We’re going into the final stretch of #RPGaDay2017. Only 9 days to go this year. The question for today is:
August 22: Which RPGs are the easiest for you to run?
Not to sound like a broken record (or damaged MP3 would be a better analogy?) but… Well it’s D&D. My take on the common phrase that gives this post its title summarizes how I feel. D&D, the D20 system, in all different variations, is so familiar, that I can run it easily. But… (and you knew there was a but coming!)
It is exactly because there have been so many editions and versions of the game that there is always something new to try. I don’t think I would have been playing D&D still if there had been just one edition over the last 31 years I’ve been playing.
If you take the system out of the equation, and think about the type of game that’s easiest for me, I would say intrigue and political games. Games where the players must deal with the machinations of power groups and secret societies, navigate politics and religion and use their wits to get out of situations beyond the battlefield.
Emirikol always starts with diplomacy… Diplomacy is what he calls his Death Ray!
I can hear some of you saying, “And your game is D&D?” There is the perception that the mechanics of D&D, in all the variations, do not support this type of game. And true, not all versions have, but this type of game is more a matter of the GM and the players than the system. Of course, there are systems that support this. Having recently played Legacy: Life Among the Ruins 2nd edition (the Kickstarter ends the 24th so check it out), a game Powered by the Apocalypse, I can see how such a game would support the type of campaign I enjoy… But I truly believe you can role-play with any system, if the players and the GM all know what they want to play.
The companion to this series of posts are our vide responses to the questions of #RPGaDay2017 over at the Desde la Fosa YouTube channel. Me and the team at Desde la Fosa are recording our answers in Spanish. If you speak the language we appreciate the views, if you don’t, we are thankful for any shares.
Which RPGs are easiest for you to use? Let us know here in the comments or tag us in social media.
This sort of links into my answer for the least words question this year. My answer to that was Car Wars. This is a Car Wars character sheet. https://gamebooks.org/scans/CarWars/carwars5sheet.gif Even though the entire character was defined just with 3 skills and 4 other properties such as hit points and prestige (experience) we had no problem playing political intrigue games right after playing a real shoot’em up. The game mechanics of a game do not limit your imagination all they can do is either make it easier or harder to put numbers on actions in the name of ‘game balance’.
I barely played Car Wars back in High School, but remember it fondly. What you say is true. We played some complex games back in the day with less rules…
Thanks as always for reading and commenting.