The Simple Game System

Release 2
Copyright 2008 Chris Gonnerman and Contributors
All Rights Reserved

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Introduction

Example Characters

You are reading The Simple Game System, a roleplaying game of supreme simplicity, ease of play, and
fast action. This game is distributed for free from my
website at:

John Northcrosse, Swordsman

Strong, Dexterous, Tough

http://tower.newcenturycomputers.net/tsgs.html

These rules have been written without a lot of RPG

jargon, but honestly they are still probably not terribly
easy to read for a non RPG gamer. If you are just
starting out playing traditional paper, pencil, and dice
RPG games, I recommend you visit:
http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums

where you can meet (virtually, of course) and interact

with fans of truly classic role-playing games. Design and
discussion of this game takes place in the Workshop,
Dragonsfoot's game development forum.

Character Generation
Each character in the game is described by a number
of abilities and disabilities, chosen from the list below.
For each ability, the equivalent disability is listed in
parentheses beside it. No character may have both an
ability and its associated disability.

Ability

Disability

Strong

Weak

Tough

Sickly

Clever

Dense

Wise

Foolish

Dexterous

Fumbling

Agile

Clumsy

Fast

Slow

Charming

Unpleasant

Attractive

Ugly

Beginning player characters select three abilities from

the list. Choosing a disability allows the choice of
another ability. If an ability is chosen twice, it is noted as
"Very X" (for instance, Very Strong) or "V. X" for short.

Ugly Jack, Thief

Clever, Agile, Fast, Dexterous, Ugly
Barney Black, Boxer
Strong, Very Tough
Amelia Abernathy, Journalist
Clever, Attractive, Very Charming, Foolish

Skills
Skills define things the character knows about. Some
things are known by everyone, or almost everyone, as
determined by the GM; for instance, anyone can speak
his or her native language, and in some places reading
and mathematics are universal skills. Other things must
be studied, such as history or science, or even driving a
car or flying a plane.
Beginning characters may choose a number of skills
equal to the roll of one die, plus one (1d6+1). Choosing
a skill twice grants a bonus when using the skill; this
includes choosing a universal skill once (so that, for
instance, a character who would normally know how to
read for "free" might choose Reading as a skill in order
to speed-read). Skills taken twice are marked with a plus
sign (+) after the name (so, "Reading +" is what the
aforementioned character would have marked on his
or her sheet).
The GM is the final arbiter of what is or is not an
acceptable skill in his or her campaign. The only hardand-fast rule is that no skill should always give a bonus
to any given ability (so there is no "Thinking" skill which
would always improve Cleverness).

Skill Examples
It is up to the GM to decide what skills are available in
his or her campaign world.
For example, John
Northcrosse and Ugly Jack, above, come from an
indeterminate medieval period in Britain. The GM in this
campaign has decided that not everyone will be
trained with weapons, so each weapon category has
its own skill; not having skill with a weapon gives a
penalty.
John's player has rolled 3 for skill picks. He chooses
Swordsman, Riding, and Bow for his skills; he would have
liked to have taken Swordsman +, but did not have
enough picks.

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Ugly Jack's player rolls 6 for skills picks. He chooses Sling,

Dagger +, Lock Picking, Pick Pockets, and Stealth.
Amelia and Barney come from the eastern United
States in 1939. The GM in their game has decided that
characters don't have to have weapon skills to use most
weapons (thus, they are universal skills).
Amelia's player has rolled 4 for skill picks. She chooses
Journalism (of course), Driving, Stealth, and Lock
Picking.
Barney's player has rolled 4 picks also. He chooses
Brawling + (costing just one pick since Brawling is
considered universal), Dodging + (giving an extra die
when avoiding an attack, and also costing just one
pick), and Driving + (costing two picks this time; he
fancies himself a racing driver).

Sample Skill List

Below are listed skills. It is up to the GM to choose what
skills are allowed in the campaign; what is appropriate
to one might be very inappropriate in another.

Animal Training
Appraising
Athletics
Craftsmanship
Disguise
Driving
Engineering
Etiquette
Gambling
Knowledge (specific)
Medical

Perception
Perform
Persuasion
Riding
Streetwise
Survival
Seamanship
Seduction
Stealth
Stewardship
Tracking

Core Mechanic
To resolve any action in the game where there is a
significant chance of failure, or any action opposed by
another character, dice are rolled. This game uses only
standard six-sided dice. There are two main types of
rolls: rolls made against a static difficulty number, and
rolls made against another character's roll (called
opposed rolls).

