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I am looking to play a roleplaying game with my dad and little brother. Other that both of them knowing nothing, and me have little experience, mainly from online reading, we don't have a lot of stuff needed for RPGs. We cannot buy them in country, no stores for that, or for buying game packs, campaigns, etc.

What we do have.

  • Six sided dice and coins.
  • Pieces of paper, pens, etc.
  • A printer
  • Cell phones; we can download helping apps such as dice rollers

I am looking for a game that offers:

  • The good old RPG experience. Lots of monsters, lots of weaponry, dungeons, everything.
  • Old weaponry, I think neither of us will like modern day or Sci-Fi RPGs.
  • Easy to learn, for my little brother mainly.
  • Has everything you need online for free.
  • Can be played using only six sided dice and coins.
  • Since my little brother is playing, I am looking for something with addition and subtraction only. He still hasn't learned multiplication.
  • An variety of classes, very open to customization, mainly because my brother wants to play a wizard class, but he can't pinpoint the right one.
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  • \$\begingroup\$ Would it be possible to be a little more specific about "the good old RPG experience"? This can mean quite a number of things, depending on the kinds of games you've played. Dungeons? High magic and powerful weapons? \$\endgroup\$
    – user8248
    Sep 2, 2014 at 20:34
  • \$\begingroup\$ I have been told online about dungeouns, a DM/GM, lots of weapons, and a variety of enemies. Do you think it should be removed? \$\endgroup\$ Sep 2, 2014 at 20:36
  • \$\begingroup\$ No, but you should add that detail into the criteria to make it clear what you mean \$\endgroup\$
    – Wibbs
    Sep 2, 2014 at 20:39
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    \$\begingroup\$ I would advise considering how crucial that element is to your gameplay experience, but I wouldn't go so far as to tell you to remove that requirement. If it's really what you're looking for, by all means, keep it - but please do clarify it a little in your question body. It will help answerers produce appropriate systems. \$\endgroup\$
    – user8248
    Sep 2, 2014 at 20:40
  • \$\begingroup\$ A follow-up question: do you have access to, and would be willing to use, a virtual dice roller? \$\endgroup\$
    – user8248
    Sep 2, 2014 at 20:45

6 Answers 6

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Your situation sounds perfect for Dungeon World

Dungeon World is a world of fantastic adventure. A world of magic, gods and demons, of good and evil, law and chaos. Brave heroes venture into the most dangerous corners of the land in search of gold and glory. - Dungeon World p. 7.

Dungeon World relies primarily on d6s

You need a handful of dice other than six-sided, but you can use an app or online dice roller for that - the vast majority of rolls in DW are six sided dice. All checks within the system, including making an attack, using a class ability, and making general moves are resolved by rolling 2d6s and adding a simple modifier from your class sheet. The only time your roll a die other than 2d6s is when you deal damage (or a monster deals damage to you).

Dungeon World is driven by the story and the choices players make

It's a rules-light, quick to learn system where a player who doesn't know the rules yet (or has trouble remembering them, like a very young player) can still participate. It's everyone's job to listen for when any player describes something that sounds like one of the game's "moves", so he can just say what his character does and you guys can point out when it's time to roll dice - that's actually the game's core mechanic, not a "fix" so it works for kids. Instead of saying "I make a weapon attack against the orc!" a rules-laden phrase, players instead narrate the actions of their character: "I take a stab at the orc, swinging with all my strength" then the GM would declare that the player was making a Hack-n-Slash move and dice would be rolled or the Gm might decide there is a more appropriate move from the player's class sheet (players can also chime in to suggest a class specific move).

The entirety of the rules a player needs to play the game are contained on a few sheets of paper. There is a basic and advanced moves sheet that everyone uses and each class will have 1 double sided page (and an extra page if they cast spells).

Dungeon World's Creative Commons license means the core game is freely available on the internet.

The basic rules are available for free online, here (text only).

And you can download the Basic Moves, Advanced Moves, & class sheets for free from Dungeon World's website.

