Games for a Lazy MC

[Ice9]

I've previously run fairly crunchy games before, like 3.x, and while I can run a campaign for a while, I eventually get burned on the amount of prep required. So I tried some rules-light games. Prep problem gone! Players going in a random direction wasn't even slightly a problem either. BUT - having to improvise continuously is pretty damn tiring too. I could only run for 3-4 hours, less if I was at all tired, and sometimes a session would fall really flat if I overestimated my energy level.

So for a while, I ran mini-campaigns and/or split the session with another MC, and that worked. But recently the group has shrunk and it would be really useful to have a backup game option I can pull out whenever. Doesn't have to be the cream of the crop, just half-way decent.

Is that even possible though? Are there any RPGs where the prep is fairly light, the gameplay isn't totally dependent on improv to be interesting, and that don't suck? Or is this like trying to achieve perpetual motion?

[RelentlessImp]

Paranoia, because most of the action comes from the PCs trying to screw each other over/kill each other/get promoted and random deaths are encouraged due to the seven life system you've got.

[erik]

I like Hollow Earth Expedition.

It's d2 dice pools, and the MC can just take the average instead of rolling when you feel like speeding things up.

For a lot of combats I'd just wing it, grab an animal or whatever with stats near what I wanted and say it was a polar bear or something. For NPCs there's enough samples that I can find something usable in a pinch.

I didn't feel that burdened by the prep, but they were mostly just exploring new lands while trying to figure out who on their small airship was a traitor.

[Josh_Kablack]

Well, there's this whole series of games where the answer to any question is bears. It's hard to get simpler than that


Otherwise, I have Feng Shui on the brain pretty heavy right now due to trying to assimilate and review the PDF of the 2nd edtion. But it has been one of my favorite lighter games for quite a while, and while there are horrible problems with the new edition, Robin Law's advice on setting up a three act structure and then filling in with improv is pretty good.

[tussock]

Run 3.5 with no prep. Like, just a megadungeon that you keep a few rooms in all directions ahead of the party with, rolling it up as you go. Or run them through something horrible and fairly linear but huge like World's Largest Dungeon, or Rappan Athuk, and just ham it up.

[hogarth]

Or run them through something horrible and fairly linear but huge like World's Largest Dungeon, or Rappan Athuk, and just ham it up.

Buying a prepackaged adventure (and advising the players to play along) is the most effective way of avoiding preparation burnout that I've seen.

[Ice9]

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

Paranoia: Hadn't thought of that one. I have a problem with it encouraging dickish behavior by MC, but if I'm the one running it I guess that's not an issue. Have to see whether people want to play that one, it's a pretty specific setting.

HEX: Heard of it, never played it. Is it still in print?

Apocalypse World: You laugh, but I've tried it. Super easy prep, runs nicely as long as my energy level is high, falls apart as soon as I get tired. Possibility of quantum bears not an issue when I'm the one (not) including them.

Feng Shui: Another one I've heard about but not yet played. Is the 2nd edition an improvement?

Dungeon-Only 3.5: I've considered that, but many monsters are not really usable straight from the book unless you want the combat to be slow and shitty - too many things referenced that need to be looked up. And personally speaking, I get bored with dungeons after a certain point.

Prepackaged Adventure: I've considered running a PF AP, but from my experience there's a choice:
A) Customize foes, takes significant prep time.
B) Don't customize foes, party steamrolls them.
C) Don't customize foes but run a higher level AP, less CO-capable players feel useless.
But there might be a sweet spot there, I'm not ruling it out yet. Are there any that work particularly well as written?

[TiaC]

Prepackaged Adventure: I've considered running a PF AP, but from my experience there's a choice:
A) Customize foes, takes significant prep time.
B) Don't customize foes, party steamrolls them.
C) Don't customize foes but run a higher level AP, less CO-capable players feel useless.
But there might be a sweet spot there, I'm not ruling it out yet. Are there any that work particularly well as written?