Static Rolls
Suppose a character wishes to force a door. Obviously,
this is a function of the Strong ability; but no other
character is resisting the action, so it is not an opposed
roll. Instead, forcing the door open requires a roll
against a fixed difficulty rating, assigned by the GM.
If the door is just stuck, the GM might rule that the
difficulty is 4 (as if a single roll of 4 had been made by

Page 2

an opponent). The character trying to force the door

then must roll 5 or higher to force it. A locked door might
have a difficulty of 5, or even 6; if the difficulty is 6, the
character forcing the door will need to roll a 6 AND
have an additional die in the pool in order to succeed.
A high-security door, or perhaps one that has been
secured with a heavy oaken bar, might be rated 6 3,
requiring the character forcing the door to have two or
more dice and to roll at least 6 4 (or 6 3 1) to succeed.
In some cases, a difficulty number will be calculated;
numbers higher than 6 must be converted, by
subtracting 6 (possibly repeatedly). For example, a
calculated difficulty of 7 is equivalent to 6 1; 9 is
equivalent to 6 3; 13 is equivalent to 6 6 1.

Opposed Rolls
Rolling against another character is resolved by each
player (or the player and the game master) rolling one
or more dice. The abilities of the characters will
determine how many dice are rolled. If the character
does not have the ability which he or she is rolling
against, a single die is rolled. Having the ability grants
another die, and having the ability twice (Very) grants a
third die. A character with a disability in the relevant
category has no dice (and thus will likely fail, though
skills or other bonuses may grant additional dice, as
described below).
The dice are rolled, and the highest rolls are compared;
whoever has the highest single die roll wins the contest.
If the highest rolls are ties, compare the second-highest
rolls, and so on until a winner is determined. If one
player exhausts his or her dice "pool" before the other
while doing this, the one with fewer rolls loses. If, after all
rolls are compared, no winner is determined, the roll is a
tie; resolving a tie is done in different ways for different
circumstances.

Bonuses and Penalties

The GM may decide that, for a given roll, a bonus or
penalty applies to one or the other character. A bonus
simply adds a die to the pool, while a penalty subtracts
one. The pool may never have less than zero dice,
obviously, but there is no limit to the number of bonuses
that might apply.

Die Rolling Examples

Movement

John and Barney decide to arm-wrestle. This is obviously

a contest using the Strong ability, and both men are
Strong, so each rolls two dice:

A normal character can move 30' in a single combat

round. Fast characters can move 40', while Very Fast
characters can move 50'. Slow characters can move
just 20' in a combat round. Movement occurs on the
character's Initiative, either before or after any attack
roll.

John: 5 1
Barney: 4 4
John wins, since his 5 is higher than Barney's highest roll.
If it went this way:
John: 6 5
Barney: 6 3
John still wins, but this time, since the highest for both is
6, the second rolls are compared.
Suppose Amelia wishes to join in. She's not Strong, so she
rolls just one die. She wrestles Barney:
Amelia: 6
Barney: 6 2
Amelia rolled quite well, tying Barney's top roll, but since
she has no second roll to compare to his, he wins. He
was a bit worried, though...

Basic Combat
When in combat, actions are resolved in terms of rounds
of combat. Each round, each character may attempt
one attack, as well as defending against any attacks
directed at the character. Characters act in order of
Initiative.

Initiative and Actions

To roll for Initiative, each player makes a standard roll
against the Agile or Fast ability (whichever is better), or,
at the GM's option, against the Clever ability with a
penalty. The character with the highest dice pool
attacks first, then the character with the next best pool,
and so on. Ties result in characters acting
simultaneously.
Each time a character rolls attack or defense dice in a
round, he or she suffers one penalty for each such roll
already made in the round. Thus, a character who has
already attacked suffers a penalty when defending,
and a further penalty if he or she must defend again.
This is called the subsequent roll penalty. When two
characters act simultaneously, each must choose
whether to apply the subsequent roll penalty to the
attack or defense roll.

How To Attack
In general, attacking with melee weapons, or
barehanded, may be done with either the Strong or
Dexterous ability (at the player's option). Characters
trained in martial arts (if such are allowed in the
campaign) may use the Agile ability for unarmed
attacks. Attack rolls with missile weapons are generally
made with the Dexterous ability, though the GM may
allow the use of the Clever ability for some weapons,
possibly at a penalty.
Defense rolls are usually made using the Agile ability. A
running character may be allowed to use the Fast
ability instead. Against melee attacks, it is sometimes
possible to use the Strong ability for defense rolls (the
character pushes the attacker away by main force).
If the attacker succeeds (rolls better than the defender),
the attack is successful and the defender suffers one
wound point. Small melee weapons wielded by a
Strong character do an additional wound point, and
large melee weapons wielded by Very Strong
characters do two additional wound points; this only
applies if the Strong ability is used to make the attack
roll. Similarly, small melee weapons or hand-thrown
missile weapons employed by Dexterous characters do
an additional wound point, provided that the Dexterous
ability is used to make the attack (which would almost
always be the case for the missile weapon, of course).

