Rules-light RPGs that can run a satisfying session in an hour?

[TripleD]

Any suggestions for rules-light RPGs that can run a session in an hour or so?

Genre doesn’t matter. Anything from space battles to farmers in ancient China is fair game.

Context: I teach ESL to university students. For my advanced class I’ve experimented with board games (Diplomacy and Catan) with a lot of success. I thought an RPG session might be a good continuation of that trend. Problem is that I only have 1 hour for a group of five, and I’ll probably only be able to run it once.

Most of the games I play are rules-heavy, multi-hour affairs, so I’d love to hear suggestions for alternatives.

[Honest Tiefling]

I will recommend Fate, even though I never got a chance to play it. I did build a character which takes five minutes at most. Since you are an educator, I will point out that it is quite free. And you could try it out with minimal wasted time or money.

[Grimmnist]

I would say play what you know best and cut the rules down yourself. Rule checks can really slow the game down so when I did a similar session at work I used D&D with stripped combat mechanics, it did require me to pre-make characters for everyone and print out a quick information sheet for each class.

[Grod_The_Giant]

STaRS!

More seriously, though, I think whatever system or pseudo-system you go with, you'll need two things:

• Pre-made characters. Even in a very light system, coming up with an idea for a character can take a while. Sometimes even moreso in very abstract light systems.
• A very specific goal. Possibly the most time-consuming part of a session is when the players sit around trying to figure out what to do next. If you've only got an hour, you need to drop them straight into the middle of the action.

[DeTess]

Lasers and feelings?

It's a system that does star-trecky stuff, with all the rules fitting on a single A4 and a surprisingly robust random mission generator.

[Pauly]

Any suggestions for rules-light RPGs that can run a session in an hour or so?

Genre doesn’t matter. Anything from space battles to farmers in ancient China is fair game.

Context: I teach ESL to university students. For my advanced class I’ve experimented with board games (Diplomacy and Catan) with a lot of success. I thought an RPG session might be a good continuation of that trend. Problem is that I only have 1 hour for a group of five, and I’ll probably only be able to run it once.

Most of the games I play are rules-heavy, multi-hour affairs, so I’d love to hear suggestions for alternatives.

For ESL I recommend Mafia/Werewolf. While not strictly an RPG I had a lot of success with it because players had to question and listen to each other’s answers.

Using a stripped down system without too many special characters encouraged a lot of table talk. One modification I found helpful is that instead of re-voting ties I just said nobody died and then move to the night phase.

Once your class gets the hang of it they can cycle through games i.n 10 minutes or less so that gives them lots of opportunities to do better next time.

For 5 students + yourself one moderator, one werewolf, one seer and 3 villagers is a good group

[ngilop]

Risus: The anything RPG


is the best rules-lite and easy to learn RPG I have ever experienced.

Spoiler: here are some handy links

Show

http://opend6.wikia.com/wiki/Risus
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/170294
https://rolltop-indigo.blogspot.com/...iversions.html

I think FATE is the exact opposite of what you are looking for in regards to teaching ESL students a rules lite iternation of rpgs

[Cluedrew]

Roll For Shoes

The system has 7 rules and character creation is writing a single line of pre-determined text. It is fun, silly and plays really fast.

[ShadowSandbag]

Mouse Guard is fairly simple. You have 3 in a skill, you roll 3 six-sided dice, for every 4 5 or 6 you get a success. There are some other things that can be used, but you can keep it as simple as that.

[Knaight]

An hour is cutting it close for even the lightest games, which suggests structural differences. Specifically there's Everyone is John, an RPG where the players each control the same character (through voices in their head by default, this may need adaptation for a classroom setting). The absence of a party structure simplifies the game enough that getting a session in in an hour works well.

[SimonMoon6]

I can't imagine a satisfying one hour game... as it often takes about half an hour for a lot of players to stop goofing around and start doing stuff. And explaining the rules of almost any game system would have to take at least half an hour, if not an hour.

But, my favorite game system is Mayfair's old DC Heroes RPG (out of print for a long time). It is rules light but also gives you just enough detail. I think it could be possible to run a session in an hour, though I've never tried under such time constraints. The games I played at cons which were scheduled for short periods of time ended up with maybe one fight and that was all.

Maybe a game without dice and rules-based strategy? Something like a diceless RPG, like Amber?

[The Glyphstone]

Everyone Is John could probably be run in an hour, if Everyone Else isn't overly generous on Willpower refreshes.

[137beth]

I'm a big fan of Word Mill's Mythic Roleplaying. It also doesn't require a GM, which may make it easier to do in class.

