Good "intro" PnPRPG type game?

[MammonAzrael]

My girlfriend is looking for a good game to get some of her friends into table-top gaming. She doesn't want to dive right into D&D or other systems that can be rules heavy, or even require a lot of up-front reading and knowledge on the players parts.

Do you guys have any suggestions for systems that are fairly rules-light or simple to pick up, and focus more on RPing, especially guiding new RPers and making them feel comfortable RPing? Thanks everyone!

[Athaniar]

There is this one game called Wushu that's basically just about roleplaying cool stuff and describing it in detail. Just learnt of it myself.

[Raum]

Do you guys have any suggestions for systems that are fairly rules-light or simple to pick up, and focus more on RPing, especially guiding new RPers and making them feel comfortable RPing? Thanks everyone!

I'd look at How to Host a Murder. It's a one shot RPG in the guise of a party game. :)

[LibraryOgre]

A quick one is Risus. Assign ten dice to any number of cliches (no more than 4 to any one). Roll your cliches when they apply to something (even really weirdly... I roll Viking in diplomacy because I intimidate him with a HUUUUGE axe), and try to get a high total.

And the intro rules are free.

[Athaniar]

A quick one is Risus. Assign ten dice to any number of cliches (no more than 4 to any one). Roll your cliches when they apply to something (even really weirdly... I roll Viking in diplomacy because I intimidate him with a HUUUUGE axe), and try to get a high total.

And the intro rules are free.

Link, please?

[Dogmantra]

Link, please?

http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/risus.htm
I'd also suggest Risus.

[xPANCAKEx]

i'd suggest taking it back a beg, and playing hero quest... yes this will also take people into the realms of playing with minitures, and has no rules for RPing, but at the same time, its a very gentle/easy game and you can RP as much or as little as you like

[Armoury99]

Seven Leagues - a fairytale rpg that can run the stylistic gamut from Disney to Grimm to Neil Gaiman to Shrek with ease. Very simple, narrative-based rules. Quick and uncrunchy character gen, pregens in the book, sample adventures in the book, and a setting that everyone has heard of and can grasp immediately. Its fantastic, and its what my girlfirend used in exactly the same situation.

Risus is also good, but the rules might be a little too fast and loose for a complete first timer, and they might feel under pressure to be funny.

[MammonAzrael]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I'm at work ATM, but I'll check it all out when I get home tonight.

[Jayabalard]

My girlfriend is looking for a good game to get some of her friends into table-top gaming. She doesn't want to dive right into D&D or other systems that can be rules heavy, or even require a lot of up-front reading and knowledge on the players parts.

This request seems kind of odd to me; I've always seen D&D's Niche as the entry level RPG.

[LibraryOgre]

This request seems kind of odd to me; I've always seen D&D's Niche as the entry level RPG.

In the days pre-3.0, yeah. Most of what you needed to play them was "roll a d20. High is usually good. When you level, roll a d10 and add it to your total HP." That will play you a human fighter for a long time in 1st & 2nd edition; the other rules can be picked up as you get more comfortable with them.

Starting with 3.0, however, you had to get a lot more nitty-gritty in playing. You had skill points, feats, and all sorts of other minutiae to create a character, and a wide variety of things to keep track of in game. Every race has a number of abilities to keep track of, either at level-up or on a moment-by-moment basis.

3rd edition isn't hard in any particular part... but there's a lot of things to keep track of, making it more daunting for new players.