This is a site for discussing roleplaying games. Have fun doing so, but there is one major rule: do not discuss political issues that aren't directly and uniquely related to the subject of the thread and about gaming. While this site is dedicated to free speech, the following will not be tolerated: devolving a thread into unrelated political discussion, sockpuppeting (using multiple and/or bogus accounts), disrupting topics without contributing to them, and posting images that could get someone fired in the workplace (an external link is OK, but clearly mark it as Not Safe For Work, or NSFW). If you receive a warning, please take it seriously and either move on to another topic or steer the discussion back to its original RPG-related theme.

Author Topic: Best games for ease-of prep!  (Read 1932 times)

Edsan

  • Just roll the damn dice!
  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 423
    • http://jakalla.blogspot.com/
Best games for ease-of prep!
« Reply #15 on: March 04, 2009, 11:10:24 PM »
Now that I think of it the easiest game ever to prep as to be d02, It Know No Limit after all...
PA campaign blog and occasional gaming rant: Mutant Foursome - http://jakalla.blogspot.com/

GrimJesta

  • Chronic Over-Quoter
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 833
    • http://grimjesta.com
Best games for ease-of prep!
« Reply #16 on: March 05, 2009, 05:33:58 PM »
Savage Worlds, Basic D&D and nWoD are very easy to set up for. All three games can have a character banged out in minutes, antagonists even faster. And all three games are so simple, you rarely need to look at the books after playing a session or three. Unless you're doped up on morphine like me, but that's a whole other tale. But even for someone blasted out of reality my opiates, I find these three games easy to run.

-=Grim=-
Quote from: Drohem;290472
...there's always going to be someone to spew a geyser of frothy sand from their engorged vagina.  
Playing: Nothing.
Running: D&D 5e
Planning: Nothing.


Silverlion

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5483
    • http://www.silverlionstudios.com
Best games for ease-of prep!
« Reply #17 on: March 05, 2009, 05:48:07 PM »
Hearts & Souls, superhero games are easy enough, in general. Make some characters, go fight crime. While it doesn't have to be a literal fight either. Could be investigation into a kidnapping, the stopping of a flood, the rescue of people trrapped in a burning building. All the usual fun challenges superheroes face. Throw one out, let the heroes go after it.

Other similar superhero games with low prep: Truth & Justice, Bash, 4C/MSH, Marvel Saga, Supercrew.
High Valor REVISED: A fantasy Dark Age RPG. Available NOW!
Hearts & Souls 2E Coming in 2019

PaladinCA

  • The Only way to be sure
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1261
Best games for ease-of prep!
« Reply #18 on: March 11, 2009, 06:03:10 PM »
FATE 3.0/Spirit of the Century is very easy to prep once you know the system. The games almost run themselves once you are under way.

Caesar Slaad

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3585
Best games for ease-of prep!
« Reply #19 on: March 11, 2009, 06:43:06 PM »
I'll second FATE/Spirit of the Century.
The Secret Volcano Base: my intermittently updated RPG blog.

Running: Pathfinder Scarred Lands, Mutants & Masterminds, Masks, Starfinder, Bulldogs!
Playing: Sigh. Nothing.
Planning: Some Cyberpunk thing, system TBD.

John Morrow

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6254
Best games for ease-of prep!
« Reply #20 on: March 13, 2009, 01:02:47 AM »
Quote from: Atsuku Nare;287115
So, what games do you find are easy to prep for? Ones you don't spend 45 hours running the numbers for?


Warhammer FRP.  First edition, anyway.  I haven't run the second edition.

I've always been able to run a pickup game with it very quickly and because of the random character generation, I've even been able to run a game at a game club meeting in Japan where the players rolled up their own characters rather than using pre-generated characters.  Picking and adjusting monsters is very easy and the setting is so colorful and works so well that it practically runs itself.
Robin Laws' Game Styles Quiz Results:
Method Actor 100%, Butt-Kicker 75%, Tactician 42%, Storyteller 33%, Power Gamer 33%, Casual Gamer 33%, Specialist 17%

Ronin

  • Gentleman of Leisure
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2355
Best games for ease-of prep!
« Reply #21 on: March 13, 2009, 01:09:08 AM »
I'm surprised nobodies mentioned it yet, cause it seems to jump out at me. Risus.
Vive la mort, vive la guerre, vive le sacré mercenaire