D) Don't customize foes, run a higher level AP, houserule in favor of/give artifact swords to less CO-capable players.

[hogarth]

Prepackaged Adventure: I've considered running a PF AP, but from my experience there's a choice:
A) Customize foes, takes significant prep time.
B) Don't customize foes, party steamrolls them.
C) Don't customize foes but run a higher level AP, less CO-capable players feel useless.

I vote for option (B). Steamrolling is usually fun!

[Red_Rob]

Feng Shui: Another one I've heard about but not yet played. Is the 2nd edition an improvement?

Why not read Josh's thoughts on the matter? Spoiler: not really.

Prepackaged Adventure: I've considered running a PF AP, but from my experience there's a choice:
A) Customize foes, takes significant prep time.
B) Don't customize foes, party steamrolls them.
C) Don't customize foes but run a higher level AP, less CO-capable players feel useless.
But there might be a sweet spot there, I'm not ruling it out yet. Are there any that work particularly well as written?

I ran Rise of the Runelords for a Tome party using a combination of slightly underlevelling the party and some minor customisation involving giving Tome Feats to the character enemies. It worked pretty well and wasn't too much effort. The nice thing about running a pre-packaged campaign is that if you have plenty of prep time you can go through and change things to suit your party better, whereas if you have less time (or effort) available you can run an adventure pretty much straight.

[Lokathor]

My group has had some success with Edge of the Empire lately. It's pretty rules lite, and everyone has a rough understanding of how star wars goes. The fact that the RNG is crazyness helps obscure when you guess wrong about what stats a thing should have.

[Mask_De_H]

Munchausen: you just have to provide booze and set the scene.

[hogarth]

The nice thing about running a pre-packaged campaign is that if you have plenty of prep time you can go through and change things to suit your party better, whereas if you have less time (or effort) available you can run an adventure pretty much straight.

In fact, in my experience the amount of rewriting that a GM does has a very small impact on how much fun an adventure is, relative to the amount of effort put into rewriting it. Yes, that even includes my own awesome rewrites.

[Josh_Kablack]

The pithy summary of my thoughts are that the actual title is Feng Shui 2 steps forward, 1 step back.

It's frustrating and facepalm inducing to read and the "see page xx" level of editing is inexcusable, but overall the stat streamling, schtick expansions, smoother skill defaults and inclusion of Mr Laws's better MC and adventure design insights from the past 20 years is enough for me to say that it is probably an improvement. But there are just so many missed opportunities to make truly great strides that I can't bring myself to say that without the weaselword qualifier.

As for additional game suggestions, you could try the humorous, but workable Kobolds ate my Baby. Then ther's alor subbing in one of the more complex co-op boardgames in place of an RPG. Go for Darkest Night or Arkham Horror or Sentinels of The Multiverse or the like.

[erik]

HEX: Heard of it, never played it. Is it still in print?

Whoa. Dang, apparently not. Can't buy it from the original publisher, but Amazon has a few copies left. I hope they get another print run of the core book when Revelations of Mars finally gets released.

It's a shame that this system didn't get more traction. With a bit of tweaking (mostly to keep people from succumbing to trap choices at character creation) it was fairly slick.

[Smeelbo]

My advice is to push the creative work onto your players. For maximal reward for minimal preparation, nothing compares to FATE. First, you get a lot of information from the players about what kinds of scenes they expect from their choice in skills and aspects, as well as how much to emphasize those skills. Both during character generation and during play, aspects can introduce elements into the story. For example, if a character has an aspect, "Dr. Omega destroyed my home world, Urgash," then you now have two elements in play, Dr. Omega and Urgash. Details of these can be added during play as players tag those aspects. Successful knowledge checks can also be used by players to introduce facts into the game.

If you're looking for something more serious, Burning Wheel is a good choice. Like FATE, character sheets inform the GM how those characters should be challenged: by their choice of skills, establishing relationships with individual NPCs and organizations, individual character traits, and most importantly, their character's beliefs.

