1KM1KT Free RPG Community

This began over at The Solo-RPG challenge. I was inspired by "Doom: Semper Fidelis" submission for the Adapt a Computer Game into an RPG challenge, which was not only a good adaptation of a computer game; it was an excellent solitaire RPG as well. It used a balance of resource management in a "race against time" sort of scenario to pit the player against the evils of the die-roll generated environment. I thought it looked really good on paper and set about creating a variant for a fantasy setting to submit as my own version of a solo-rpg.

The result, ""was small enough that I could fit everything on one page. This seemed like a good idea to me, because the one thing that was bothering me about the whole, solo-rpg thing was the tendency to have to wade through page after page of random tables. A solitaire game should be easily portable... as convenient as a deck of cards. So, I set about making HEX fit on one page, and because the game was to emulate an RPG (albeit one that is played alone) I formatted the page to serve as a character sheet as well. I was happy with the results, but it got me thinking... wouldn't it be great if all role-playing games worked like this. Wouldn't it be great if all of the rules that a player needed to play a game were right there on the character sheet?

So I am sitting around with some new friends. They are non-gamers. They are normal type folks who have heard about the "evils" of D&D, and they really don't know anything about gaming. They do know that I love gaming and talk about it often. So, they asked me to run a game for them. Suddenly I was daunted! How do you run a role-playing game for someone new without overwhelming them with the detail? Have you ever tried showing the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 Players Handbook to a completely uninitiated player? It's scary.

I thought, "I can do this. We'll just start playing and I will introduce them to rules as we go along." To make sure things were kept simple, I jotted down a few notes on a piece of spiral bound notebook paper and we started to play. I created the game on the fly incorporating a number of concepts borrowed from other games (mine or others) and we played. As we played I would explain how things worked and introduce concepts. I kept the number of different concepts small and the game play simple. The end result was excellent and fun was had by all. More than I was expecting, as the friends insisted that I come back the next day to play again.

The next day at work I set about typing up the "rules" I had introduced to my new players. I worked at clarifying and cleaning up a few inconsistencies as I put the rules to paper. The collection of rules were small and manageable enough that I was pretty sure I could get them all on one page, and I set about formatting them identically to the HEX solo-RPG that I had done, putting character sheet and rules all together in one place.

The result is "RPG" the one-page fantasy role-playing game, and I am very happy with it. It is proving to be very functional in play-testing and I believe it to be an ideal way to introduce the uninitiated to the world of Fantasy Role-Playing.

For my players I went ahead and created the characters for them and just started them playing. I explained rules as they came up and just allowed everything to "happen" while we played. It was excellent.



And so, I have done it. I have created an RPG that is also a Character Sheet. It's tight, it's clean, it's easy to play, to teach, and to learn. Granted, there is nothing here to help the GM and so an experienced referee would be required. (I am thinking of writing a 1 page sample adventure to cover the GM side of things.) Now, I present this challenge to other designers. Can you create an RPG that has everything that a player needs to play the game on the Character Sheet?

Jeff, it's a marvellous tour de force! I love it and will give it a go with the wifw this weekend.

I've always HATED character sheets from other games because they normally just look like spreadsheets. Lots of lines, crammed in, no graphics. No style. Dull.

That's why I created , where I forcibly stop people from writing numbers on the character sheet. It takes some getting used to but the players love it.

I love the Icar sheet. I have looked at it before. I realize now why you wanted people to write something other than numbers on their sheet. You are right, so many sheets are nothing but boring spreadsheets. Still, the Icar sheet is daunting to a first time player. I still haven't tried to play an Icar game because it all just looks so scary. Have you ever thought of creating a 5 to 10 page Icar introduction / quick start variant that would introduce new players to the concepts and start them playing right away?

That's definitely on the slate of things to do. My problem is that there is so much in my head that needs to go down in print (pdf) that I just don't have time to get it out onto the page. If I start to deviate away from writing the core books, my players would lynch me. Everytime I think of a side project, they start tapping their heels and raising their eyebrows!

It's a true point that needs some introduction. I've tried to do that in the Elements (rule book) but a Quick start would be a very good idea.

Wow a vastly superior product than my first one
I will have to take a second stab at this concept in a few weeks
Will put more thought into it than the first try
thanks for sharing it

You know what you could do with the Icar sheet? Print out two copies, cut out all the circles, and attach them to the complete sheet in their proper places with paper fasteners. And then you could spin them.

...okay, that's my random contribution for the day. ;P

Hey Jeff

R.P.G is sweet. Once again well done.

I have just submitted my response to this challenge to Keeton. It's entitled One Page RPG - Fantasy Edition, and uses a simplified mod of my BLYSS system aimed at accessibility to new players while not losing the "soul" (as it were) of the system.

Nicely done. I like the use of color in the sheet design to isolate the character sheet portion from the rules. The content may be a little complex for the format but the execution is flawless and the sheet looks marvelous.

i would like to see it
did it get posted
hope to glean ideas for my own