[Frozen_Feet]

In Finland at Ropecon there's been a scenario design contest for several years now where the whole point is to design a scenario-slash-minigame which can be run in an hour. Sadly, while most of the scenarios are freely available, I'm not sure anyone's translated them into English (and you're not paying me enough to do it myself. )

Some things to take home, though:

- characters and scenario are primary, mechanics secondary. Getting across who the players are playing and what their situation is, is more important than mechanics.

- you can resolve conflicts with rock-scissors-paper or simple unweighted die rolls and otherwise let play follow normal rules of logic and causality

- making it clear the game is only meant to last for an hour and having a clock visible will make people enforce the time limit themselves.

- you can tie progress in the scenario to the real time clock. For example, the scenario can be built around a ticking time bomb and in-game time follow real time.

- if the above sounds weird, do your game as live-action, with the (f. ex.) bomb modeled by a real puzzle. Take a nap while your players work it out.

[Florian]

To get the context of the request right: I'm assuming that ESL means English as a Secondary Language, right? This would mean a small group setup, no prior knowledge of game rules/how to role-play and all that, right?

Ok, we´re not only talking about "rules light" then, but more about systems with process-oriented rules instead of task-related rules then.

I would suggest looking at the following indie systems:

- Lady Blackbird. This is a The Shadow of Yesterday hack and showcases how you can use that system to package everything you need to play one specific scenario on the character sheet, including all the rules that will come up. Easy to pick up and learn on the fly. (For a convention, we did a version of five people driving in a taxi, fleeing the police....)

- The Mountain Witch. A bunch of ronin samurai climb the mountain to kill the witch. The main elements here center on Trust and Dark Fate to get the whole thing moving and keep the tension up. With a good GM, this will result in Reservoir Dogs (with katanas).

- Everyone is John had already been mentioned, so I skip that.

- Fiasco should also be well known by now. It was such a simple plan, how the hell could everything go downhill so fast?

That´s basically it.

[Pauly]

Games I have used to good effect in ESL classes.

Jenga Ultimate: player A instruct player B on what piece to remove abd wher to put it. Player B instructs player C. Important rule is “no pointing”. Instructions and directions get covered early in ESL but many students don’t get enough repititions to get solid, so this is a good game even for advances students.

Any ‘detective’ game such as Clue/Cluedo. How-to Host a Murder is another great game. In an ESL context the number of large ers playersisi portant

[TripleD]

Wow! Thanks for all the replies

Games I have used to good effect in ESL classes.

Jenga Ultimate: player A instruct player B on what piece to remove abd wher to put it. Player B instructs player C. Important rule is “no pointing”. Instructions and directions get covered early in ESL but many students don’t get enough repititions to get solid, so this is a good game even for advances students.

Any ‘detective’ game such as Clue/Cluedo. How-to Host a Murder is another great game. In an ESL context the number of large ers playersisi portant

Not role-playing games, but I like these suggestions. I also found Catan to be a great game for conditionals (e.g. "if you give me 2 sheep, I will give you 1 stone").

To get the context of the request right: I'm assuming that ESL means English as a Secondary Language, right? This would mean a small group setup, no prior knowledge of game rules/how to role-play and all that, right?

Ok, we´re not only talking about "rules light" then, but more about systems with process-oriented rules instead of task-related rules then.

Exactly. One thing that really attracts me to RPGs as a teaching device is the inherent "scaffolding". In theory it's a conversation between a group. Students with weaker English skills can fall back on the mechanics and basic descriptions ("I move here", "I want to look at the desk") while more advanced students can give more intricate commands ("I want to ask the guard if he saw anything an hour ago"). They offer a perfect continuum of English skill level.

As for your suggestions: thank you! Lady Blackbird sounds interesting, but I'm worried the new vocabulary might bog things down (I'm hoping to use this as more of grammar review). I'd heard Fiasco described as a party game, but if it has RPG elements I may be able to make it work.

Mythic Roleplaying

Looks interesting. I may use it in a future course where I've established Role-Playing as a teaching tool earlier in the year.

Everyone is John

Apparently this is pretty popular. I glanced over the PDF but will look at it more in depth later.

All the other RPGs

Thank you again for all these suggestions. I wish I had time to reply to each individually but I've got to get a lot of family stuff done this weekend. Can't wait to dig through the links tonight.

[Florian]

@TrippleD:

Fiasco is called a "Party Game" because it can basically only handle one-shots and no other formats that are common for RPGs. But one-shots is more or less exactly what you want.

I'm german. English is a foreign language for me and I've used Lady Blackbird as an easy entry to recruit people into the hobby, which worked fine, maybe especially because it uses a very technical language.

[TripleD]

@TrippleD:

Fiasco is called a "Party Game" because it can basically only handle one-shots and no other formats that are common for RPGs. But one-shots is more or less exactly what you want.

