Short RPGs For Those Days When Nobody Wants to Read a Rulebook
These short TTRPGs keep the rules to a few pages so you’ll be adventuring with your friends before the pizza is even delivered.
I don’t want to say that the worst part of playing a new TTRPG—or any new game for that matter – is learning the rules… But it’s always nicer and easier when somebody at the table already knows then and can explain them in the simplest terms possible. And other times, it’s nice when there are so few rules that it takes less than five minutes to read them all. These short TTRPGs will get the game rolling fast and everyone having fun right away.
Clever Girl
Welcome to Dino Land, a dinosaur theme park ravaged by escaped predators. You don’t know what caused the incident that set the dinosaurs free, but it was catastrophic. A pack of highly intelligent and oddly fixated raptors are hunting the last surviving human in the park. Will these prehistoric predators claim one final victim or with the cunning human survive long enough to be rescued?
This is a dinosaur theme park inspired RPG where you can play as a human survivor or a raptor in a pack, looking for its next tasty meal. The rules print out in booklets depending on what kind of game you’ll be playing, and there’s even the ability to play solo. How long will it take you to get eaten by a dinosaur? How long will it take your dinosaur to eat someone?!
There and Back Again
You are an adventurer in the world of The Hobbit. Specifically the world as it appeared in the 1937 edition of that book. Anyone can be a wizard with the right knowledge, trolls turn to stone in the sunlight, animals or magical objects can speak, elves aren’t always nice, and the wild is full of terrible creatures like goblins, giant spiders, and even dragons!
Moving from one collectively-childhood-shaping series to another, There and Back Again is a two-page RPG inspired by The Hobbit. It’s a classic high-fantasy adventure with all of the magic and monsters that you can want, but with a short and sweet ruleset. If you were a fan of The Hobbit growing up, this will be an absolutely lovely and nostalgic game to jump right into.
Honey Heist
Honey Heist is a surprisingly successful one-page RPG. Here is the plot:
1) You have a complex plan that requires precise timing.
Advertisement2) You are a GODDAMN BEAR.
If I were to guess, I’d say that you probably already know about Honey Heist. It’s been played on a ton of streaming shows and podcasts, perhaps most famously on Critical Role. The game is simple. You are a bear, you want honey, you are going to get some honey. How will you get the honey? Hilariously.
Lasers & Feelings
You are the crew of the interstellar scout ship Raptor. Your mission is to explore uncharted regions of space, deal with aliens both friendly and deadly, and defend the Consortium worlds against space dangers. Captain Darcy has been overcome by the strange psychic entity known as Something Else, leaving you to fend for yourselves while he recovers in a medical pod.
Lasers & Feelings is a loosely Star Trek inspired RPG where everything comes down to science (lasers) and feelings. It’s a goofy game with a very simple system that will have you exploring space in minute. But will you be having feelings about space, or sending lasers at it?
Anyone Can Wear the Mask
This is an imaginary story (which may never happen, but which then again may), about someone with great power, who chose to use that power only for the good of all.
Anyone Can Wear the Mask is a short TTPRG about a supervillain, a superhero, and the city they share. Players will defend their city, stand up for the powerless, and eventually confront their nemesis.
BoLS might make a few bucks on anything you buy from these links. But, be honest, you don’t enjoy randomly browsing online stores. So let us do the annoying part for you. Help us help you.
