Hello Everybody. This one is going to be really basic. I just want to gush a little bit about The Window. I have not been in the hobby a super long time. My friends introduced me to TTRPG's with [brace yourself] D&D 4e in 2013. Back then, I didn't know anything, and I went along with it. It worked okay, I supposed. But it was awfully complicated, even for my taste back then. I started perusing the internet for alternatives, particularly rules-light systems. I discovered The Window by Scott Lininger before or after Risus by S. John Ross; I don't remember which was first. I have and still do enjoy both games. But, The Window, despite having a much smaller user base than Risus, is far better suited for serious mood campaigns.

I have a fairly severe bias toward loving and using mainly rules-light systems. Since discovering The Window, it has often been my default system for introducing people to TTRPG's. I just does so little to get in your way. Gameplay is fast and smooth, and lets you focus on developing a memorable story. So, just thought I would give The Window a shoutout. I am very grateful to Scott Lininger for his work on The Window. Maybe if enough of us pester him, he might consider making a little money off of materials for his marvelous system. If not, we should archive it, datahoard it, whatever. I want to see the system gain users. If Mr. Lininger reads this, thank you, Sir, for making this system available to us. I hope you find some time to promote the system further. Anyway, here are the links.

The Website:
http://www.mimgames.com/window/

The English download:
http://www.mimgames.com/window/downloads/WindowRules.pdf

Let Scott know how great The Window is:
https://twitter.com/scottlininger
https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottlininger

Christ in leather chaps, no.

Lol who put you up to this?

I remember The Window, and not for positive reasons. It managed to combine a derivative little nothing system with an incredible degree of hubris and self-congratulation, when it came out more than 20 years ago. I don't imagine it's gotten any better.

What is it derivative of?

It was one of about a zillion free internet ultra-lite games from the period, with overlapping features. Find an archive of 90s-era internet RPGs (this was before PDFs, so they were all TXT files), and you'll see a lot of similarities. I don't remember most of their names, because it's been a long time and they're mostly forgettable.

Edit: Incidentally, if you like the game, that's fine. Enjoy it, and don't let me stop you. I never saw any value in the system, and was turned off by the tone, but that's my personal impression.

If you're interested in context, the 90s saw a huge profusion of game distributed via Usenet, FTP, or crude websites. Most were just ASCII text files, a few used basic html. There were some crunchy games, and a lot of AD&D derivatives, but the decade started with some high profile mainstream rules light games like Amber and Over the Edge, and they inspired a lot of people to try their hand at their own little games. There was a lot of discussion of minimalist approaches in the newsgroups. The Window was a late entrant.

Interesting, thanks for the history, Pat. I do definitely like The Window. But, what would be your, say, top three or so recommendations for this category of system? Maybe there is something better. As I said, I am always looking for a better default. From my experience, Risus seemed a bit unnecessarily silly for a lot of campaigns.

Wasn't "Fate" the winner from this time period?

FUDGE is a great, rules-lite-ish game with a solid foundation. FATE is derived from FUDGE, with more of an emphasis on narrative play. I prefer FUDGE, tbh. 10th Anniversary edition hardcover is $35 new, and has everything you'll need for just about any genre of RP. You can also download the main rules for free.

https://fudgerpg.com/shop/fudge-books/fudge-10th-anniversary-edition-detail.html

https://fudgerpg.com/goodies/fudge-files/all-fudge-files-index.html

Quote from: Tubesock Army on November 23, 2021, 06:08:55 PM
FUDGE is a great, rules-lite-ish game with a solid foundation. FATE is derived from FUDGE, with more of an emphasis on narrative play. I prefer FUDGE, tbh. 10th Anniversary edition hardcover is $35 new, and has everything you'll need for just about any genre of RP. You can also download the main rules for free.

https://fudgerpg.com/shop/fudge-books/fudge-10th-anniversary-edition-detail.html

https://fudgerpg.com/goodies/fudge-files/all-fudge-files-index.html

Thank you for the recommendation. I had heard of FUDGE and FATE, but they seemed to be a bit odd with the unique dice. And as for FATE, I saw Evil Hate from a certain list from a couple months back, and I have to say, the name is fitting.  Maybe I should take a second look at FUDGE, though. I understand it's pretty modular, so there are probably some pretty light builds of it available somewhere. Anyone have any favorite FUDGE builds?

