What rules light fantasy system would you recommend for 'winging it'?
Another vote for Castles & Crusades. If your players know ANY edition of D&D it'll be the easiest to explain, and gameplay itself is lightning quick.
Of course, I'm personally partial to Rules Cyclopedia D&D also. But I understand that book (in printed form) can run you upwards of $50 nowadays. Because it's worth it...
Of course, I'm personally partial to Rules Cyclopedia D&D also. But I understand that book (in printed form) can run you upwards of $50 nowadays. Because it's worth it...
kensanata
Explorer
buzz
Adventurer
QFT.Ryan Stoughton said:
Games that have simple rules is one thing, but if those rules do nothing to actually generate situation and/or setting, you're pretty much in the same boat as if you were playing D&D 3.5.
E.g., I'd even consider fairly crunchy RPGs like Burning Wheel and Burning Empires fairly "pick-up", as the mere act of chargen basically hands the GM a phat list of scenario hooks.
Anyway some more suggestions for zero-prep PRGs:
Hero's Banner
Polaris
Universalis
Scurvy_Platypus
Explorer
I'm at work so I can't post some links. Sorry.
Donjon from Clinton Nixon. Same fellow that did The Shadows of Yesterday mentioned earlier.
It's not free, but I'm a _huge_ fan of Zorcerer of Zo. Written by Chad Underkoffler. You can find more information about the system (PDQ) here: http://www.atomicsockmonkey.com/freebies.asp The version of the rules that you can download from Atomic Sock Monkey are slightly out of date. ZoZ uses the "good parts" version of the PDQ system, which streamlines things a bit.
I explicitly ran this as a zero-prep game for my wife. After some time I switched back to doing minor prep just because I personally felt more comfortable with that.
You can read a review of it here: http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/12/12677.phtml
For sale here: http://enworld.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=23431&it=1&filters=0_0_10113
I'll note in passing that while the game is "fairy tale like", it doesn't have to be run that way. There's a humorous fantasy version of PDQ available called Questers of the Middle Realms.
http://enworld.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=20359&it=1
Tunnels and Trolls seems like it'd be pretty good (v5.5 or whatever the last one was before FFG got ahold of it) but I can't actually speak to it.
In a Wicked Age also seems like it'd be pretty good for that, but it's also aimed pretty explicitly at a _group_ of people, and since I don't have a group willing to try it (D&D/WW games only) I can't do anything with it.
Hero's Banner also seems like a pretty good possibility. The "generational" nature might not quite work for some people though. You can find it here: http://www.lulu.com/content/359191 and read a review of it here: http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/12/12838.phtml
Trollbabe seems like a pretty cool game too. I haven't had a chance to do anything with it, but the premise can be changed pretty easily to fit a number of different sorts of things. The key thing being that the character(s) is in conflict in some fashion.
A number of people dislike the creator of Trollbabe for various reasons. If you don't care about rpg theory and that whole thing, you should be fine. If you do, you probably already know whom the creator is and have your opinions formed.
http://www.adept-press.com/trollbabe/about.html
If you've got no idea what to do... In a Wicked Age seems like it'll handle that pretty good. For my Zorcerer of Zo game, I played around with developing ideas from either using the Once Upon a Time card game (Atlas games, makers of Feng Shui and other stuff) as well as Georges Polti's 36 Dramatic Situations. I actually have an ancient (1926 I think) copy of the book, but you can find them here: http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article255.asp
As with everything, people like to argue about how many dramatic situations there _really_ are.
Donjon from Clinton Nixon. Same fellow that did The Shadows of Yesterday mentioned earlier.
It's not free, but I'm a _huge_ fan of Zorcerer of Zo. Written by Chad Underkoffler. You can find more information about the system (PDQ) here: http://www.atomicsockmonkey.com/freebies.asp The version of the rules that you can download from Atomic Sock Monkey are slightly out of date. ZoZ uses the "good parts" version of the PDQ system, which streamlines things a bit.
I explicitly ran this as a zero-prep game for my wife. After some time I switched back to doing minor prep just because I personally felt more comfortable with that.
You can read a review of it here: http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/12/12677.phtml
For sale here: http://enworld.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=23431&it=1&filters=0_0_10113
I'll note in passing that while the game is "fairy tale like", it doesn't have to be run that way. There's a humorous fantasy version of PDQ available called Questers of the Middle Realms.
http://enworld.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=20359&it=1
Tunnels and Trolls seems like it'd be pretty good (v5.5 or whatever the last one was before FFG got ahold of it) but I can't actually speak to it.
In a Wicked Age also seems like it'd be pretty good for that, but it's also aimed pretty explicitly at a _group_ of people, and since I don't have a group willing to try it (D&D/WW games only) I can't do anything with it.
Hero's Banner also seems like a pretty good possibility. The "generational" nature might not quite work for some people though. You can find it here: http://www.lulu.com/content/359191 and read a review of it here: http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/12/12838.phtml
Trollbabe seems like a pretty cool game too. I haven't had a chance to do anything with it, but the premise can be changed pretty easily to fit a number of different sorts of things. The key thing being that the character(s) is in conflict in some fashion.
A number of people dislike the creator of Trollbabe for various reasons. If you don't care about rpg theory and that whole thing, you should be fine. If you do, you probably already know whom the creator is and have your opinions formed.
http://www.adept-press.com/trollbabe/about.html
If you've got no idea what to do... In a Wicked Age seems like it'll handle that pretty good. For my Zorcerer of Zo game, I played around with developing ideas from either using the Once Upon a Time card game (Atlas games, makers of Feng Shui and other stuff) as well as Georges Polti's 36 Dramatic Situations. I actually have an ancient (1926 I think) copy of the book, but you can find them here: http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article255.asp
As with everything, people like to argue about how many dramatic situations there _really_ are.
Aus_Snow
First Post
Wow. Awesome amounts of useful and interesting advice here. 
Thanks to all of you who've taken even a little time out to help.
I'll not count the hours investigating these many things toward prep time then, eh?
Well, assume the former then. One or both of the former, really. I'm not usually lacking for ideas, and my players - for the most part - are pretty creative too.
But even with 'a clue what to do', In a Wicked Age still sounds quite cool.
Thanks to all of you who've taken even a little time out to help.I'll not count the hours investigating these many things toward prep time then, eh?
Ryan Stoughton said:
Well, assume the former then. One or both of the former, really. I'm not usually lacking for ideas, and my players - for the most part - are pretty creative too.But even with 'a clue what to do', In a Wicked Age still sounds quite cool.
SavageRobby
First Post
Yeah, a lot of good stuff here. I'm glad I kept reading beyond a suggestion. I'm definitely going to check out a few of these games, if for nothing else than to steal ideas for my usual game.
