[+] Rules light RPGs

[overgeeked]

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.

Back when it was new I played in a Star Wars FAE game. All Jedi. The game rocked. The trouble was the typical FAE problem of players constantly hitting their best approaches instead of doing anything else. It’s fine because the referee made us narrate our actions accordingly and when it didn’t make sense she’d veto. That was a lot of fun.

 

[overgeeked]

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?

It’s entirely subjective. But most people seem to agree that the less space the rules take up the lighter they are. To me, rules light is less than 20 odd pages. But my preference is 5 pages or less. The shorter the better. One-page games are great. One index card games are even better. One sentence games are better still.

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.

Fair mechanics that are easily used and understood and get out of the way so we can get on with playing.

Why assume it’s necessary to invent subsystems?

3. Is the lightness intended for the players only or for both GM and players?

Rules light games tend to be just that. Rules light. They typically have fewer, more broadly applicable rules that cover more ground.

 

[Ath-kethin]

The best TTRPG in the world is Dungeon Crawl Classics, bar none. It's lightweight and supremely adaptable, so it's easy to do whatever you need with it.
Note that rules-light is a bit of a misnomer here, since the spells section takes up like a full third of the rulebook, but that's because spell effects vary from caster to caster and even from casting to casting.
@nd place IMO is Basic Fantasy RPG, which is also super lightweight and adaptable, and it has the added bonus of being completely free* from it's publisher's website.

*well, the PDFs are free. The hardcovers are just ridiculously underpriced.

 

[overgeeked]

The best TTRPG in the world is Dungeon Crawl Classics, bar none. It's lightweight and supremely adaptable, so it's easy to do whatever you need with it.
Note that rules-light is a bit of a misnomer here, since the spells section takes up like a full third of the rulebook, but that's because spell effects vary from caster to caster and even from casting to casting.
@nd place IMO is Basic Fantasy RPG, which is also super lightweight and adaptable, and it has the added bonus of being completely free* from it's publisher's website.

*well, the PDFs are free. The hardcovers are just ridiculously underpriced.

As much as I love DCC, I would not call it rules light. The core mechanic might be light, but the game as a whole? No.

 

[schneeland]

In general, I also enjoy rules light games. Systems like Into the Odd, Mausritter oder Mörk Borg are really a joy to read when compared to more heavy-weight systems (even D&D5 took me a while).
In actual play, though, I found that I tend to favour systems at the upper end of rules-light (or lower end of rules medium), e.g. Year Zero games. One thing that probably qualifies for rules light and which I enjoy a lot is Broken Compass, a system geared towards modern day pulp action. Unfortunately, it's currently available in PDF only, but as far as I understood, Two Little Mice (the publisher) are working on bringing it into general distribution.

 

[overgeeked]

In general, I also enjoy rules light games. Systems like Into the Odd, Mausritter oder Mörk Borg are really a joy to read when compared to more heavy-weight systems (even D&D5 took me a while).
In actual play, though, I found that I tend to favour systems at the upper end of rules-light (or lower end of rules medium), e.g. Year Zero games. One thing that probably qualifies for rules light and which I enjoy a lot is Broken Compass, a system geared towards modern day pulp action. Unfortunately, it's currently available in PDF only, but as far as I understood, Two Little Mice (the publisher) are working on bringing it into general distribution.

Sweet. Broken Compass looks awesome. Pulp adventure is one of my favorite genres. I’m fine with PDFs, but I am coming back around to having physical copies of things on my shelves. Not sure about the dice system though. But the art is great. The gender-swapped Indiana Jones stuff is a great homage.

 

[Fenris-77]

Cthulhu Dark and Trophy (both flavors) are my current rules-light workhorses.

 

[Sir Brennen]

I've only gotten into rule light games just this year, and that's after almost 40 years of gaming. I really like the contrast to the more rules heavy games I've run recently, like D&D 5E and Savage Worlds. Since I played the original Holmes and Moldvay D&D editions back in the day, I find claims that the derivate B/X and similar systems to be "rules light" not entirely true by my own vague definition. Certainly, lighter rules than AD&D and all the d20 editions, but still a fair chunk of codification.

Specifically, Mork Borg and Death in Space are the games I've been digging into. MB core rules in particular only take up a couple of pages. Though it is funny, for situations which the rules don't cover I often just fall back on a simple rule from another game I've played and keep going.

 

[overgeeked]

Cthulhu Dark and Trophy (both flavors) are my current rules-light workhorses.

Cthulhu Dark is a lot of fun. Are you using it for Cthulhu horror or switching up the genre?

 

[overgeeked]

I've only gotten into rule light games just this year, and that's after almost 40 years of gaming. I really like the contrast to the more rules heavy games I've run recently, like D&D 5E and Savage Worlds. Since I played the original Holmes and Moldvay D&D editions back in the day, I find claims that the derivate B/X and similar systems to be "rules light" not entirely true by my own vague definition. Certainly, lighter rules than AD&D and all the d20 editions, but still a fair chunk of codification.

Yeah. Definitely lighter.

Specifically, Mork Borg and Death in Space are the games I've been digging into. MB core rules in particular only take up a couple of pages. Though it is funny, for situations which the rules don't cover I often just fall back on a simple rule from another game I've played and keep going.

I keep hearing good stuff about Mork Borg. What’s the draw for you, besides the lighter rules?

In a similar vein is Viking Death Squad. I have that and am reading through it. Runehammer does some good stuff.