5E burnout - looking for a summer RPG

[MNblockhead]

• Index Card RPG (Runehammer Games)

I have the first edition of the ICRPG book. Never got around to running it. I thought it would be fun to do a genre-jumping game, beer and pretzels jumping-through-time portals from medieval fantasy, to old west, to future sci fi. It is a system that seems like it would be easy to do this, so long as you don't take things too seriously. Part of what killed my plans to run the game is COVID and going to on-line play. Too lazy to create tiles from the index card images/pdfs. I haven't checked to see if Runehammer has made their system and assets available for Foundry or Roll20 yet. If they did, I would likely run it as a mini-campaign.

 

[MNblockhead]

IMO, it's natural that people will recommend what they know and like. I'm trying to broaden my scope, in part, so that I don't fall in the habit of recommending pet systems over and over again; instead, I want to better address the needs of the petitioner. (It's a work in progress.) I personally feel a bit silly recommending ICRPG a lot lately - it's not really one of my pet systems - but there have been a number of threads where it meets the basic criteria presented by the petitioner. In this case, sci-fi/generic games with free quick starts.

Yeah, I try to recommend systems the meet what the OP is asking for. At the same time, I only like to recommend systems I've either played or at least have read through and understand.

I also avoid overly niche games. For example, I love Dialect: A Game About Language and How it Dies. I've had some very good experiences with that game, but it just isn't for everyone. Also, I don't think it works well as a Beer & Pretzles game, like the OP seems to be asking for. Also, even through you could absolutely play it online, I feel it is a much better experience in person. And while it is rules light, it is such a different way of playing TTRPGs, it can be harder for some people to grok than another stats and dice game.

I also left off GRIN. It is a TTRPG that has one page of rules and uses a custom deck of cards. I actually used it as part of my 5e game when the players went into the Feywild and I wanted to creat a very different feel to make it feel like an alien and dagerous place where they didn't understand exactly how reality worked and where things felt chaotic. It is a fun game. And it is free: https://www.arcana-games.com/_files/ugd/98d507_ca8d6a569cbc441784f7ec28342ebef7.pdf. If I were to run it online, I would create digital cards and put them into Foundry using its new card-playing functionality. But that might be more effort than many people would want to deal with. EDIT: as I was creating this I looked at the rules again. You can play with a standard 52 deck of playing cards. So you can play on any VTT that support card decks, which will generally come with at least one standard deck for free. When I played, I bought the specialty deck. I forgot that you don't need the specialty deck to play.

 

[GMMichael]

How these threads go: "I know the perfect game for your needs! You should try [insert my pet game here]!"

I know the perfect game for your needs! You should try Modos 2!

(Did I nail it? I think I nailed it.)

• break from swords & sorcery / fantasy would be great . Spies , espionage , sci-fi , etc
• rules light , good for online play - ToM or perhaps Zoom whiteboard or Owlbear Rodeo.
• low cost or free quick start rules would be great or low cost buy in

• No single genre baked into the rules, with examples from different genres throughout.
• Use the FastPlayRules if one page of rules is all you want.
• Free. Unless you want to offer a quad, two-pump vanilla, organic milk venti latte cost and get the deluxe version.

 

[Aldarc]

I have the first edition of the ICRPG book. Never got around to running it. I thought it would be fun to do a genre-jumping game, beer and pretzels jumping-through-time portals from medieval fantasy, to old west, to future sci fi. It is a system that seems like it would be easy to do this, so long as you don't take things too seriously. Part of what killed my plans to run the game is COVID and going to on-line play. Too lazy to create tiles from the index card images/pdfs. I haven't checked to see if Runehammer has made their system and assets available for Foundry or Roll20 yet. If they did, I would likely run it as a mini-campaign.

If you bought the first edition of ICRPG on DriveThruRPG, then the pdf copy for both the 2nd Edition and Master Edition should be free as welll.

 

[MNblockhead]

If you bought the first edition of ICRPG on DriveThruRPG, then the pdf copy for both the 2nd Edition and Master Edition should be free as welll.

Didn't know that. I'll have to pick them up.

 

[Campbell]

Given what you are looking for I'd suggest looking at Infinity. Infinity has a much better Quickstart though. Infinity has a strong admixture of intrigue/espionage with human centric sci-fi with a strong Altered Carbon vibe. It's explicitly designed for theater of the mind play as it uses abstract zones rather than tracking movement by concrete distances. We played over Discord with minimal issues.

There's plenty of decent scenarios if module support is important to you.

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

I would also suggest looking at Starforged which is a game about boldly going into the unknown and forging your own destiny. It includes a number of great prompts that make designing the setting as you go fairly easy. It's a really quick game to get into. At $20 it's a relatively cheap game to get into.

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

 

[c22system]

There are already a lot of good suggestions here. I have had a lot of fun with Savage worlds for a supernatural World War II setting and I plan to give Stars without number another chance.

If you want some more out there systems and you do not mind horror Dread and its preset adventure Beneath the metal sky is great. If you have good camping experience, Beneath the Full Moon can be good too. I just did not have the right knowledge to make it exciting enough.

A card system about super powdered gangsters in the roaring 20s - Capers.

These next two are both deck builders with playing cards so online play needs playingcards.io to work right, but they are fun for longer campaigns.

Parselings - a modern Deck building RPG about using collaborative word magic and discovering your place in it. The game takes place in a world like our own, but with one major difference – to some, words have literal power. Parsecytes, swarms of ravenous ink-like parasitic organisms, have emerged into the world causing irreversible changes to society and our ecosystem.

Freelancer's Guide to a profit-focused living is a deckbuilding tabletop roleplaying game about making a living in a megacorp ruled galaxy. You and your crew will create great plans like characters in the movies Ocean's Eleven and Now You See Me, and then execute those plans like characters from shows like Cowboy Bebop or Firefly. This is a link to the free version but the system might be more complex than you are looking for.

 

[aramis erak]

Now this would be a change of pace … I played waay back probably 25+ years ago - still remember Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues wonder if I can get player buy in . I’d forgotten it was still around, I should immediately report to the food vats!

A far better adventure than Into the outdoors with gun and camera... which resulted in a hextuple TPK. Those exiting shooting those not for disobeying orders, those staying behind executing those who left for security clearance violation.