We begin the third week of #RPGaDay 2017 with "What RPGs are the Easiest to Run?"
The not so short answers: Anything I GM is Easy. Savage Worlds, D&D, Hackmaster, GURPS, PbtA, if I'm running the system, it's because I've picked up on the concepts and can easily related them to any new players.
Fun side story: I've seen plenty of rules-lite/improve heavy systems clunker down in the midst of combat, for a number of reasons, usually more in the player/GM spectrum. I managed to run the entire G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chieftain in Hackmaster in four hours and fifteen minutes. Did I mention that the PCs tripped the alarm early on, and outside of half-hour slog-fest when they did get pinned down in a room for a bit (It's f20 gaming, it happens.), they were able to break through and have a gripping, frantic running battle through the caverns beneath the steading? I don't have the exact casualties on hand, but they went through more than a dozen encounters, which, if they were playing other appropriate f20 games, would take numerous sessions for even the hardcore players I know. At 10:15 that night, the PCs were walking away from the burning steading with the chieftain's head in their possession, the end credits rolling, and the players taking their first deep breaths in hours. If you know your stuff, any RPG is "easy."
That being said, if I needed to run something RIGHT NOW and have it be easy and awesome, it would be Risus
C'mon, a handful of d6's, a scrap of paper to write down stats, and we're game for an adventure in the Horrible Dungeon of the Imminent Random Encounter, Supernatural Space Adventures Based Off of Comic Book Movie #15619, saving the village from the adorable rampage of dire pugs, or a simple trip to the convenience store to grab chips and queso.
Risus gives me the basic framework to make it happen.
Heck, those first three ideas could happen on the way to the store *spoilers!* The expired salsa is probably behind it all, but all fingers point to the guac.
Thanks #RPGaDay, I have the plot for the my next Illuminati University game!
EDIT: When the list comes out for #RPGaDay in July, I start knocking these bad boys out early for three reasons. First, my schedule in late August is particularly crazy, and I don't want to get this far in and not finish the experiment. Second, I don't want other people's answers to influence my measly thoughts, no matter how much better they are. Finally, I don't game enough that the sessions might radically alter my answers.
However, last night, our friendly 5th Edition D&D game was cancelled and who came to the rescue with a filler game? *THIS GUY*
And what did I run? Risus. Although, despite all the talk above about comic books and queso, it was a hard sci-fi game. Characters were part of the early Mars colonists, just starting to terraform the planet. Outside a few botched rolls that transformed the Strategic Program Advisor (aka "Mars Commissar") into Steve Urkel, the game was run entirely straight and it worked great.
It was only the last five minutes when I revealed Nazis and a White Martian grabbing the commissar in some caves beneath the surface that things were guaranteed to devolve into B-Movie status we love so very much whenever we get the chance to play again.
The not so short answers: Anything I GM is Easy. Savage Worlds, D&D, Hackmaster, GURPS, PbtA, if I'm running the system, it's because I've picked up on the concepts and can easily related them to any new players.
Fun side story: I've seen plenty of rules-lite/improve heavy systems clunker down in the midst of combat, for a number of reasons, usually more in the player/GM spectrum. I managed to run the entire G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chieftain in Hackmaster in four hours and fifteen minutes. Did I mention that the PCs tripped the alarm early on, and outside of half-hour slog-fest when they did get pinned down in a room for a bit (It's f20 gaming, it happens.), they were able to break through and have a gripping, frantic running battle through the caverns beneath the steading? I don't have the exact casualties on hand, but they went through more than a dozen encounters, which, if they were playing other appropriate f20 games, would take numerous sessions for even the hardcore players I know. At 10:15 that night, the PCs were walking away from the burning steading with the chieftain's head in their possession, the end credits rolling, and the players taking their first deep breaths in hours. If you know your stuff, any RPG is "easy."
That being said, if I needed to run something RIGHT NOW and have it be easy and awesome, it would be Risus
C'mon, a handful of d6's, a scrap of paper to write down stats, and we're game for an adventure in the Horrible Dungeon of the Imminent Random Encounter, Supernatural Space Adventures Based Off of Comic Book Movie #15619, saving the village from the adorable rampage of dire pugs, or a simple trip to the convenience store to grab chips and queso.
Risus gives me the basic framework to make it happen.
Heck, those first three ideas could happen on the way to the store *spoilers!* The expired salsa is probably behind it all, but all fingers point to the guac.
Thanks #RPGaDay, I have the plot for the my next Illuminati University game!
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| "I left my coupon for the queso back at the house..." |
However, last night, our friendly 5th Edition D&D game was cancelled and who came to the rescue with a filler game? *THIS GUY*
And what did I run? Risus. Although, despite all the talk above about comic books and queso, it was a hard sci-fi game. Characters were part of the early Mars colonists, just starting to terraform the planet. Outside a few botched rolls that transformed the Strategic Program Advisor (aka "Mars Commissar") into Steve Urkel, the game was run entirely straight and it worked great.
It was only the last five minutes when I revealed Nazis and a White Martian grabbing the commissar in some caves beneath the surface that things were guaranteed to devolve into B-Movie status we love so very much whenever we get the chance to play again.
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