Microlite20 : the smallest thing in gaming

[grimwell]

This streamlining of the system would make for a good way to introduce new players to the game. Run a brief campaign driven by these concepts, and then expand later into a fuller campaign with the entire rule set once the fundamentals are comfortable in the persons mind.

I can also see how this would be good to introduce children to gaming. Something I intend to do this winter.

Any chance you would put it in non-pdf format under the OGL when you are done tweaking? That would make it easier for people to hack in their house rules without printing separate pages.

 

[greywulf]

Nadaka: Cool. I hadn't thought of that, so I'd take that to be an unexpected advantage. That's more of a side-effect of the way d20 spell saves work, I guess.

To my mind, anything that make the players (or GM, in the guise of evil NPC baddies) think tactically (by which I mean: overcoming obstacles like magic being hard to affect higher level characters) is a Good Thing.

So, if the ninth-level spell Power Word: Invert Internal Organs is a great spell, but it'll only affect lower-level characters (because of their relatively poor saves), then the high-level mage has to think harder against more powerful opponents rather than expecting their magic to solve all problems. Maybe it's also why evil Magi tend to capture the Weak Girlfriend and threaten to incinerate her rather than the High-Level Hero.

That said, it won't be impossible for them to save - situation modifiers are all important here. Anything that puts a penalty on MIND is the key to getting magic through. This could be anything from annoying buzzing noises to Confusion spells and Insantiy. Also consider spells that affect the environment too. Rock to mud on the floor will affect DEX-based saves. Then toss in a fireball. Tactics. It's all about tactics

 

[greywulf]

Any chance you would put it in non-pdf format under the OGL when you are done tweaking? That would make it easier for people to hack in their house rules without printing separate pages.

Will do! I'll post it up as an .rtf for anyone's pleasure when I'm done.

 

[jmucchiello]

Timmundo: you're right, my bad. Anyone know if it's possible to display the OGL license in 2pt type in a footer? I /do/ want to keep within 2 pages Maybe I'll have to rename it to something else. Maybe "1d20 Microlite" or something!

Maybe you could make the OGL into a border...

But seriously, everything Tim said is true. I find it amusing that you called it microlite. That was my working title (OGL Microlite) for a similar rules reduction. (Though my goals did not include monster/spell/etc compatibility.)

 

[greywulf]

Maybe you could make the OGL into a border...

Or as a watermark.....hmmmmmmmmmmm...........

Seriously though, I've updated the PDF so it's got the OGL at the end. It's up to you whether you print it out or not, I guess

 

[Aeric]

There's no distances given, so it's all "in your head" fantasy. I'd run that like this:

Round 1
Player: I charge the Orcs!
GM: Cool. The Orcs bare their teeth and ready their axes. There's the glint of victory in their eyes. You'll be at +2 to hit on your next attack

Round 2
Player: I slash the first Orc
GM: ....

And combat continues.

Alernatively, the Orcs could have charged too and met the charge on round one. You'd both be at +2 to hit the next round, which kinda negates each other.

Or they could fire missile weapons. What they couldn't do is attack the first round, as (in effect) you're still some distance away. You're moving to meet them at the start of your next round, not run=>stop=>be hit by orcs=>hit back. That would be silly

Hooray for fudging encounter distances! Burn your [strike]bras[/strike] battlemaps!

After suffering through two campaigns that were very heavy on the dungeon crawl, I have decided that my next campaign will have very few dungeons, and of those dungeons that do exist, I will not be drawing out the map (or describing the layout in enough detail for the players to map it, i.e. "a 20' long, 5' wide corridor," etc.) be glossing over every room that doesn't have something interesting in it. There's no worse feeling than entering an empty dungeon room. What a waste of time! Instead, I will say "after about an hour of searching through various empty rooms, uninhabited barracks, and the like, you encounter...." It make take a bit of control out of the players' hands, but in the long run I think the game will benefit from it.

 

[scourger]

Oddly enough, when the rules are reduced, the role-playing increases. I'm sure others have found the same thing using other systems.

Yes. This is one of the reasons I'm into some other systems right now.

 

[Turanil]

Will do! I'll post it up as an .rtf for anyone's pleasure when I'm done.

Waiting for it... (bump).

 

[greywulf]

Waiting for it... (bump).

And here it is

Enjoy.

 

[Turanil]

Ah! cool! I had mistaken it for "Simple 20", and when lokking at Simple 20 I thought "Hum, the first version was better, why all those changes? I should better to track down the original thread...". Now I see that Microlite d20 and Simple 20 are two very different things...