What Is Your Go-To Pick-Up TTRPG?

[overgeeked]

Lasers and Feelings

That’s another great one. So easy to hack into just about anything you’d want.

 

[MGibster]

What is your go-to pick up game? What game are you most inclined to, comfortable with, like most, etc... so that you will run it on the fly without much notice. Do you grab a well worn module? Run it completely without prep? How often do you run pick up games anyway?

I typically turn to Savage Worlds whenever I'm running a game for which there's either no RPG for, I don't own the specific RPG, or when I think my players will prefer it to a different set of rules. It's pretty easy to adapt many RPGs to Savage Worlds, I know it well enough that I can come up with basic enemies on the fly, and I like it.

 

[Kromanjon]

Nothing prepared and we actually want to play tonight? Not just make characters? I'd probably go with Into the Odd.

 

[thullgrim]

Another vote for SWADE. Teachable in ten minutes, tons of options, lots of short one page adventures.

 

[Aldarc]

Fate Accelerated, World of Dungeons, and possibly Dragonbane.

 

[Dbudzik]

Any of the Borgs, Into the Odd, and now, Mythic Bastionland. Also Knave 2e.

 

[Umbran]

For a one-shot? Fate Accelerated Edition.

Some time ago, I put together a short set of questions I can ask a group, from which I can improvise a session without prior preparation.

 

[Reynard]

For a one-shot? Fate Accelerated Edition.

Some time ago, I put together a short set of questions I can ask a group, from which I can improvise a session without prior preparation.

Cool! Do you have the list handy?

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I haven't run anything with zero prep for a couple of years, but when I did, I had the best results with PtbA games, particularly Dungeon World and the fan-made Star Wars World.

I would also consider Grant Howitt's one-page RPGs.

Astonished that people are picking SWADE given my impression was it needed a fair amount of prep/material to really function, but I guess some people have that to hand.

 

[Reynard]

Astonished that people are picking SWADE given my impression was it needed a fair amount of prep/material to really function, but I guess some people have that to hand.

For my part, the ability to run a quick pickup game -- or any minimal to no prep game -- is familiarity with the system. If you know the system well, no matter what the system is, it is pretty trivial to put together interesting and "balanced" encounters on the fly. The rest is just whim, random charts or leaning on tried and true tropes.