Quote from: RulesLiteOSRpls on November 23, 2021, 08:13:29 PM

Quote from: Tubesock Army on November 23, 2021, 06:08:55 PM
FUDGE is a great, rules-lite-ish game with a solid foundation. FATE is derived from FUDGE, with more of an emphasis on narrative play. I prefer FUDGE, tbh. 10th Anniversary edition hardcover is $35 new, and has everything you'll need for just about any genre of RP. You can also download the main rules for free.

https://fudgerpg.com/shop/fudge-books/fudge-10th-anniversary-edition-detail.html

https://fudgerpg.com/goodies/fudge-files/all-fudge-files-index.html

Thank you for the recommendation. I had heard of FUDGE and FATE, but they seemed to be a bit odd with the unique dice. And as for FATE, I saw Evil Hate from a certain list from a couple months back, and I have to say, the name is fitting.  Maybe I should take a second look at FUDGE, though. I understand it's pretty modular, so there are probably some pretty light builds of it available somewhere. Anyone have any favorite FUDGE builds?

Blood In Space is sci-fi horror. Now Playing is for "any genre" TV roleplaying, so it has pretty broad application. The Unexplained is a ghost hunting show type game that spun off from Now Playing. Terra Incognita is Victorian/steampunk type stuff (light on the steampunk elements, IIRC). the 10th Anniversary edition of FUDGE is VERY modular, and I can't imagine you'd have a hard time creating whatever you like, if none of the above options suit you. And, there are probably more, but those are just the FUDGE games I know off the top of my head.

As for the dice, they're fun and yield a consistent set of probabilities. It's a neat system, you don't realize how neat untio you see it in play.

Holy Earth and sea, I just discovered the existence of Fudge in a Nutshell. I think we have a new contender, Lads. Thanks, Tubesock Army!

I had fun playing in an online FUDGE campaign in the Space: Above & Beyond setting, back in the '90s. IME it's a nice little minimalist system for 'not D&D, not Storygame' play; I'd definitely recommend trying it out.

The pretentiousness of the Window made my eyes glaze over.

Mechanically? This looks like a very bad rendition of Savage Worlds.

Just pick up Savage Worlds, it's worked out all the issues you'll run into with the Window without *any* of the pretentious shit layered on top. It looks like they ripped off Savage Worlds and raised the TN to 6 just justify using the d20 - which is silly (because now d4 is not baseline for anything, it's sub-standard.)

Do yourself a favor and go full Savage Worlds. More filling. Less bullshit. More mechanically sound. More flexible. More scalable. etc. etc.

I'll second (or third or fourth) Fudge.

Quote from: tenbones on November 24, 2021, 11:22:10 AM
It looks like they ripped off Savage Worlds and raised the TN to 6 just justify using the d20 - which is silly (because now d4 is not baseline for anything, it's sub-standard.)

The Window pre-dates Savage Worlds.

Quote from: Pat on November 24, 2021, 12:29:15 PM
I'll second (or third or fourth) Fudge.

Quote from: tenbones on November 24, 2021, 11:22:10 AM
It looks like they ripped off Savage Worlds and raised the TN to 6 just justify using the d20 - which is silly (because now d4 is not baseline for anything, it's sub-standard.)

The Window pre-dates Savage Worlds.

Yep. I know. I'm just looking at the link provided and I assumed (perhaps incorrectly?) that they updated it? They certainly should have given the huge gap in time since its inception.

Edit: I should say I have no problem with the system per se. Fudge itself is the DNA for a lot of this stuff - and ones subjective tastes can vary from the different flavors. Case in point, I very much like Fudge, FATE... not as much. I think this iteration of the mechanics in The Window are obviously missing things that could make it a lot better. So much so, I'd just ditch it for a system that addresses those "missing things". But again, that's just my opinion.