What rules light fantasy system would you recommend for 'winging it'?

I've just started running Savage Worlds and love it! Very easy to Wing it!

Beldar

In A Wicked Age, definitely. That game's like a fine wine. No prep, even for the first session.

RISUS

Also very simple, with no prep time necessary...and free.

QAGS

The Quick Ass Game System. I've been running and playing pick up games with it for over a decade.

Aus_Snow said:

It'll also need to be pretty damn near complete, or close enough that I - the GM in this scenario - don't have to build the things I need, as I need them, or even modify stuff much (if at all.) That kind of thing's fine for games for which prep is assumed, and I'm cool with it in those cases, but this should be different.

Click to expand...

It depends on what you mean by this. What kind of things are you worried that you might have to "build"?

For my recommendations, D6 Fantasy from West End Games is pretty rules-lite. It plays fast, and you can be up and running with characters created in about as much time as it's taking me to write this post. The only downside is the magic system. You build your own spells, a process which is pretty cumbersome. There are about 30 premade spells in the book, and dozens of others available in other D6 books. Plus there are alternate supernatural power systems in other books that are easier (Psionics in D6 Adventure, Metaphysics in D6 Space).

For something a little more tactical, Legends of the Ancient World (a streamlined clone of The Fantasy Trip, which was the forerunner of GURPS) from Dark City Games is good. It assumes the use of miniatures or at least a hex map, but I've run it pbp without and it went just fine. It's a free 7 page download from the Dark City Games website. It has a sizeable spell list, but is lacking in a bestiary, though stats for several monsters can be pulled from the summoning spell descriptions.

Finally, Broadsword from Deep 7 is meant to be picked up and played on the spot. It is part of their 1 pg game line-up (it's not actually one page, the download is 16 pages I think, but the core rules common to all 1 pg games do fit on one page). It's available for download for about $4. There is also a supplement, World of Broadsword, with a gazetteer and bestiary. You have to construct your own spells in this as well, but it is a very simple process, takes about 5 seconds to construct a spell.

Broadsword is probably your best bet.

Here's a review: http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/13/13301.phtml

bento said:

I'd suggest FUDGE, also my Mr. Sullivan.

You just need a rough guideline of the player's and opponent's traits and you use three d6 for resolution. Traits can be anything that describes a character - an attribute, skill, inherited gift, etc. Traits can also be placed on a scale ranging from Terrible to Superb.

The 1995 version of the rules are free online.

Click to expand...

I would argue that nobody actually plays FUDGE, they play FUDGE X (where X is a genre, setting, etc). FUDGE requires preparation -- the GM must, at the very least, define basic lists of acceptable traits, skills, gifts and so forth prior to actual play (and, arguably, he must decide which of the many different dice rolling methods, injury rules, etc he is going to use).

Oh Man! how could I have not recomended In a Wicked Age? I'll second that and retract my original post. It should be your first choice.
Then I'd go Castles and Crusdaes which is slightly simpler then AD&D in my opinion.
But my still fave system is HeroQuest, I loved FUDGE when it was first released and -again in my opinion- graduated to HeroQuest which opperates basicaly the same its just a much more elegant system.

jdrakeh said:

I would argue that nobody actually plays FUDGE, they play FUDGE X (where X is a genre, setting, etc). FUDGE requires preparation -- the GM must, at the very least, define basic lists of acceptable traits, skills, gifts and so forth prior to actual play (and, arguably, he must decide which of the many different dice rolling methods, injury rules, etc he is going to use).

Click to expand...

You know, before I posted my previous message, I had written FUDGE/FATE, but thought since FUDGE is one of the potential mechanics you can use in FATE, I edited it out.

But if the OP is just asking for a simple ruleset he can use to throw a game together, using the FUDGE mechanic, along with some general traits he devises, could be enough. GM decides some general abilities (Brawn / Smarts / Health) and players come up with a few character traits (swordsman, healing, fireball, etc.) on their own. Use the idea from FATE to have the players create their characters in three phases, giving them three points each round to allocate to one of these traits. At the end of the character building rounds you add up the points allocated to each trait; One point = fair, two = good, and three = great.

I think FUDGE gets the bad rap because most people think of a game as something to sustain over a period of sessions. In this regard, FUDGE requires an investment by the GM to build something permanent for the players to build on. But perhaps for a quick pick-up game, it would work well.

I'll have to look into the other Sullivan game you point out James.

Aus Snow - here's the two page version of FUDGE.

OD&D(1974)

diaglo "i've been winging it since the 70's" Ooi

I will also nominate Savage Worlds. In the time it takes for people to create characters (10-20 minutes, less with practice), you can prep a full night of gaming. It's that easy. Very easy to adjudicate on the go. I liked it so much, I'm running a fantasy campaign in the system. You can read all about it and decide if this is what you are looking for here:
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=213056

Hope This Helps,
Flynn