I might have discussed this again in the past.
But its been more than three years that I have gamed in Fantasy and I was wondering if I am missing a cool new system etc
Are you fine folks aware of any accomodating rules lite fantasy systems?
They dont have to be noob friendly, but I appreciate conciseness
FATE (both Core and FATE Accelerated).
OGL-based D&D retro-clones, such as Swords & Wizardry (clone of the 1974 "blue book" rules), or Dark Dungeons (clone of the 1983 Basic Rules).
Lords of Gossamer and Shadow, a diceless system.
In the Shadow of the Demon Lord.
It's not a "rules-light" game per se, but D&D 5e has a real "Old School" gaming feel while still being contemporary.
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I'd suggest you check out Fantasy AGE.
Dungeon World is a favorite of mine. The book is longish, but it's mostly just explaining concepts and play style of the game. During actual play, I've never referenced the book though as everything required is on the character sheet. To make a character, you grab a character sheet (or playbook as they're called) and start circling options and filling in blanks.
Oh, the other great thing about Dungeon World is it's based off the system of Apocalypse World, which is also a good game, and is used as the base system for dozens of good indie games out there.
Not specifically fantasy, but The Cypher System is on the lighter end of the rules spectrum, especially for enemies.
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I'll second Barbarians of Lemuria. Great system.
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I am becoming a huge fan of the Basic Role Playing system in it's many forms. My group has been running a fairly regular Call of Cthulhu campaign, we have experimented in a more gritty Teutonic Knights crusade with the system, and we use it to do some other one-shot gaming. It is a quick, easy system that has a ton of available adjustment in it to get the type of game you are looking for. Runequest, Call of Cthulhu, Ringworld, Elfquest, Elric....all use a variation of the system. I believe my group is going to be running a steampunk game with it soon, and we have messed about with cyberpunk in the past.
BRP system by Chaosium is really a great system that is easy to use, learn, and adapt to play just about any type of role-playing game you want to play.
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Have you looked into microlite20?
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Fantasy AGE is great, though at times veering towards medium-weight. Fortunately the more complex stuff comes up in the later phases of the game, so is excellent for starting players. Do yourself a favor and get the compiled DragonAGE rules too (even just the PDF), as they have a bit more options in them.
Barebones Fantasy is a great d100 based lite system. Recommended. Maybe you'll need to improvise a thing or two, but it's really flexible, so it's almost no hassle.
Recently I've been reading the Lone Wolf Adventure Game, which is really, really, really lite. I recommend using the options for experienced players right from the start.
If you're willing to do some (a lot) of homework building up custom options, monsters and stuff, Cortex Classic is awesome - but it's presented in a generic ruleset form, so you really have to customize it from the ground up.
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Dungeon World is a favorite of mine. The book is longish, but it's mostly just explaining concepts and play style of the game. During actual play, I've never referenced the book though as everything required is on the character sheet. To make a character, you grab a character sheet (or playbook as they're called) and start circling options and filling in blanks.
Yeah, Dungeon World is pretty cool. Most of the stuff there should be familiar to anyone who's ever played D&D in any shape or form, but the system itself is really simple.
It also plays a bit differently than regular D&D though, encouraging collaborative world-building and giving players a bit of narrative agency, but it's a cool simple system for playing something in the vein of traditional D&D fantasy with a few interesting twists.
The classes and sheets with the basic mechanics of the game are actually available for free, and you can find the rules for free as well (the website is called the Dungeon World Gazetteer). I also recommend Truncheon World, a truncated version of the rulebook, by Redbox Vancouver, because not only does it present the mechanics of the game very well it's got loads of great stuff at the end (for an example, potential questions for the GM to ask from their players depending on their choice of Race/Class, as well as alternative Bonds for each Class) and it's Pay What You Want on DriveThruRPG: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/121244/Truncheon-World-pdf
I also like it because it requires virtually zero prep. You just need a starting situation, maybe a map. Then the players will cause horrible, horrible things to happen to themselves without you needing to do anything. You get to focus on being creative about describing those horrible things.
Although not Fantasy specific,
FATE, FATE Accelerated, PDQ and PDQ#.