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    \$\begingroup\$ I always describe playing Dungeon World as being what D&D sounded like, but actually wasn't when you went to play it. \$\endgroup\$ Sep 2, 2014 at 22:00
  • \$\begingroup\$ @JoshuaAslanSmith - And I always describe it as how D&D used to feel when I was a kid. \$\endgroup\$
    – gomad
    Sep 2, 2014 at 22:46
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    \$\begingroup\$ If you exclusively want to use d6, it's easy to hack the classes' damage dice. \$\endgroup\$
    – okeefe
    Sep 3, 2014 at 2:53
  • \$\begingroup\$ I pledge for DW \$\endgroup\$
    – iraserd
    Sep 3, 2014 at 5:19
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If you're happy to use a virtual dice roller to substitute for the dice that aren't d6's, you could just play D&D. (Widely known as a D&D-like game.)

The Basic Rules for D&D 5e are available here for free, and can be used to play a game of D&D without any further material required.

If you're looking for adventures as well as a game system, see this question for some recommendations.

To address each of your points -

  • The good old RPG experience. D&D is the iconic RPG experience.
  • Old weaponry. Check.
  • Easy to learn. Not entirely, but it's not too complicated to pick up, especially for a player. (As opposed to the GM.)
  • Has everything you need online for free. Check.
  • Can be played using only six sided dice and coins. Not so much, but from my understanding you've already accepted the idea of a virtual dice roller.
  • Since my little brother is playing, I am looking for something with addition and subtraction only. He still hasn't learned multiplication. Yes, actually. Now that critical hits involve rolling twice rather than just doubling, there is no more multiplication.
  • An variety of classes, very open to customization, mainly because my brother wants to play a wizard class, but he can't pinpoint the right one. Check.
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    \$\begingroup\$ I am generally anti-DnD for many reasons. But I got to admit, I Laughed Out Loud at the first sentence. \$\endgroup\$ Sep 2, 2014 at 23:15
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Oxinabox I figure I'll get some hate from the anti-D&D contingent, but it seemed ridiculous not to have this answer to this question. \$\endgroup\$
    – Miniman
    Sep 2, 2014 at 23:16
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The Fantasy Trip is a simple system, that uses only d6. I seem to recall that someone had developed a free-but-compatible system a few years ago. I believe this is a link to it.

The game was originally published as small pamphlets in the late 70s, and the rules are easy to learn. It might meet your needs.

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Tunnels & Trolls

One of the early siblings to D&D and hasn't seen too much change over the years. It's got about 7+ editions now, though they're pretty close in style all around. They've got the basic rules out for free, though the newest version isn't that expensive.

It uses all D6s (albeit, several of them).

There is a few places with multiplying - if you have a non-human character it affects your stats at the beginning of play, and a few of the spells multiply (x2, or x3) - that said, these are rare compared to basic play.

There's a lot of weapons, including a lot of weapons from several different cultures.

There's a good amount of monsters, and it is very easy to make new monsters. Monsters have a single stat (Monster Rating) and whatever special abilities you add onto that.

You can find a lot of house rules, home made monsters, spells, dungeons, etc. online from the fans. If you decide to put more money into it, you can find old modules for pretty cheap, including solo adventures.

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Do you need something generic such as GURPS (generic universal roleplaying system)? It has a free lite version based on wich you can develop your adventure. Only uses d6 it has also character sheets. I don't know if it is simple enough for you usage.

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Swords and Wizardry

This is a free clone of original D&D and it comes in three flavors: White Box, Core, and Complete. White Box is D&D of the three little brown books, with Fighters, Magic Users, and Clerics. Core moves up to adding in Thieves from Greyhawk and few more rules. Complete is a clone of the whole 3 books plus 4 supplement books of original D&D, which adds in Assassins, Druids, Monks, Paladins, and Rangers.

The rules are very easy and well-organized. They do use the some of the funny dice, but as a previous poster mentioned, a dice roller app or website (I like Wizards of the Coast's die roller) can supply that.

You can get everything and tons of support materials from Mythmere Games.

If you want a little customization, I recommend Dyson Logos' d12 Subclasses, a very simple set of customized (a sentence or two each) subclasses for each class. These were originally designed for Basic/Expert D&D, but are simple enough to use with any of the classic D&D games: original, B/X, RC, BECMI, or AD&D 1/2.

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