To Err Is Human

*Kinda? I leave this with an asterisk because this isn't always the case

It has been a long time since I last posted—sometime in early July, I believe.

Since my last posting, I have been playing some games at my local public library, and it has been a blast getting back into the swing of things.

We’ve been continuing a trend of using rules-light or rulings, not rules, approaches to playing. This has been a great way to introduce players to tabletop roleplaying games.

In my last posting, I shared a game I have been running, in different contexts: Quick Hei$t. The game came to me during a bit of session prep. I wanted to give players the room to move around without the rules getting in the way. Most legacy games a tricky to tackle with new players, especially class-based games.

What is a free action?

Do we only have two (2) actions per turn?

What is a level? I’m confused as to how that would affect my adventurer.

Rules-light, or rulings, not rules, approaches toss players into the game space immediately. There is no need to understand the complexities or idiosyncrasies of leveling, class actions, and a game’s oddball ways of handling the action economy.

While the rules don’t matter in this particular context, this approach may not work for everyone, especially veteran players. Some folks need something to sink their teeth into. Others, many others, don’t.

Rules-light (or, even its extreme, rulings, not rules) games are about gameplay. The complexities, the nuances, and the idiosyncratic mechanics that folks read about can be pushed aside, at least in the beginning.

I’ve been thinking of the best way to introduce players to more (and more) complex roleplaying games at the gaming table. My answer comes from a game that gets (and deserves some of the) hate sent its way: GURPS.

At its heart, GURPS is more of a toolkit to be added to existing games. It can, in theory, be played as a very simple tabletop roleplaying game, with its 3d6 (that’s three six-sided dice) roll under (i.e., roll low) core resolution mechanic. At its simplest, a GURPS game can be easy to run and offers quite a bit of flexibility. However, like a lot of legacy games, simplicity is vaporized away by the number of add-ons that can easily overwhelm and overcomplicate the game itself.

GURPS, if played by the ideal GM and kept in check, could (in theory) offer a simple game that gives way to more and more layers of complexity, fitting the needs of players are they gain experience within the hobby.

Dungeons & Dragons is another example of this. One could start with the starter boxed set, ignoring some of the overcomplicated add-ons, and help players navigate the action economy, along with the idiosyncrasies of the class system that is at the heart of the game itself.

Or, if you have younger players or players who are lowkey casual, consider starting with a rectangle, like my game, Quick Hei$t. From there, players can describe their characters, and be given loadtouts, and stats along the way. Discovery, too, is another great way to bring players into the hobby. You can never go wrong having players roll 3d6 or a d20 to see what happens during particularly intense moments within the game.

Again, the rules don’t matter—at least not initially. The rules can be added to the game as players become more and more comfortable with roleplaying and interacting with others at the table.

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To Err Is Human is a blog by G. Michael Rapp (and visiting writers and content creators). Copyright 2024. All rights reserved. However, if you're using any content to add to an ongoing conversation, for teaching purposes, and/or for furthering the hobbies of gaming, storytelling, and worldbuilding, feel free to pull what you want from this blog, so long as you give credit to the original website (https://toerrishuman.xyz) and the author(s)/content creators in question.