Although not Fantasy specific,
FATE, FATE Accelerated, PDQ and PDQ#.
Adding this extension, makes FATE into a fantasy system. But it does add rules, which might not be what you are looking for.
Have you looked at the Cypher System?
E6 for v3.5 D&D or E7 for PF
Thanks everyone!
I got the FantasyAge book and might try this one first.
But I will definetely (eventually) try most of the systems you brought up :)
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Barbarians of Lemuria is a great system. Very "conan" in feel, and it's free.
I started playing Dungeon World a few months ago, and am really loving the system! It's a great game for players who usually GM, as players get to do a fair amount of world-building.
The Black Hack
into the Odd
Are both very hot right now
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I started playing Dungeon World a few months ago, and am really loving the system! It's a great game for players who usually GM, as players get to do a fair amount of world-building.
If you like the "players get to do world-building" aspect of Dungeon World, I suggest you look at Fellowship: A Tabletop Adventure Game by Jacob Randolph. It's based on Dungeon World but developed into very much its own thing, and one of the rules in the game is that the players get to determine all the lore of their chosen people.
So, if you're playing the Elf, you get to tell everyone what elves are like in the setting (and there's support for playing elves as space aliens), if you're a Dwarf you get to determine what dwarves are like, and so on.
Haven't had the chance to run the game yet, just got it fresh off the printer this week and it looks great.
Good to see some of the free stuff from some of the game systems proposed. ;)
I just picked up the early relase version of Pugmire at drivethruRPG ($2 not the full game but enough to get started with)
Seems pretty rules lite and has an interesting setting
Took a few moments to make myself a character
Bazil Bichon (Ratter/level 1)
Once a soldier now works as a sword for hire in the poor parts of town fighting off monsters. He's a nasty piece of work that'll as soon bite ya as anything but he's still a good dog.
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I've come across a few systems in the past year which seem to work quite well for a rules lite fantasy game.
Eldritch Role Playing Game, by Dan Cross and Randall Petras is a solid system with some interesting dice mechanics. The main rulebook is pretty good, and adding in your own material isn't too hard either. I helped play test an adventure for this system, the expanded A Knight's Rest module, and really enjoyed the experience. I'll be using this system in the future.
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/143782/Eldritch-Role-Playing-System-Rev ised
D6xD6 is a more universal system, but can easily accommodate a fantasy setting. The core rules are fairly easy to grasp, and each setting adds its own flavor. I recently helped playtest a setting for this system, and found that it runs pretty smoothly. Not my favorite, but a solid contender, and you only need 2d6 and a notecard.
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/141792/D6xD6-RPG-Core-Book
Swords and Wizardry White Box isn't new, but I love it!
The Hero's Journey by Barrel Rider Games looks pretty solid, although I haven't played it yet.
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/177622/The-Heros-Journey-Fantasy-Rolepl aying-Swords--Wizardry
Hope you enjoy Fantasy Age and Happy Gaming!
Dragonage is a good system and pretty lite also you can download a quick start rules set for free from green ronin.
Also if you can find a set jaws of the six serpents is very easy
Dragon Age and Fantasy Age are the same system. Dragon Age just has some content that is specifically tied to the Dragon Age setting and Fantasy Age was released later as a more generic version of the original Dragon Age rpg.
I started playing Dungeon World a few months ago, and am really loving the system! It's a great game for players who usually GM, as players get to do a fair amount of world-building.
I read there is a pirate version of that somewhere too?
Anything that would make for sandbox naval adventures off the cuff would help..
Cubicle 7 is the latest company to take a shot at doing Tolkien. They have a history of doing rules light systems rather well for doctor who.
The one ring might be what you're looking for.
The One Ring is fairly rules lite although character gen can take a bit of time.
But that's mostly down to book design lots of page flipping.
And of course it's a very low magic system
I'm loving DCC (Dungeon Crawl Classics). It's D20 based, but brings in a great old school feel. Things like your race is your class (ie an Elf wields a sword and magic, halflings are rogues, etc).
There are no skills, no feats, and it doesn't require a map and minis, preferring to use Theater of the Mind play. Magic is dangerous and unpredictable. The game is pretty lethal, but can be absolutely hilarious as well.