[+] Rules light RPGs

[overgeeked]

Note this is a [+] thread. Keep it positive or keep out.

I'm a huge fan of rules light RPGs. The lighter the better. But I don't see much talk about rules light RPGs on here, so here's a thread.

The latest rules light RPG to make a splash is EZD6 by DM Scotty.

He put up a funny announcement video here:


The DriveThru link is here. No affiliate links were harmed (or used) in the posting of this link.

So anyone played EZD6 yet? How does it run?

Any other favorite rules light games people want to talk about or recommend?

 

[Yora]

As someone who is used to D&D 3rd edition and Pathfinder, and who has read GURPS and 2d20 rulebooks, I am considering Basic/Expert D&D and OD&D to be rules light.
They have a fair number of rough edges, but I think at the core there is a really solid system under them, which is why it's probably the second most used game engine in RPGs. By now there have been so many retroclones and derivates that it might even have beaten the d20 system in number of games. (Though probably still not sales.)
Oldschool Essentials manages to clean up the Basic/Expert rules very well without really making any actual changes.
Stars Without Number and Worlds Without Number have quite a number of options that can be used, but under the hood they mostly retain much of the mechanical simplicity while making it very much a new modern game.

 

[Umbran]

Rules light? Fate Accelerated Edition (FAE, or just "Fate Accelerated"). Hardcopy rules available for $4 on Amazon, PDF is pay-what-you-want on DriveThru RPG, or online rules available for free here:

Fate Accelerated

fate-srd.com

The rules are some 40 digest-sized pages of not-dense text.

 

[Mezuka]

Barbarians of Lumeria is light. Makeup characters in 5 minutes and you are ready to play. The book includes a pseudo-hyperborean setting.

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

 

[JohnF]

I'll enthusiastically second FAE! Played it so much!

I'd also suggest a look at Cogs, Cakes, and Swordsticks and Shatter6, both of which are very rules light games with their hearts in the right places.

And @overgeeked you've recently made me give serious pursuit to the fkr vibe. Gratitude or eternal wrath is pending...

 

[overgeeked]

As someone who is used to D&D 3rd edition and Pathfinder, and who has read GURPS and 2d20 rulebooks, I am considering Basic/Expert D&D and OD&D to be rules light.

They have a fair number of rough edges, but I think at the core there is a really solid system under them, which is why it's probably the second most used game engine in RPGs. By now there have been so many retroclones and derivates that it might even have beaten the d20 system in number of games. (Though probably still not sales.)

Old-School Essentials manages to clean up the Basic/Expert rules very well without really making any actual changes.

Stars Without Number and Worlds Without Number have quite a number of options that can be used, but under the hood they mostly retain much of the mechanical simplicity while making it very much a new modern game.

I love me some B/X. I think OSE (especially OSE Advanced) is about the best D&D or D&D-like game on the market right now. The ease and hackability of a lighter engine plus the variety from AD&D.

SWN and WWN are some of the best sandbox building books out there. Absolutely love them. Though there's a lot to love in the various editions of Traveller for sci-fi sandbox building.

Rules light? Fate Accelerated Edition (FAE, or just "Fate Accelerated"). Hardcopy rules available for $4 on Amazon, PDF is pay-what-you-want on DriveThru RPG, or online rules available for free here:

Fate Accelerated

fate-srd.com

The rules are some 40 digest-sized pages of not-dense text.

It's surprising Fate Accelerated isn't more popular. I think it might be the art style. Gamers seem to think RPGs are serious business indeed so the cartoony style might be a turn off. I love aspects and stunts. Such a great idea.

Barbarians of Lumeria is light. Makeup characters in 5 minutes and you are ready to play. The book includes a pseudo-hyperborean setting.

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

There's also Everywhen, a generic version of BoL. I haven't read it but keep hearing good stuff about it. Love the advancement in BoL. Great way to evoke the literature in simple rules.

I'd also suggest a look at Cogs, Cakes, and Swordsticks and Shatter6, both of which are very rules light games with their hearts in the right places.

I haven't heard of those before. Thanks for the recs.

And @overgeeked you've recently made me give serious pursuit to the fkr vibe. Gratitude or eternal wrath is pending...

There's a lot of good stuff there. Even if you only mine the scene for ideas to bring back to games with more rules.

 

[overgeeked]

DM Scotty, Runehammer, and Quest Givers do an interview about EZD6.

 

[John R Davis]

BOL is great. Used it for lots of pop up one shot games of many genres

 

[Gradine]

I've tried running FAE once, and frankly I wasn't very impressed. Easily could have been on me though.

PbtA is to me the go to rules light system. Very simple to play and run. Monster of the Week is probably the most accessible, if not best, hack of it.

 

[aia_2]

I am very curious to get some clarifications about the concept of "light-rule system". I do not hide that I am interested since I am completing a new RPG with a new game system and I wanted to better understand some crucial point about the rule framework.
Hereby my questions:
1. What is a rules light exactly? A system which covers many details of the game with plain and easy to play rules or a system which does not cover many aspects of the game? In a nutshell: the lightness is in the learning by heart or in reading fastly because there is not so much to read?
2. What do you expect from a game where the lightness is merely the absence of game mechanics? (i.e. the second case in the previous point) At the end of the day this will not be light for the GM as he is in charge to invent a sub-system to fill the gaps.
3. Is the lightness intended for the players only or for both GM and players?

The last question is the most important to my eyes as I developed a set of rules heavily unbalanced on the shoulders of the GM...