What's "rules light" to you?

[Glyfair]

I think there are at least two different areas where you could explore to define a "rules light" systems. First, I think is the "purist" area. If a game has few actual rules, it's rules light. It pretty much follows from the name.

On the other hand, you could consider how often the players interact with the rules. For example, if you have a system with exactly one mechanic - roll d% and compare to a table, there might be an incredible number of interactions with the rules. I could see a large RPG book just of tables that you use to check the d% roll. Technically, it's "rules light" but I think most people would disagree because of the amount of time and effort of interacting with the rules.

Paranoia might fail the first test (I've actually never played or ran it, but have watched a lot of games) but certainly would pass the second test.

 

[wingsandsword]

I always considered BESM to be the quintessential "rules light" RPG. Now, the second edition added the material from the suppliments, and lots of options, which padded out the page count, but the first edition and the actual heart of the game was so simple it fit in a short booklet in large print with plenty of illustrations.

Having not even played it in 4 or 5 years I could still sit down and write down practically the entire system on one sheet of paper, teach a complete novice the rules of the game in less than 5 minutes, and run it without hardly ever having to look at the book, just because it's simple and uniform. It will run a wide variety of genres, is highly flexible, and the rules virtually never get in the way of the fun ("but the rules say you can't do that!").

Now, that's rules light to me.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

TWERPS

 

[TheGM]

I think the core set of 3.5 is rules medium, assuming you count the old "Basic D&D" red books as the light end. With that said, 3.5 rapidly devolves to the complexity of RoleMaster if the GM allows too many supplements into the game.

I honestly don't get the people trying to represent RoleMaster as "rules light". You can get to be an expert on the rules, but combat has about 4x the steps of any other game I've played. Mind you, I'm still playing in an RM campaign, and loving it, but it is certainly better described as "the calculus of RPGs" than "rules light".

 

[SWBaxter]

I always considered BESM to be the quintessential "rules light" RPG. Now, the second edition added the material from the suppliments, and lots of options, which padded out the page count, but the first edition and the actual heart of the game was so simple it fit in a short booklet in large print with plenty of illustrations.

It's now available as Tri-Stat dX, which is a generified version with pretty much all the rules material from BESM and Silver Age Sentinels, in about 90 pages. Pretty decent book.

 

[woodelf]

Okay, this question came up in another thread; the assertion was most people here think "lighter than 3e" is rules light; I wasn't so sure about that. Past polls show that I'm far from the only one who has been around the block in here.

So I offer this poll for your consumption.

Of course, there's at least one ringer in there: Fudge can be as light or as crunchy as you want it to be. Still, the default assumption is probably light enough to be "rules light" by most people's standards. So i'd say Fudge, The Window, and Over the Edge are the only examples on that list. Also, in hindsight i may have to retract my vote for Feng Shui. While it plays fast, and chargen is quick and easy, it really isn't what i think of as "rules lite", now that i think more about it: after all, it has probably 100pp of rules to define all the schticks.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

One problem with this poll is that it mostly reflects "what rules-lite (or lite-r) RPGs have ENWorld posters played/heard of."

Of games I've played, I'd say Silhouette Core, True20 and Tri-Stat qualify as rules-lite.

I didn't vote for HERO, but I do consider it lighter than 3e, at least from a player's perspective, because it seems to have fewer exceptions. Seems much harder (and heavier) on the GM, though.

 

[Kanegrundar]

Its the accounting behind making and advancing RM characters that convinces me it is immensely heavier than 3e.

I was about to reply to Akrasia in kind, but Psion said it so well.

Kane

 

[Turanil]

It's funny, on page 1 of the C&C PHB, it describes itself as "rules-light". Some here seem to disagree with that.

To vote on this poll, one should ideally know all of these games. If you don't know about C&C for example, it's better not to vote for it. Personally I only voted for the four games I now of. I couldn't vote for FUDGE, for example, since I don't anything about this game.

 

[Turanil]

TWERPS

and of course d02