Easy as

Written by John Flood (Darkmalice) of Mystecore Games

https://www.mystecore.games
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
 Easy as RPG
What is a Roleplaying Game? Character Creation
Think of it this way; it is a story you and This is where it gets fun for your players.
your player(s) are telling together. You set Ask them what their characters are, no
the scene, ask the them questions, and limitations: ANYTHING goes.
their answers drive the story. Sometimes Once they settle on one character idea,
they roll dice to see if they succeed. have them name their character and ask
them to draw them on the character
The Game Master
sheet.*
You are the Game Master (GM). Your job
is to keep the story rolling along; to make *Alternatively, they can paint, sculpt, grab a
it interesting by offering choices to the favourite toy, make a funny face, whatever
players, and to make sure everyone is is fun or practical, but let them create or
having fun. Any rules written here are just possess something tangible as an avatar for
guidelines, feel free to bend, twist or their imagination.
break them as you see fit; just try and So they have a character and a name, but
keep it consistent so you don’t confuse what does this character do? Do they
your players. have magic powers? Maybe they are real-
The Game System ly charming and everyone likes helping
When a character tries to do something them? Maybe they are really strong, fast
risky, the player should roll some dice. or pretty? Maybe they have a shotgun
They’ll be rolling six-sided dice (d6) and that fires bananas or makes monsters ex-
using only the highest result. plode! Maybe they are just really clever.
There are no wrong answers.
Whenever a roll is called the player has 1
die (1d6) to begin with. You want no more then three things
that the character can do well.
• if the task is something the character is Now you want to ask, what of these
good at, they have another 1d6 to roll things are they best at? Put an asterisk
with. next to that one.
• if the task is related to the thing they Lastly, if they have not already described
are best at, give them another 1d6. so, the character needs a tool, gimmick or
• if the character has a friend helping weapon that allows them to progress in
them, has the upper hand in the the story. This could be a sword, a guitar,
situation, or a useful item, give them a magic lamp or something they do to
another 1d6. cast magic like a dance or waving their
Once the dice are rolled look at the re- arms around. Bonus points here if you
sults. can give the player something tangible
If any of the dice are 4 or higher, then it’s like a toy version of their item, or get
a success! You might like to let the player them to perform the physical action when
describe what happens when they they want it to happen.
succeed, or you may decide to describe it
to them.
 Easy as RPG
The Setting When your player does something to
So now let’s set the scene. Ask your play- injure or scare away the enemy and
ers where the story takes place; maybe succeeds, that’s it. No health points or
it’s an enchanted forest, a dark cave, an injuries for baddies, they go down in one.
alien planet or a supermarket. Keep it Make this as humorous, light-hearted or
simple, and use their ideas to gauge what silly as you like, just make it satisfying.
kind of world this story is set in. Get Playing
Next, get out the paper and pencils and Now all you have to do is kick things off.
let them draw a map. Start with a cross to Describe the scene to your players using
mark where they start, and ask them sights, sounds and smells, and ask them
about where they are and how they got what is happening. Describe it a little
there. more for them and ask what are they
Now draw two or three circles on the going to do? Normally when they do
map and ask them what is there. Have something, it just happens. If their intend-
them draw in the circle to show what’s ed action would have an interesting con-
there and make a note, you can fill in the sequence, or is something they do well,
details if/when they get there. If your then have them roll for it. Act on the
players want to add more places at this result or let them dictate what happens.
point, let them go nuts. Any time they look to you for guidance, to
know what happens, you tell them and
The Baddies
again end with asking them “what do you
If it isn’t clear by now who or what the
do now?”
enemy or challenge is for this story, now
is the time to ask. It could be zombies, And that’s it. Just let the ideas flow be-
monsters, ghosts, aliens, bad weather, tween you. Their imagination is limitless,
whatever. Take the answers from the so make use of it by asking questions. Try
players and run with it, letting your own and keep a goal or ‘win condition’ in mind,
imagination go wild. Just make sure that somewhere to end the story in a victory
the baddies/challenges are always some- or satisfying way for the player. Keep it
thing the players recognise and under- simple and don’t push it on them, just let
stand. Some things are just instantly them drive things forward while you
recognisable as scary or menacing, like; enable their actions, sometimes upping
* things with big eyes and sharp teeth the tension or throwing in a surprise.
* giant insects Remember, your player has things they
* big slimy things are good at. Let them do those things to
Mix and match these traits with any overcome challenge, even when it some-
adversary and you have yourself some times might seem silly. Silly is fun.
antagonists to defeat. Of course your Finally, don’t forget to have really cool
players might love monsters more than items and treasures appear as rewards
heroes, so switch things up as you see fit; for doing awesome things and defeating
like being a giant dinosaur out to eat all down baddies. Don’t worry about values
the troublesome little cavemen! for treasure, just make them interesting.
 Easy as RPG
Advanced Rules
This section is entirely optional and
aimed at slightly older players, or those
playing more combat-based games.
Health
Players start with six health, represented
by hearts. If they fail a roll against an
enemy, they might have to cross out a
heart! Don’t worry though, they can erase
that cross by eating something healthy
(or tasty), or using some bandages, magic
or medicine to heal.
Experience and Levelling
When they do fail a roll, or maybe when
they do something really awesome, have
your player add +1XP.
Once they have 5XP they increase their
level (starting at level 1). They should
reset their XP to 0 and either tell you
something new that they are good at, or
that they are now even better at some-
thing they already were good at (giving
them an extra 1d6 for those rolls).
Each time they level up they also get a
new heart added to their existing hearts. your player just succeed at something, or
They should draw this on the sheet.
Money
You can also add in treasure with a value character. Maybe when they lose all their
in gold coins. Now they can indulge in
every gamers favourite pastime:
shopping!
I’ll leave you to create store lists, because Your baddy doesn't have to always inflict
I know you love doing that stuff.
Negative Traits
Ask players during creation for one thing
they are really scared of or allergic to,
maybe something the character hates
doing. This can provide another level of
challenge, another obstacle to overcome,
increasing the drama. Negatives like this
should be used creatively, not to deny the
player’s progress, but to make the
challenge or the story more interesting
and wins satisfying.
Negatives can also be used to narrow the
focus of a character or help you build the
story to avoid including them at all.
Overcoming one of these negative traits
with a success should be extra rewarding
(XP, treasure, etc.)
Enemy Health
If you want to increase the challenge of
enemies, give them 2 or 3 hearts instead
of going down to one successful hit.
Tiers of Success
You can add an extra dimension to rolls
by making a 4 or 5 result a partial
success, where the GM describes a twist
or complication to what happens; and a 6
is a full success where the players them-
selves describes what happens.
Player Death
Well, ending a story because you rolled
some bad dice isn’t fun. Usually. If the
dice are going badly, think about letting
maybe let them control another character
for a moment to help their own player-
hearts an angel drops in to help, or they
turn into a ghost with some cool new
powers.
damage either, it might just knock the
character down, cover them in gross
slime or steal something shiny.
You should always look to increase the
drama, to keep things interesting and
fun. Splatting your player’s character with
a boulder isn’t fun.
Okay maybe sometimes.
 Easy as RPG

What’s your name? Draw what you look like here

What are you?

What can you do? (3 things)

What do you have?

Advanced

Level:

Life:

XP (draw a circle): 0 1 2 3 4 5

Treasure: