Simple Game Systems

[Particle_Man]

I'll add "Don't Rest Your Head" to the mix.

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

I find Risus to be both simple and fairly useful. It's free too. Very easy to make up stuff on the fly for it.

I think Risus hits a sweet spot for simple and generic, but still viable and useful.

 

[rounser]

If only Dungeon Squad! had character levels...although adding them would probably kill the elegance of simplicity thing it has going on.

Risus and Fudge struck me as too open-ended, as if "nailing whispers to the wall", as someone put it. They seem less actual games than game design kits for tinkerers.

 

[Rel]

I love, love LUV Savage Worlds. But it is not in the same ballpark of simplicity as some of these other systems are.

 

[timbannock]

YOGC Miscellanea

Scroll down to the Crappiest RPG on Earth and UCrap.

Not sure if it counts, but it's definitely simple.

 

[jdrakeh]

YOGC Miscellanea

Scroll down to the Crappiest RPG on Earth and UCrap.

Not sure if it counts, but it's definitely simple.

That is awesomely funny. I'd play it! Also, it reminded me a bit of The Roleplaying Game.

 

[Korgoth]

Well, OD&D is pretty simple. Since you can't get the PDF any more, Swords & Wizardry: White Box, while a lot more verbose, is close to it.

1st edition Gamma World is quite simple, and succinct. Each later edition moved it away from its initial simplicity, though.

Classic Traveller (still in print!) is also quite simple, and excellent, but I admit that I've never figured out how to prep it easily. For me, a civilized high tech settings just have a lot of contingencies that I feel the need to plan for. I've played it less than other games, though, so maybe I just haven't hit upon the golden mean.

Having played Savage Worlds, I do not find it to be simple. It has some fun elements, but simple it ain't. "Simplicity" does have a relative component, though... MERP will seem simple after RoleMaster and Savage Worlds will seem simple after GURPS. Neither will be that simple to a non-gamer, I think.

 

[Ariosto]

I'm not keen on the probability spreads in Risus, but apparently a lot of folks make 'em work. Maybe there's more complexity in actual play than in the "rules as written" -- something that could be said of OD&D as well. Preference might depend on which kind of complexity and set of rules (for text is never the sum of rules in an RPG) one finds easier to employ.

 

[Mythmere1]

Swords & Wizardry fits into the category if you've played D&D before, but otherwise it's more complex than, say, Microlite.

 

[Dyson Logos]

I'm not keen on the probability spreads in Risus, but apparently a lot of folks make 'em work.

I'm not a fan of them either, but they work better there than they did in Over the Edge. Risus works best for short-term games, IMO.