JB, Wizard King of Curmudgeons, made a post on his blog B//X BLACKRAZOR wherein he speaks extensively (and then some!) about the 'wrong-bad'TM evils of 'Light Games'.
I recommend going over there and reading it, though be aware it might take some time to do so, perhaps even multiple sittings.
The post gave me the idea to write one of my own about how awesome Light Games can be, as many of my current favorites fall into that category.
To be clear, this isn't a 'Point-Counterpoint' response and I don't intend to get into a debate with JB. His reasoning and opinions are his own and needn't be argued with by the likes of me. He is a very particular fellow with a very particular view of a very particular game.
I don't like that game. I don't enjoy playing or running it. I would much rather spend my limited free time with the great many games I do enjoy and, as stated, a lot of these would be considered 'Light Games'.
Now, Light Games is not a term I think I've heard or seen very often, so you'll see me interchange it here with the term I'm more accustomed to, 'Rules Lite'. Also, I will be addressing the subject in very general terms, mentioning specific TRPGs as examples or points of reference when and where it's useful.
Take it Light
Let's get the obvious and expected reasons for liking Rules Lite games out of the way first; Simpler rules and fewer of them means the game is easier to learn, explain, prep for, run, and play. In addition, play is usually faster as everything from Character Creation, to Combat, Task Resolution, and Experience/Character Improvement has less complexity to it.
As we get older we have more responsibilities and less free time. Assuming the average adult TRPG enthusiast has maybe 24 free hours of leisure time and only 4 or 5 of those alloted to actually playing their game of choice, do you want to spend that time agonizing over mechanics and looking up rules in your preferred corebook during a session or would you rather use that time to do research, find cool images, and then hit the ground running and proceed at a smooth, exciting pace?
I'm sure for some the answer is, "I like worrying about all 6 PC's Encumbrance Initiative Modifier! Give me so much crunch my breakfast cereal is gravel!" Well OK then, go for it! Knock yourself out. For the rest of us, we want to get to the part where we explore the game world and defeat monsters. We'll be doing just that while you're still looking up the Movement Rules by Terrain and Weather in Chapter 25.B.
A Little Light Reading
In the time it takes to learn, let alone master, some of the more crunchy, complex TRPGs, one could get a working knowledge of a half dozen Rules Lite games. This allows you and your group to sample a variety of different approaches to mechanics, genres, and settings. One of the big hurdles I heard about when trying to get gamers to try a new games is they don't want to take the time to learn a whole new set of rules. That makes sense if you are only familiar with rules that take a long time to learn.
Learning 6 Rules Lite games in the time it takes to learn one Rules Heavy one may sound like an exaggeration but consider my own experience and obession passionate interest in Japanese Tabletop Roleplaying Games.
It took me less time to fully translate and understand Meteor City-Star Rainy Days, Tokyo Ghost Research, and the recently obtained Zookyo Island (basically a Crime Drama/Thriller take on Disney's Zootopia) then it did to get a handle on the Cypher System. Cypher isn't super Rules Heavy per say but compared to the the games I mentioned above, it feels almost cumbersome.
I've said many times in the past that my feeling is most RPGs are 20-30 page workable games buried under 300+ pages of overthinking and unnecessary junk. Sometimes you'll find a game where those 30 pages are more than workable; they're downright good! Maybe really good! It's also possible some of those 300+ extra pages contain some interesting and useful stuff. It just like game designers over design and over write the majority of games on the market.
Cypher comes in at 450 pages [for the PDF]. Meteor City is 58 pages, Tokyo Ghost Research is just 28 pages, and Zookyo Island is 40 pages respectively. That makes those three games together 324 pages less than Cypher. See what I mean? Much easier to read through all of those in less than half the time it would take to read the core Cypher rulebook.
My point isn't 'Smaller is Better'. My point is simpler and less complex is easier to comprehend and explain to others. It's each to remember as well. If done well, it means a more direct design that gets to the crucial features quickly.
Light on My Feet
Another benefit related to the above is the ability to ad lib and improvise feels much easier in Rules Light games. There is less of a concern/fear that making a decision on the fly is going to have rippling ramifications that 'ruin the game' for everyone involved.
Especially with games where the base Task Resolution mechanic is the same for virtually any and all actions, if you are unsure how to ajudicate something, default to that base mechanic. Easy peasy. And once again, since a mistake or bad call is unlikely to impact a dozen other sub-systems, if your judgement wasn't perfect you come up with something better for next time without much muss or fuss.
In full transparency I just couldn't get into the Cypher System and complete acknowledge my difficulty in wrapping my head around it isn't due to its complexity but rather how the rules are explained and all the subsystem elements that I find don't gel with my gaming style.
Light on Calories, Heavy on Flavor
I'm a tinkerer. It's who I am. I like to customize, modify, kitbash, and adjust things just so.
It is much easier to change or even add rules to a Light Game. Too many houserules and adjustments to a Rules Heavy RPG can result in the whole thing collapsing around your ears. Rules Light games are far more forgiving in this regard.
I remember my first [and arguably] most successful long term 'Well Known Fantasy RPG' campaign. Over the course of the 4 years or so that I ran it (which included playing it several hours each day, Monday through Friday, in the Summers) I made a lot of modifications and houserules. Each one was specificallydesigned to give the game, the world, and the characters a certain feel. Eventually, I looked at my book of notes on the game and wondered, 'Am I really even playing Well Known Fantasy RPG anymore? If not, why am I still using it at all? Why not find or make a game that does all these things I want to do?'
I admit it was fun to customize Well Known Fantasy Game but in the end I switched to a simpler, less rigid, more flexible set of rules that suited the game I was running much better.
***
I could go on and on with this subject (not unlike JB did with his post) but I have other projects going on I'd like to get to - many related to what would definitely be considered Light Games. I hope I gave you some idea of why I personally love Rules Lite games so much. Honestly some of my favorite RPGs right now are Rules Lite and I would rather run and/or play any of them a thousand times over than have to sit through one of the clunky, slow dinosaurs of gamings heyday.
Yes, I do love Champions [4E], Yes, I love Traveller. Those are the exceptions though, not the rule.
Sign me up for ALIEN, Footprints in the Night, Ghostbusters (Original, InSpectres, Mine), Meteor City - Star Rainy Days, Smurfs, Star Trek Adventures*, Super Happy Sentai Hour, Teenagers from Outer Space, Tokyo Ghost Research, Zookyo Island, and more...
Stay tuned and see what pops up next,
AD
Barking Alien
*Star Trek Adventures is arguably not Rules Lite but it is essentially a much less complex game than any of the previous versions of Star Trek. In addition, I find it really easy to run and to me it has the same feel as many of the Light Games I enjoy.
I also ignore 30% of the mechanics.
Bye now!
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