Ronin's Fortress, my blog of RPG's, and stuff

droog

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4862
Best games for ease-of prep!
« Reply #22 on: March 13, 2009, 01:10:26 AM »
Well, the easiest game I know of to prepare for is Trollbabe, where all you really need is an adventure seed, but as that's apparently not an RPG I'll go with HeroQuest. You can define an entire NPC with something like Warrior 17.
The past lives on in your front room
The poor still weak the rich still rule
History lives in the books at home
The books at home

Gang of Four
[/size]

shalvayez

  • Deviated Septum
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 557
    • http://www.myspace.com/abnormallydeceased
Best games for ease-of prep!
« Reply #23 on: March 13, 2009, 05:57:24 PM »
I'm equally surprised that nobody has mentioned Call Of Cthulhu or Unknown Armies.
PRICE CHECK! CLEAN UP AISLE SIX! ROTTED BODY LANDSLIDE!! AND DON'T FORGET OUR SPECIAL SALE ONE EVERY BONE BROKEN CHICKEN! HURRY! ENJOY OUR TASTY HALF-SNOT FACE. AISLE THREE!

Soylent Green

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2508
Best games for ease-of prep!
« Reply #24 on: March 13, 2009, 07:04:24 PM »
Quote from: shalvayez;289293
I'm equally surprised that nobody has mentioned Call Of Cthulhu or Unknown Armies.


Well I take "easy to prep" to mean among other things coming up with an adventure. I would imagine coming up with a decent CoC adventure, one with a solid backstory, a trail of logical clues and really scarey moments is actually quite hard.

Of course a ot depends on what you're used to.
New! Cyberblues City - like cyberpunk, only more mellow. Free, fully illustrated roleplaying game based on the Fudge system
Bounty Hunters of the Atomic Wastelands, a post-apocalyptic western game based on Fate. It's simple, it's free and it's in colour!

David R

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • D
  • Posts: 6874
Best games for ease-of prep!
« Reply #25 on: March 13, 2009, 08:01:39 PM »
Easy to prep ? Broadsword, of course. Here's a review of the game:

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/13/13301.phtml

It may be a socalled Beer & Pretzels game but I have used it for a wide variety of games.

Regards,
David R

madunkieg

  • Newbie
  • *
  • m
  • Posts: 32
Best games for ease-of prep!
« Reply #26 on: March 14, 2009, 12:42:36 AM »
I'll second Over the Edge, but expand. In addition to the mechanics that make it a snap to create a new character (a few seconds is all it takes), the game provides huge numbers of people, places and things that can be dropped into play. By huge, I mean the game would be about 20 pages without them, but the book is over 200 pages. That makes prep really quick, but the way the trait system works, you can get much more story and play out of the game than you would expect.
Humans should have been assigned a wisdom penalty.

Warthur

  • No longer here.
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • W
  • Posts: 4572
Best games for ease-of prep!
« Reply #27 on: March 16, 2009, 05:57:56 AM »
Quote from: Soylent Green;289307
Well I take "easy to prep" to mean among other things coming up with an adventure. I would imagine coming up with a decent CoC adventure, one with a solid backstory, a trail of logical clues and really scarey moments is actually quite hard.

Of course a ot depends on what you're used to.


It also depends on how averse you are to a bit of illusionism. Think up half a dozen clues, throw them out there, decide what it all means on the fly. Not pretty or Ideologically Sound, but if it's for a short-notice no-prep one-shot it'll do the job.
I am no longer posting here or reading this forum because Pundit has regularly claimed credit for keeping this community active. I am sick of his bullshit for reasons I explain here and I don't want to contribute to anything he considers to be a personal success on his part.

I recommend The RPG Pub as a friendly place where RPGs can be discussed and where the guiding principles of moderation are "be kind to each other" and "no politics". It's pretty chill so far.

Ned the Lonely Donkey

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • N
  • Posts: 377
Best games for ease-of prep!
« Reply #28 on: March 16, 2009, 06:06:13 AM »
In my admittedly limited experience, Spirit of the Century. I've found that we can make up any crazy shit we like on the fly and find a way (often several ways) to represent it mechanically.

BoJo
Do not offer sympathy to the mentally ill. Tell them firmly, "I am not paid to listen to this drivel. You are a terminal fool." - William S Burroughs, Words of Advice For Young People.