Games you can pick up and play

[Kafkonia]

What non-d20 games are quick to pick up and start playing right away? What makes them quick -- simple rules? Random character generation? Minimal crunch?

 

[Kafkonia]

I guess I'll start out with my own example:

Marvel Super-Heroes -- The FASERIP version. Sure, you could wind up with some wonky characters by rolling them up, but that's entirely in keeping with a genre that has provided us with the Great Lakes Avengers, Justice League Antarctica, and the Flaming Carrot. I don't recall much as far as gameplay goes, but I can still rhyme off the scale from Feeble to Universal Class 5000, and it had that nice chart at the back.

 

[buzz]

InSpectres
Dogs in the Vineyard
Polaris
Universails
Primetime Adventures
Truth & Justice
Donjon

 

[Kafkonia]

InSpectres
Dogs in the Vineyard
Polaris
Universails
Primetime Adventures
Truth & Justice
Donjon

Is Primtime Adventures the one that lets you "roleplay in any tv genre" or words to that effect? I've seen that one at the FLGS, but I don't know that I watch enough TV to really appreciate it.

I don't believe I've heard of any of the others; care to provide some more details?

 

[Gentlegamer]

D&D Basic set (Moldvay edition)

 

[atomn]

Heroquest
Ninja Burger

 

[buzz]

Is Primtime Adventures the one that lets you "roleplay in any tv genre" or words to that effect?

Essentially. You create and play a TV series, be it one like Gilmore Girls or one like Battlestar Galactica.

As for the others, I'd Google around. They each have sites that do them much better justice than I could.

 

[Monstrosity]

Final Stand. I love this game and it's free. http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9913.phtml

It's a martial arts game and it takes about a minute to create a character for it.

 

[Kafkonia]

Heroquest
Ninja Burger

Are these RPGs? My one exposure to Heroquest was as a boardgame, and Ninja Burger (from the box) looks more like Munchkin: TCG or SPANC than a roleplaying game.

 

[TarionzCousin]

Amber Diceless Roleplaying. It helps to have read at least one of Zelazny's Amber books, but it's not required.

No dice, almost no system (higher score wins unless there are extenuating circumstances) make it very easy to hit the ground running.