There's a difference between a good starter RPG and a RPG that's low on math. Also, you may need to clarify whether it's just lots of math that scares you * or having complicated rules.
Something like Dread requires almost no math (you have to be able to count up to twelve or so), but would probably be a difficult starting RPG for people who aren't good with character-driven RP and who can't separate player success and character success. Dungeons And Dragons has lots of numbers and lots of rules, but the individual math bits are all very straightforward. Spirit Of The Century cuts the math down to adding or subtracting 1's and 2's to numbers that start in the 0-5 range, but has rules that will be hard to adjust to if you have experience with pretty much any other RPG—the indie crowd will be annoyed by the significant amount of mechanics it does have, while the mainstream crowd may not adapt well to the mechanics that focus on storytelling over simulation.
Depending on your players, any of those three could be good starting RPGs, and there are of course many others that other people could suggest. If you want decent advice, you're going to have to be a bit more specific.
edited 20th Mar '11 10:54:02 PM by Ironeye
I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.Going from ones I know:
4th edition D&D is a better edition for starters than 3.5 or before, but if you don't want to do the dungeon crawling stuff you're out of luck.
Toon has fairly simple mechanics, but you have to be a bit of a Looney Tunes fan and not mind the high chances of failure at most tasks. (Although failure is often more entertaining than success.)
Paranoia doesn't actually have rules (OK, it does in theory, but most of it's GM Fiat in any case), so unless you're the GM you don't have to (and indeed are encouraged not to) learn them, but it's also not very conducive to learning the Nakama attitude of most RP Gs. *
Exalted is pretty much right out for beginners.
Pokethulhu isn't an RPG, it's a Lovecraft Lite parody with rules thrown in for the hell of it. But you do get to shout "Byakhasaur! Use Vile Stench!"
edited 21st Mar '11 12:10:42 AM by CountDorku
/\ /\ /\ Mortasheen is basically... well think Pokemon, Terry Prachett, and David Cronenberg merged into one insane post-apocalyptic stew. You can find a list of the monsters (With monster types including Bioconstruct, Wormbrain, Zombie, Devilbirds, Vampires and other such nasties) here
I would say Exalted and Scion.
Of course, I'm rather biased, as those were my starter RP Gs.
Still, they're damn good games, and the stunt system is wonderful.
One of my few regrets about being born female is the inability to grow a handlebar mustache. -LandstanderMaid RPG if you don't mind saying "What the crap?" several times during a session when something weird happens.
The thing about making witty signature lines is that it first needs to actually be witty."Dogs in the Vineyard" requires you to have various types of dice (although you only really need to have a pair of each), but once you have bought them the rules are simple and elegant. (It gets around the math by assigning different dies to different tasks - eg. if you are bad at something you roll 1d4, if exceptional 1d10 etc.)
edited 26th Mar '11 5:26:26 AM by Vree
I think GURPS Lite is available as a free download.
Amber have virtually no math because it is diceless, but it takes a particularly good GM. In a diced game you have pages of descriptions of modifiers that you add, subtract or whatever from attack and damage rolls whereas in Amber you have page after page of examples and descriptions of how to game combat without dice.
When we say "math" I assume you mean manipulating numbers, because the actual math involved in most RP Gs is adding and subtracting with a bit of multiplication and division. TORG and various superhero systems use logrithmic scales but all that is recorded on charts if you can't do 2^7x25 or whatever in your head.
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you are probably right.Most White Wolf products are pretty straightforward on the math.
If I were to write some of the strange things that come under my eyes they would not be believed. ~Cora M. Strayer~

I was think about getting into RP Gs, but I find all the maths involves really intimidating, what's a good role playing game that's low on the number crunching?
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