#RPGaDay: Day 21

21. Which RPG does the most with the least words?

Answer: This is a great question and I think it's one that lends itself to the OSR, or at least rules-light systems. Most of the OSR D&D retro-clones do a lot within a relatively slim volume. Of the ones that I've picked up, White Box Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game probably does the most with the fewest words. I don't think it's my favorite version of that rule set, but in terms of how easy it is to just plug-and-play and teach to newbies, it's hard to beat. The page count is similar to Delving Deeper, but White Box FMAG has a lot more illustrations meaning fewer words overall. It might be the best beer-and-pretzel version of D&D you can buy, however, if you weren't an experienced role-player it might be difficult to extrapolate the kinds of layered and flavored campaigns of 1e AD&D. So the question then becomes: okay the rules get you playing, but for how long? Without more context, do these rules encourage and inspire play beyond dungeon crawls?

Whitehack is also a good candidate for a game with a low page count, but in its case, I almost want more description of how to apply the system. I really like some of its ideas, but there are a lot of places where it feels very vague, even if it was supposed to be intentionally open-ended. I need to get a better handle on this game because I think there's a lot of potential there. It's just pretty foreign to me right now, and I think it's the kind of game that requires a certain amount of investment of time and imagination. It's also worth noting that it's brevity (like the original D&D rules) leaves a lot up to the interpretation of each GM. This means it's likely that no two Whitehawk campaigns would ever be alike.

Finally, I want to mention a game that I don't own, but should, since it's pay-what-you-want. Questing Beast's Maze Rats looks like it might be the slimmest set of fantasy RPG rules you can buy that would get you up and running a game. It seems to be an efficient 2d6 game with some smart mechanics built for ease and convenience. Again, like White Box FMAG, I don't know how deep you could go with this game, but I don't know of an RPG that gets you playing with fewer words. If you haven't checked it out, here he is giving a tour.