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Good Starter RPGs?

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joeyjojo Happy New Year! from South Sydney: go the bunnies! Since: Jan, 2001
Happy New Year!
#1: Mar 20th 2011 at 8:01:28 PM

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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MrCales Since: Jan, 2013
#2: Mar 20th 2011 at 10:39:21 PM

The upcoming Mortasheen RPG, to shamelessly plug. To less shamelessly plug, Amber, most indie games.

joeyjojo Happy New Year! from South Sydney: go the bunnies! Since: Jan, 2001
Happy New Year!
#3: Mar 20th 2011 at 10:50:11 PM

Indie games are easier to get into then mainstream one?...That's odd.

So what's this Mortasheen you are pluging?

edited 20th Mar '11 10:50:54 PM by joeyjojo

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Ironeye Cutmaster-san from SoCal Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Falling within your bell curve
Cutmaster-san
#4: Mar 20th 2011 at 10:52:52 PM

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.
CountDorku Behold my legal acumen! from the depths of insanity (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Behold my legal acumen!
#5: Mar 21st 2011 at 12:09:27 AM

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

Dreamer Since: May, 2009
#6: Mar 21st 2011 at 10:46:47 AM

/\ /\ /\ 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

joeyjojo Happy New Year! from South Sydney: go the bunnies! Since: Jan, 2001
Happy New Year!
#7: Mar 23rd 2011 at 12:30:27 AM

[up] very creative monster designs, if more than a little disturbing.

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Kraftwerk kraftwerk Since: Sep, 2009
kraftwerk
#8: Mar 24th 2011 at 8:48:45 PM

Alternity or Exalted would be nice starting points if you hate math.

But honestly, you should embrace the number crunching, if you want to get introduced to RP Gs. Try Dn D, or GURPS

Deathonabun Bunny from the bedroom Since: Jan, 2001
Bunny
#9: Mar 24th 2011 at 9:16:51 PM

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. -Landstander
MorkaisChosen from Learning Since: Jan, 2001
#10: Mar 25th 2011 at 2:41:56 AM

I love Exalted, but I'm not certain I'd suggest it as a starter.

So many charms. So many errata.

FarseerLolotea from America's Finest City Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#11: Mar 25th 2011 at 1:07:09 PM

To shamelessly plug a project in which I was involved: Adventures In Oz, perhaps?

Usht Lv. 3 Genasi Wizard from an arbitrary view point. Since: Feb, 2011
Lv. 3 Genasi Wizard
#12: Mar 25th 2011 at 2:19:39 PM

Maid 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.
Otogi The House of Void/Hiphop from Around... Since: Nov, 2009
The House of Void/Hiphop
#13: Mar 25th 2011 at 2:26:26 PM

The Final Fantasy d6 game is actually pretty fun, customizable and has very simple math with the only frequency being a lot simple multiplication, and thats only occasional.

Miijhal Since: Jul, 2011
#14: Mar 25th 2011 at 6:56:04 PM

^^Seconding. Dice rolls are rare, and involve only 6 sided die.

Vree Since: Jan, 2001
#15: Mar 26th 2011 at 5:26:10 AM

"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

Michael So that's what this does Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Drift compatible
So that's what this does
#16: Mar 26th 2011 at 3:46:48 PM

If maths scare you, look at how you determine success. A lot of games are no more than "count how many dice came up showing a number higher than X"

thespacephantom Jamais vu from the smallest church in Saint-Saëns Since: Oct, 2009
Jamais vu
#17: Apr 4th 2011 at 5:53:03 PM

If you despise seriousness (Or not...) Try Stick Guy. It's FWEE.

UN JOUR JE SERAI DE RETOUR PRÈS DE TOI
66Scorpio Banned, selectively from Toronto, Canada Since: Nov, 2010
Banned, selectively
#18: Jul 11th 2011 at 1:53:14 PM

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.
drunkscriblerian Street Writing Man from Castle Geekhaven Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: In season
Street Writing Man
#19: Jul 13th 2011 at 6:31:35 PM

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~
MorkaisChosen from Learning Since: Jan, 2001
#20: Jul 16th 2011 at 8:12:52 AM

Tempted to suggest FATE, if a fairly narrative style's what you're after. Instead of pages of situational modifiers, you have a single mechanic- aspects. "It's dark, so we have In The Dark as an aspect you can use." Simple and elegant, IMO.

joeyjojo Happy New Year! from South Sydney: go the bunnies! Since: Jan, 2001
Happy New Year!
#21: Jul 16th 2011 at 8:26:44 AM

[up] FATE'?...

edited 16th Jul '11 8:27:23 AM by joeyjojo

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joeyjojo Happy New Year! from South Sydney: go the bunnies! Since: Jan, 2001
Happy New Year!
#22: Jul 17th 2011 at 12:12:55 AM

actually you know what? I've found a download of the rules, I give it a try...

It would be funny to see if it's really as awful as people make out at least tongue

edited 17th Jul '11 12:13:12 AM by joeyjojo

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Moogmg Since: Oct, 2012
#23: Jul 17th 2011 at 1:15:21 AM

I'm only slightly familiar with rpgs, Is fate the one where you like, role six not to have you anus ripped open by a rapist in magical racist caricature armor.

Ironeye Cutmaster-san from SoCal Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Falling within your bell curve
Cutmaster-san
#24: Jul 17th 2011 at 1:31:13 AM

Which version of FATE are you talking about? Because the core games based on FATE 3 are popular and well-reviewed.

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.
MorkaisChosen from Learning Since: Jan, 2001
#25: Jul 17th 2011 at 2:24:03 AM

Ah.

I think someone's getting confused.

The game where you roll for Anal Circumference in character generation is FATAL. The system I'm talking about is FATE. They are very different things.


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