The Gaming Den

Are there any RPG systems that are good for running sessions that last 15-30 minutes? Obviously it would likely cover single scenarios or something along those lines, and likely prefer small groups.

I know you can run micro-sessions with 'mainstream' systems, but they're not designed with that as a goal, so there's going to be a lot of inherent inefficiency that has to be sliced off in what would likely be an ad-hoc manner.

Dread? That is to say; the horror-based Jenga game.

It's pretty much shit though.

Danger Patrol could also work, I guess.

You probably want to look at foreign games (I'm looking at you, Japan) and indie games. Some which might fit that bill:

Maid: to start with, character creation takes about 5 minutes so even if you create a fresh cast for every session, that's not hurting the game length too much. Though for 15 minute sessions you'd want pre-gen, I guess. Or use a program or website to generate characters. It isn't about going on adventures or missions in the traditional sense, it's more about events happening at the mansion and the cast reacting. With optional rules for player characters to MAKE something happen if the MC rocks up too drunk to think of something. Because of this, you can make the events sufficiently small and self-contained to keep to a quick timeslot. Furthermore, action resolution is fast (largely because the rules are minimalist).

Nechronica: having looked over this, I think it's altogether possible, as long as you design the sessions to be short. Every session is supposed to have precisely one combat encounter, not zero, not two. Three is right out. It's split into three distinct phases (investigation + group chatter (reduce mental damage from previous sessions), combat, post-combat scavenging + chatter (reduce mental damage from the combat) + repairs). So by limiting the amount of investigation that's necessary and not having too many foes in the fight, you can make it a self-contained 20-minute thing.

3:16: probably? I mean each session is just "a bunch of combat encounters strung together", so you could probably just make it 1-2 of those and everything would work out peachy. Especially if people play to win as a team instead of the way it's "supposed" to be played.

I've played Danger Patrol, it was alright but it is very player dependent to drive the game forward and shape the narrative... though that can be said of any game.

I've heard good things about Maid and how it can be reskinned ("You are acolytes working for an Inquisitor") but never played it.

An ACKS dungeon crawl could work. The character sheets can fit on a post-it note (...OK, not the magic users). Have players roll to kill stuff, roll to detect stuff, roll to disarm stuff, and when one PC dies another backup takes their place.

I almost can't imagine wanting to play Poison'd for longer than that.

Maid and Paranoia, assuming you pregen some characters in advance.

Toon. Munchhausen.

-Username17

EABAnywhere.

I agree on Munchhausen. Explaining the game takes a minute at it's worst, the game becomes immediately transparent at the first two penalties or so. It's a game that's fun in short bursts, and doesn't lend itself well to hours in a row, even if it's fun multiple times.

Acknowledging that many players have difficulty managing their disgust at the very notion, I don't mind Barbarians of Lemuria/Barbarians of the Aftermath as a nominally expandable rules-lite, Fiasco for storytelling, Lasers and Feelings for dicking around for a couple of minutes, and Cthulhu Dark for run-and-hide investigative horror.

Fiasco can go pretty quick. Running a session as a series of skill challenges that we came up with in something like FAE or TOON/Primetime Adventures would get it done too. I also second MAID and Munchausen.

Bear World and it's bastard children are fast as fuck, but Bear World.

Kobolds Ate My Baby

Nebuchadnezzar wrote:Acknowledging that many players have difficulty managing their disgust at the very notion, I don't mind Barbarians of Lemuria/Barbarians of the Aftermath as a nominally expandable rules-lite, Fiasco for storytelling, Lasers and Feelings for dicking around for a couple of minutes, and Cthulhu Dark for run-and-hide investigative horror.

Can you talk more about Barbarians of Lemuria? I've heard good things about it, but I'm concerned by you saying "disgust at the very notion". What notion is troubling?

Grek wrote:

Nebuchadnezzar wrote:Acknowledging that many players have difficulty managing their disgust at the very notion, I don't mind Barbarians of Lemuria/Barbarians of the Aftermath as a nominally expandable rules-lite, Fiasco for storytelling, Lasers and Feelings for dicking around for a couple of minutes, and Cthulhu Dark for run-and-hide investigative horror.

Can you talk more about Barbarians of Lemuria? I've heard good things about it, but I'm concerned by you saying "disgust at the very notion". What notion is troubling?

I have actually never heard of Lasers & Feelings or Cthulhu Dark being mentioned on the Den, and certainly not on my own to form an opinion of disgust.

Munchausen seems good, but some of the reviews I've read with 'sample text' feel kinda awkward and makes you appreciate the effort it takes to have professional level comedy in media.

Forgive the hyperbole; I was speaking to the often vociferously professed dislike of rules-lites.

LF is a one page joke game about playing Star Trek, while Cthulhu Dark is a slight improvement from Dread with a 1-3d6 RNG.
BoL has characters that could fit on an efficient post-it note, with a simple resolution mechanic (2d6+ability+combat/career, TN9), and limited capacity for sword and sorcery level magic effects. I would need to give Barbarians of the Aftermath another look, but at a skim it seemed fine for RL pseudo-Gamma World.