I'm german. English is a foreign language for me and I've used Lady Blackbird as an easy entry to recruit people into the hobby, which worked fine, maybe especially because it uses a very technical language.

Much appreciate your perspective as a non-native speaker.

Good point about the technical language. The majority of my students are Chinese. Their vocabulary is strong (although the finer points of grammar could use some smoothing out) so this might not be as big a hurdle as I initially thought.

[Florian]

The majority of my students are Chinese.

Just some random thoughts: Talking with some expats that work over in China, I generally hear that Chinese apparently have some major problems with the basic concepts of TTRPGs. It seems to be totally foreign to them, especially the "immersion" part.

The Three Kingdoms period seems to be all the rage (again). Seems like they actually had a major high quality tv serial based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms just a short while ago, covering that topic in great detail. So just wondering a bit, as Traits, Tags and Keys are something that can be made very easily, at least when having a firm grip on the intended setting and game play, whether it actually would make sense to create a scenario and characters based on that, if it is playable and, more important, more accessible for someone from China.

[Raven777]

Skyfarer is very rules light, and can be adapted to any setting, though it was made for the Fallen London / Sunless Sea / Sunless Sky settings, which are collectively Victorian Steampunk Lovecraft. The rules emphasize telling short stories. Deliver a suspicious package. Evade marauding pirates. Explore a derelict laboratory. Locate a missing ship. Escape a devil's deal. These kinds of stories.

But for most rules light RPGs, they veer a lot into interactive storytelling, and I reckon the question of whether it fits inside an hour will have to do more with the scenario/story you spin, and less with the system.

[TripleD]

But for most rules light RPGs, they veer a lot into interactive storytelling, and I reckon the question of whether it fits inside an hour will have to do more with the scenario/story you spin, and less with the system.

Story is definitely a large concern, but I feel like the ease of use of the system is what is going to make or break this lesson. My rule of thumb for planning board games has been: however long it takes a native speaker to pick up, double it for an ESL student. This is mostly because not only do I have to explain the rules, but also the definition of words, concepts, and culture behind the rules. If the rules take longer than 10 minutes to explain (20 for me), then I don’t think I can justify running it.

Thanks for the heads up about Skyfarer though. It definitely looks rules-light, and some of my students may already be familiar with the setting (lot of gamers).

Just some random thoughts: Talking with some expats that work over in China, I generally hear that Chinese apparently have some major problems with the basic concepts of TTRPGs. It seems to be totally foreign to them, especially the "immersion" part.

When I was teaching over there I didn’t have trouble with the one Chinese student who joined in our 5th edition D&D group, although I admit one person isn’t a great sample size to draw conclusions from.

[ATHATH]

Roll to Dodge is quick and easy to set up and play, if you want to check that out.

[Pauly]

Roll to Dodge is quick and easy to set up and play, if you want to check that out.

I’ve taught ESL in Japan for 5 years.

I assume that in wanting to use an RPG your lesson goal is getting the students to use English more imaginatively, not just repeating rote phrases and sentences.

I found collaborative storytelling games (e.g, Story Cubes, Tales of the Arabian Nights, the artwork from Dixit) much easier to conduct than RPGs.

If the goal is student interaction then I find any of the detective genre games work better than RPGs because the students have a better understanding of why the need to interact. “Deception: Murder in Hong Kong” is a Mafia/Werewolf spinoff set in HK which may appeal to Chinese students.

[ATHATH]

I’ve taught ESL in Japan for 5 years.

I assume that in wanting to use an RPG your lesson goal is getting the students to use English more imaginatively, not just repeating rote phrases and sentences.

I found collaborative storytelling games (e.g, Story Cubes, Tales of the Arabian Nights, the artwork from Dixit) much easier to conduct than RPGs.

If the goal is student interaction then I find any of the detective genre games work better than RPGs because the students have a better understanding of why the need to interact. “Deception: Murder in Hong Kong” is a Mafia/Werewolf spinoff set in HK which may appeal to Chinese students.

Oh, I didn't read the first post properly.

[Psikerlord]

An hour is cutting it close for even the lightest games, which suggests structural differences. Specifically there's Everyone is John, an RPG where the players each control the same character (through voices in their head by default, this may need adaptation for a classroom setting). The absence of a party structure simplifies the game enough that getting a session in in an hour works well.

I think for an hour you are probably in card game and board game territory, as opposed to RPG territory?

[TripleD]

I assume that in wanting to use an RPG your lesson goal is getting the students to use English more imaginatively, not just repeating rote phrases and sentences.

Bingo. It’s also about trying to find better ways to practise unit grammar. I mentioned Catan in an earlier post as something I found useful when practising conditional sentences and modals related to suggestions (e.g. “you [b]could[\b] trade me one wood for two stone, or one sheep for one stone”)

I found collaborative storytelling games (e.g, Story Cubes, Tales of the Arabian Nights, the artwork from Dixit) much easier to conduct than RPGs.