Effects of Being Wounded

Immediately upon being wounded, a character must
roll a Tough roll against the total number of wounds he
or she has accrued. Failing this roll renders the
character unconscious and possibly dying. If the
defender was injured by a barehanded or blunt
weapon attack, he or she will merely be rendered
unconscious for a number of rounds equal to the total
of two dice; if the attack was with a lethal weapon
(sword, handgun, etc.) the defender will instead perish
in a number of rounds equal to the roll of one die.
A dying character may be tended by another
character, who must roll a Clever roll against the victim's
total wound points. Success at this roll results in the
character remaining unconscious as above.

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Wounded characters always suffer a penalty on any roll

involving physical activity, particularly Strong, Agile,
Fast, Dexterous, or Tough rolls. The exception is Tough
rolls against the wound point total, which suffer no
further penalty. The penalty to the Fast ability affects the
victim's movement rate as if the Fast ability were
lowered one level.

Healing
After receiving a normal amount of sleep, an injured
character may attempt a Toughness roll against the
number of points of injuries he or she has accrued.
Success at this roll results in the removal (healing) of one
wound point.
In addition, such a roll may be made after receiving
treatment from a qualified nurse, doctor, or other
properly trained medic. This sort of roll may be made at
most once per day plus once after each incident (fight,
accident, etc.) in which the character is injured.
Some campaigns may have other healing options (for
instance, magic might be used in a fantasy world), at
the Game Master's option.

Holding an Action
A character who has the Initiative may choose to hold
his or her action, waiting until a later moment in the
round to attack. If the character waits until another
character takes action, and that other character
attacks the character holding an action, they act
simultaneously. A character who wishes to hold an
action may move normally on his or her Initiative, OR
may move later before or after taking the held action,
but may not move at both points in the round.

Alternate Rolls
The rules above make specific statements about what
abilities are used, and when they are used; but
ultimately it is up to the players and the GM to decide
what ability to apply to any given situation. The player
should describe what his or her character is attempting
to do; if the player can come up with an interesting and
plausible reason why the character should be able to
use the Charming ability to defend against an attack,
and the GM agrees, then the game should proceed
exactly that way.

Character Advancement
At the end of each session, the GM should award from
1 to 3 Experience Points (XP) to each character, based
on that character's performance (i.e. level of success).

Page 4

Experience Points accrue from session to session. At the

end of a session, a player may spend 10 XP to purchase
a new skill pick.
A character may only acquire new skills in this fashion if
he or she had an opportunity to learn from a tutor
during play. Existing skills may always be improved in
this way, including acquiring the second level of a
universal skill.

Advanced Options
Non-player characters (NPCs) run by the GM may be
allowed to have abilities beyond the normal levels.
Specifically, beyond Very is Extremely, then Super, then
Ultra. Dice rolled are as follows:

0
1
2
3
4
5
6

Disability
Average
Ability
Very
Extremely
Super
Ultra

NPCs may also have higher than normal skills, if the GM

so desires. This is represented by a plus sign and a
number, signifying the number of dice to add to the
pool. Thus, a normal Swordsman + skill would be
considered Swordsman +1 and an NPC might have
Swordsman +2, or even more as the GM rules. Such
characters should be rare, representing the top 1% of
the population in terms of their ability.
Advanced skill levels may be allowed to player
characters also, if the GM wishes; it is recommended
that some limits be placed on this. For instance, the GM
might decide to allow characters to have a single skill
at +2 level, but never more than one such skill.
Advanced skill levels should never be allowed to
beginning characters.
Nonhuman creatures (monsters) might have abilities
not available to normal characters, or special rules
appropriate to their natures. For instance, a classic
movie Zombie would appear as follows:
Zombie: Strong (or Very Strong), Very Tough, Fumbling,
Clumsy, Foolish, Dense, Slow, Ugly, Unpleasant
Well, this is pretty clear; but in addition to the normal
rules, a zombie might be allowed to ignore (i.e. deduct)
one point of damage from any attack . This would
make zombies a full order of magnitude tougher to
beat.
Such decisions are, as always, left to the discretion of
the Game Master.