Whereas FATE produces fast, action-centered, short scenarios, Burning Wheel is more appropriate for campaigns. FATE is by far easier to play, while Burning Wheel has a great deal of crunch, most of which can be ignored when desired.

I run FATE at role-playing conventions specifically because it requires very little prep.

Smeelbo Baggends
Abuser of BBCodes

[Scrivener]

The nice thing about running a pre-packaged campaign is that if you have plenty of prep time you can go through and change things to suit your party better, whereas if you have less time (or effort) available you can run an adventure pretty much straight.

In fact, in my experience the amount of rewriting that a GM does has a very small impact on how much fun an adventure is, relative to the amount of effort put into rewriting it. Yes, that even includes my own awesome rewrites.

Mostly true.

Large and involved rewrites are a waste of time. Changing some back stories, or adding an encounter you/the party would love, is very worth while. The best use of rewrites I have found is cutting things no one cares about.

[tussock]

B) Steamroll that shit. Put the players 2 levels higher than the AP suggests, double up on the encounters (add suitable random stuff from the DMG tables, or use two APs, or just increase numbers per fight), and it's like you're playing AD&D (only with rules).

A lot of those rules-light games present challenges in much the same way, things to steamroll and move the story along, and 3e works fine that way. Even the worst characters contribute.

[hogarth]

Mostly true.

Large and involved rewrites are a waste of time. Changing some back stories, or adding an encounter you/the party would love, is very worth while. The best use of rewrites I have found is cutting things no one cares about.

I have never had the experience where the GM added an awesome encounter to a pre-packaged adventure. On the contrary, I've had several experiences where the GM added a terrible encounter to a pre-packaged adventure, but mostly the added encounters have been neither more nor less interesting than what's in there already (despite the GM's obvious enthusiasm for his own stuff).

I agree that simple changes like renaming characters to fit a back story or dropping encounters is easy and harmless.

[8d8]

I find Savage Worlds to be super easy, and flexible enough to work in a variety of genres. As MC you're going to memorize your options pretty fast (they aren't overwhelming) and then making enemies takes about a minute each. While the game has its flaws, the initiative system is fantastic.

[AndreiChekov]

If you are willing to download it, there is a wheel of time 3.0 clone. And it also has a premade adventure. On top of that, there is the fact that lots of people have read and enjoyed those books, and know what the world is like, so you can easily introduce people to the game.

I've run the adventure path myself several times now, and each time it never actually finished because people were too busy trying to metagame their way to be there for events in the series.

[MisterDee]

Count me in the "run a prepackaged module" camp.

If it's Pathfinder, use the Combat Manager application to handle the fights. Sure, you have to build the fights in the software but it's mindless chore, and making the fight toughers is simple (just throw in a couple of extra monsters here and there)

It's not going to be a lifechanging transcendent experience, but it's more than sufficient for a fun evening.

[silva]

Go play videogames.

[TheFlatline]

If you are willing to download it, there is a wheel of time 3.0 clone. And it also has a premade adventure. On top of that, there is the fact that lots of people have read and enjoyed those books, and know what the world is like, so you can easily introduce people to the game.

I've run the adventure path myself several times now, and each time it never actually finished because people were too busy trying to metagame their way to be there for events in the series.

Oh man Wheel of Time D20 was... funky. It seriously suffered from BMX Bandit/Angel Summoner problems. The "checks" were pretty much in game fluff.

Though I did do a homebrew staff master PrC that actually was pretty cool as a BMX Bandit. It basically allowed you to use your staff to either shit attacks TWF style or buff your melee defense but sacrifice your extra attacks. I think I also added a few little things like deflect arrows and the ability to resist sundering (I was a big fan of sundering at the time).

[Neurosis]

based almost entirely on nothing, I'd recommend Kobolds Ate My Baby...if you do try it let me know how it goes.

I own it I think but I've never run it because I'm almost never in the mood for something light.