The Gaming Den

So, after a couple of years of trying out various systems with both of my gaming groups, both as a GM and player (but mostly GM), I now want to try out something more rules-lite. What we've played so far is Eon (Swedish low-fantasy, extremely rules heavy), a slightly homebrew version of Chimera RPG, D&D 4th, Pathfinder, Tome 3.5 (containing most of the things found here in the Den), in that order. The current game we're running is the Tome 3.5 West Marches-style game, but it's getting stale. I believe this is due to lack of story and difficulty in getting players invested in the "world story" (i.e. hidden secrets, history of the world, etc.) which is all the story you'll find in such a game. While the rules are by far the best for crunch-heavy action that we've had so far, it is still a bit too much for some of the players (who doesn't really like too many or too complicated rules).

After playing and talking to the players, it seems that my main RP group is interesting in the following things in a RP game, in no particular order:

1) Fun and humour
2) Easy to learn rules (with the option to min-max for those that want to, if possible)
3) Dungeons, puzzles and fantasy tropes in general
4) Fun and quick action/combat

Now, 1) is naturally just up to the GM and the players, regardless of system, but the rest ask certain things from the system. I'm wondering if you guys know any good rules-lite systems that could fulfill as many of these as possible.

I've been reading the rules for PDQ and PDQ#, and that's piqued my interest. I like the idea of "rulings" instead of "rules", which we're so used to at the moment, and it could be a nice change. I'm slightly apprehensive about the system's ability to do traditional D&D-like combat (i.e. both melee, ranged and magical combat against all manner of monsters) and the lack of obvious tactical choices as well as lack of integration of items (magical or mundane). Maybe that's just because I just haven't played or tested it at all yet, though. Has anybody tried it?

I've read a bit about Swords&Wizardry, but that seems a bit too close to what we're doing at the moment, so I haven't dug too much into it yet. Mini6 and Barbarians of Lemura are both on my to-do list, but I haven't gotten there yet. Any other ideas?

Ruleslite games in general have less levers to fiddle with, which constrains the way they can handle advancement. Feng Shui is a great game, but the advancement rules are a crime. The game falls apart quickly if characters advance, so it's really only suited to one-shots (it is very good at one-shots though).

Another issue is what aspects of the game you want to be "lite". You could write all the rules to FATE on a cocktail napkin, but that doesn't stop Dresden Files from being a 2-book, half million word monstrosity. After Sundown on the other hand, has several layers of character generation, but it's still not even a third the amount of actual raw text of Dresden Files.

-Username17

The Free Universal RPG system is my preference.

There's only one resolution mechanic, and it's always just a few d6. No scrounging for 8 d4's.

Character creation is organic. There's no +2 on ranged attacks or +2 will save, your character simply has "Good Aim" or "Strong Will".

The personality traits create incentive for roleplay. If your character is "Dumb as Bricks" or a "Total Jerk", you get benefits from acting that way (but you're not forced to).

There is zero slow-down due to rules. You'll never have to open a book to find a DC, or the range of a spell, or the grapple rules.


I hybridize it with Lady Blackbird a little too.