I can believe it. The great thing about board games is that you can set them up and monitor while the students play without any direct involvement other than the occasional correction/suggestion.

The main reason I wanted to use an RPG was for two reasons:
- the language processing mentioned earlier
- the possibility of violence and action
My class is 90% University-aged males. They all play computer games. I was hoping a bit of imaginary combat might be a good hook to draw some of the quieter ones out of their shell, but that has to be weighed against other factors such as ease of use.

If the goal is student interaction then I find any of the detective genre games work better than RPGs because the students have a better understanding of why the need to interact. “Deception: Murder in Hong Kong” is a Mafia/Werewolf spinoff set in HK which may appeal to Chinese students.

I actually have run a murder mystery in the past before. The students loved it and everyone was focused on using English. I was working on one recently, but a huge dump of work came up and it got put on the back burner.

[Knaight]

I think for an hour you are probably in card game and board game territory, as opposed to RPG territory?

Hence the suggestion of one with one player character, instead of four; even then it's cutting it close. Conventional RPG structure just doesn't work here, but some alternate structures might.

There's no shortage of card/board games too long for an hour too, so even if going with those it's something to be picky about. That said, a social deduction game of some sort might fit the needs of the OP better than an RPG here, and The Resistance or Avalon can easily fit in an hour.

I actually have run a murder mystery in the past before. The students loved it and everyone was focused on using English. I was working on one recently, but a huge dump of work came up and it got put on the back burner.

Our posts crossed, but this confirms what I was saying about social deduction games - though you might want to be careful about which one you use. The Resistance is an excellent game about subversive resistance elements trying to overthrow a government while infiltrated by counterintelligence officers, but it's potentially less fun if that sounds less like a fun sci-fi scenario and more like local news. Avalon is probably clear though.

[Pauly]

Bingo. It’s also about trying to find better ways to practise unit grammar. I mentioned Catan in an earlier post as something I found useful when practising conditional sentences and modals related to suggestions (e.g. “you [b]could[\b] trade me one wood for two stone, or one sheep for one stone”)

I can believe it. The great thing about board games is that you can set them up and monitor while the students play without any direct involvement other than the occasional correction/suggestion.

The main reason I wanted to use an RPG was for two reasons:
- the language processing mentioned earlier
- the possibility of violence and action
My class is 90% University-aged males. They all play computer games. I was hoping a bit of imaginary combat might be a good hook to draw some of the quieter ones out of their shell, but that has to be weighed against other factors such as ease of use.

I actually have run a murder mystery in the past before. The students loved it and everyone was focused on using English. I was working on one recently, but a huge dump of work came up and it got put on the back burner.

I can’t recommend story cubes (https://www.storycubes.com/) highly enough.
My normal method is to mix 2 or 3 sets roll them all. Have a story starter on the whiteboard (Once upon a time there was a princess in a castle. ...) then each student picks one dice and uses that divce to add an element to the story. I write the story element, usually one or two sentences, on the board. Then the next player chooses a dice and so forth.

It gives each player enough time to think of something to add, but the story is completely unpredictable. Which is why you need to keep track of the story on the board. The players can make it as violent or fantastical as they want.

Initially the students will try to describe what is on the dice, but with some prodding with the “WH~” questions you can get the story moving along.

As an added bonus it’s literally 2 minutes set up and pick up time.

[JeenLeen]

The main reason I wanted to use an RPG was for two reasons:
- the language processing mentioned earlier
- the possibility of violence and action
My class is 90% University-aged males. They all play computer games. I was hoping a bit of imaginary combat might be a good hook to draw some of the quieter ones out of their shell, but that has to be weighed against other factors such as ease of use..

You could look into Dread.
It's a horror-RPG that uses a Jenga set as the mechanic. In essence, to succeed at something dangerous (swim the river, dodge the knife) or resist an impulse (say, going into the basement alone), you pull a block. If you make the tower fall, you die (or could probably do some lessened damage.) The idea is to represent building tension as the session progresses.

It's online, with a decent free ruleset and a couple games. You can pay more for the full rules, but I found what's online good for a session.

Possible downsides include
1) horror might put some people off, but you mention University-age students. I wouldn't mention it if it was PK-12 kids.
1a) char-gen can be kinda dark and might be advanced language for all your students. Char-gen involves picking one of a set of characters in the story, then answering pointed questions. Includes stuff like "why did you cut the breaks in the car?".
2) making the Jenga tower fall could be offputting. Also, a student might knock it down out of boredom and kinda ruin the tension.

So another game is probably better, but I thought I'd mention it in case it fits perfectly for your group.