Microlite20 and Microlite74 (and other variants)

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Doc Sammy

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So, I'm wondering if anyone here is familiar with the Microlite system? It's extremely rules-light and so far, I am liking it. I particularly like Microlite74 the most, having downloaded all the PDF's and even printed out a copy of Microlite74 Basic so I could have it on hard copy.

I intend to expand my collection of Microlite materials and I'm hoping to maybe GM a game, most likely of Microlite74 Basic, as that's the system I am most familiar with. Who else here is a fan of Microlite20 or its variants?
 
I want to be a fan, but none of my players would go for such simple rules for anything more than one-shots or solo games. I had similar trouble pitching Stars Without Number.

Also, as much as I love a low page count, I feel GMs intending to run long term campaigns really need a lot more structural support than most of the Microlite documents provide, especially once you leave the domain of picaresque fantasy. Someone once said that about 60 pages of rules is about all you need for a complete tabletop RPG, and I'd say that's pretty close to a minimum as well.

All in all, I'm more likely to use the Mini-Six system with a raft of suitable house rules if I intend to do anything but picaresque fantasy, and for picaresque fantasy everyone I run into wants to play D&D 5e.
 
I've never heard of the Mini-Six system. Tell me more.
 
So, I'm wondering if anyone here is familiar with the Microlite system? It's extremely rules-light and so far, I am liking it. I particularly like Microlite74 the most, having downloaded all the PDF's and even printed out a copy of Microlite74 Basic so I could have it on hard copy.

I'm always glad to hear from people who like M74. It's pretty much what I run when I GM 0e any more as most of the people I have had and likely will have in the future find it easier to deal with than OD&D. This makes playtesting easy. Of course, to me, M74 is just a slight variant of OD&D.
 
I'm always glad to hear from people who like M74. It's pretty much what I run when I GM 0e any more as most of the people I have had and likely will have in the future find it easier to deal with than OD&D. This makes playtesting easy. Of course, to me, M74 is just a slight variant of OD&D.

It really is an awesome system.
 
I've never heard of the Mini-Six system. Tell me more.

It's a streamlined version of the Open D6 system, which in turn used to be the basis for the old West End Games Star Wars (and the original Ghostbusters I believe).

It's not point buy, not class or level based, yet still gives you a fair degree of control over your character's capabilities and gives the GM breathing room to invent exactly the special abilities he needs. It fits on only a few pages but can quickly deal with everything from 70s cop shows to mecha to modern witch hunters (I wouldn't use it for supers though). The main flaws for me are some peculiarities in how it handles combat, the math of combat abilities, so I strongly recommend using the streamlined combat rules. You must also be careful to set a hard cap on how many stat and skill boosts the players can realistically buy up over the course of a campaign, otherwise some dice pools will become a joke.

The rules are (last I checked) free to download.
 
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