small is beautiful. less is more. you can "play pretend" with almost no rule. rpgs can be six word long, and still carry enough material to start a decade-long campaign.
less rules means more room for improvisation, rulings and flexibility, without hindering the flow of the game. you don't have to dig into a 300-page rulebook.
"can my character dive in from this cliff in the ocean?"
"let me see... okay, roll 2d6 and add your instinct mod, we'll work out, but you might be warned: it's dangerous, there's a high risk to get hurt."
"ok, let me dive, the orcs are behind me, there's no other way out".
there's no rule for that, no damage table depending on the height of the cliff or the water temperature. the gm is more tempted to say "yes" and let the players write the story for their characters.
you can get your head around the basic mechanism and houserule in a snap.
but beware! less rules means more effort for the gm and the players to build around the characters and the scenes, it means more freedom, so it means more choice to make.
minimalism doesn't mean it's easier.
microsr only uses d6.
it's nothing revolutionary, for sure.
there are plenty of d6-based systems. microsr could have been "yet-another-d20-system" but... if you need a micro osr roleplaying game, simply buy the first edition of The Black Hack, by David Black, for example.
stats usually represent the inherent abilities of a character. fine.
skills usually represent the acquired abilities, due to their background, training, experience. good.
both are great. both will give coherent characters, add some spice to the game and allow players to make choices on the actions of their characters ("shall we do 'x'? my bonus is 'y' so we're confident or doubtful...").
domains are a bit different ; some are purely inherent abilities (instinct), some are purely acquired (lore), but to some extent, they're both acquired & inherent. maybe your character is gifted for combat because of their huge muscle mass, or maybe that's because they've followed some training... or both! lore works the same: you've been educated so you know stuff, but you've also been chosen to have lessons because somebody has perceived your excellent memory and capacity to learn...
here, there's no int or cha stat. player skills prevails for these.
for example: the intelligence of the player prevails when you need to solve a puzzle or decipher an enigma. how would you represent the fact that the player knows the answer and not the character? and what about the opposite?
and, as expected, there's no perception-related check stat. you don't roll to see a trap, players have to do their job if they want to survive.
but of course, if you don't want to use domains, switch to the usual sextuor: str, dex, con, int, wis, char, the general mechanics will work.
characters only have 5 "wounds". a "tough" character would have up to 6 wounds. a normal weapon deals one wound. heavy weapons deal two. traps from one to three wounds.
players would probably think twice before trying to engage in a fight. they'll check for trap.
because the usual dungeon exploration dangers can cripple them very badly, it should be a motivation to avoid them instead of rushing towards them.
spell lists are great. really. but there are so many different ways to design them that it becomes more and more complicated as you dig into the details. you've got magic realms, wizardry, sorcery, elementary magic, illusions.
should we have clerics? oh then you'll need to build a pantheon, religions and principles, define heresy, etc.
should we scale them on the level ladder? should we not, and make them more powerful as you level up?
pure freeform magic, on the other hand, is hard to handle. how to say "no" to a player that wants to set the whole castle on fire, just because their character is a wizard?
this “four by five magic” is, in my opinion, an elegant mechanism between pure freeform magic and spell lists.
you have magical realms, that act as the core domains of the character, and then actions to apply an effect on the given domain.
they're as vague and as precise as you want. the gm can discuss them with the player, and define its limits and how powerful this magic would be. eventually, when the magic-user would level up, they'll be able to throw more powerful spells and more times per day.
released on june, 7th 2018.
first published version.
microsr is a minimalist take on old-school roleplaying game, using a minimalist ruleset.
microsr text & illustrations are © Bruno Bord - 2018
creative commons cc-by