are 2d6 + ability + bonus looking for a target number. Base TN is usually 7+.

Nice, neat and simple. I have played dozens of quick games with this as a base in a variety of genres.

[gbaji]

My favorite "RPG lite" game was The Fantasy Trip games. Basic Wizard or Basic Melee (I have my original mini-boxes from the late 70s). You could add in three (more or less paperback) rules books: Advanced Wizard, Advanced Melee, and "Into the Labyrinth" (more or less the DMG of the system). Basically, pick how complex you want the system to be.

Games had three stats (only *two* if you played just basic melee): ST, DX, and IQ. Human characters (all you could play in "basic", but ITL had rules for other races) start with an 8 in each stat, and 8 points to divide between them to set your starting stats. Very basic gear for melee folks, and spells for wizard folks. Very basic rules for everything. The STrength stat was both what you could carry *and* your HPs. DeX determined your basic chance to hit (which was modified by armor worn, so ironically having a higher DX let you wear more armor, but have fewer ST, thus take less damage points). There were ST/DX requirements for which weapons you could use, and IQ requirements for both number of spells you could have and what "level" the spells were (higher level spells were more point efficient and potentially more powerful).

You could literally just play a basic fight (which was what the basic variants were for), using cardboard chits and paper map (provided in the box). IIRC, it's played with three d6s. Roll below your adjusted DX to hit. Roll damage. Armor worn subtracts. Super easy. The great bit was that since the basic game was designed for balanced arena style combat, the game maintained a pretty well "balanced" feel even when you add in the more advanced stuff.

The advanced stuff adds more spells (with higher levels), and skills for melee types to use (gives them a reason to have IQ points, and some of them are quite useful). So it could actually be a pretty "complete" game, but basically builds from a very basic game upwards, never losing the "simple" combat resolution methodology.

An entire character sheet, even in the advanced game, could fit on a 3x5 card (and that's exactly what we used). Three stats. One line for experience gained. A few lines for gear, and marks for adjustments because of gear, and that's it. Everything else was up to the imagination of those playing in terms of how simple or how complex you wanted it to be. And there were no levels. Just stats. Experience points were cashed in to buy a stat point (there was a formula for how many depending on how many total stats you had). So characters got better, measurably, over time, but it again just scaled up using the same (more or less balanced) game elements already present.

Just a great game IMO. We used to play that when we got burned out on other games, just because it was so simple to play.

[Pauly]

We had a diceless homebrew game back in the day using a deck of cards as a randomizer.

1) It’s easier to find a deck of cards than a d6, especially if you’re with normies.
2) You don’t need table space to roll, so it plays more compact than a dice. Which made it suitable for playing if we were out camping or or on a bus or train somewhere on a long trip.
3) It’s a very customizable way of getting random results. You can draw for suit, draw for high number, draw for color, draw to meet a target number set by the DM, use difference between scores to assess level of success. The DM can create extensive random encounter/event tables based on 52 possible outcomes.

We played a variety of modern/sci fi type settings so didn’t worry about character stats, we just had a list of equipment and the DM adjusted difficulty based on the equipment we were using.

[Anonymouswizard]

1) It’s easier to find a deck of cards than a d6, especially if you’re with normies.

I mean, IME most people probably have a Monopoly or Cluedo set

[LibraryOgre]

Based on the old Saga system, I made the One Deck Engine, for playing with just a deck of cards.

[Tanarii]

I've played using just a quarter. Technically not D&D because most attacks had a 50% chance of success, and damage was roughly average, but that's close enough for a level 1 BECMI game.

[animorte]

I’ve genuinely been seeking (and designing) simpler systems. Some of this does help to put that into perspective.

[Easy e]

I used Paper, Rock, Scissors as a mechanic before as well.

Talk about adding in a "mini-game" to the mechanics. LOL.

[Anonymouswizard]

I’ve genuinely been seeking (and designing) simpler systems. Some of this does help to put that into perspective.

Also writing systems is fun, so don't give up even if you find one you like! I've spent a lot of time trying to come up with no bookkeeping wounds systems, to little success. Did come up with a core dice mechanic I like during one now abandoned project, but I'm considering going diceless for my next game (likely using tokens and bidding if I can get that to work, but I'll likely default to comparative totals).