RealAlHazred
Frumious Flumph (Your Grace/Your Eminence)
As has been said, simple is in the eye of the beholder. For instance, at its core Tunnels & Trolls is simple: figure out your adds and add them to a roll. However, you can do a variety of things to get adds, and the dice you roll can be modified due to other circumstances, and so on. BRP is simple: most simple tasks you roll d% and compare to a number, and for opposed tasks there's a chart where you compare each person's number, i.e. I have a 65% and they have a 55%, so I actually have a 60% chance of success. But then you add a host of skills based on what setting it is (1920s US/Melniboné/whaever) and optional rules like Luck, and it becomes more complex. My favorite is Hero System, which a lot of people say is complex; but at its heart it's 3d6 vs. some success chance, and effects of abilities are generally 1d6 points of effect for every 5 points of the ability. Once you become comfortable with it, it becomes simple as well.
IMO, the most simple "simple 1970s/1980s RPGs" are probably games based on 1970s/1980s games but with modern "simple RPG" design principles, like, say World of Dungeons or Searchers of the Unknown.
IMO, the most simple "simple 1970s/1980s RPGs" are probably games based on 1970s/1980s games but with modern "simple RPG" design principles, like, say World of Dungeons or Searchers of the Unknown.
