Some time ago I came up with an RPG system designed for quickly running a scenario with zero prep. I called it the Easy RPG, or “EZRPG”. Since it has come up lately in a few contexts, here’s what I did.

Easy RPG

1. Character Generation
   First, come up with a very brief description of a character. Emphasis on brief. “When I left high school I joined the Army. After two tours of duty I left and used the benefits to get a degree in Chemical Engineering. Now I work for a research firm.” That’s about it. Some people will try to go into excruciating detail but try to get them to limit it to a sentence or two. Basically what you want is 1) A background and 2) a career.

   Next assign three stats. Mind, Body, and Spirit. Mind is anything that requires knowledge or training, Body is anything physical, and Spirit is anything having to do with interactions with others (or magic or psionics if your setting involves that). Set one to 3, one to 2, and one to 1.

   That’s it. You have just created your character. Give then a name and any other background you want.

2. Game System
   The game uses only D6’s. Whenever you have to do something, you roll one or more D6’s. You roll a number equivalent to whatever stat seems to best match what you are doing. For example, if you want to talk your way through a checkpoint, use Spirit. If you want to find a way to sneak around it, use Mind. If you just want to attack the guards, use Body.

   Now, if your background or career will support what you are doing then you can either a) add one to one of your die rolls or b) roll an extra die. Do the same if you have a piece of equipment that will help you. So you can possibly add up to two dice or add two points to the rolls. (Or add one die and add one point.)

   The GM will assign a difficulty from 2 to 6 (or more). If at least one of the dice that you rolled comes up equal to or greater than that number, then the character succeeds.

   Whenever a character is going up against another character (PC or NPC) the difficulty is not determined by the GM. This can be for anything; trying to convince a guard to let you past, trying to find someone who is attempting to remain hidden, or trying to fight someone or some thing.

   In this case both parties roll dice. Match the dice against each other to see who had the better result. Best dice against best dice. Ties go to the “defender”. If one character has more dice then the other then those are unopposed successes.

   Whoever gets the most successes wins. The losing characer takes “damage” equal to the number of extra successes. Keep track of that number. If it ever exceeds the stat being used then they are defeated and the winning character succeeds or fails at what they are attempting.

That’s it. That’s the entire game. The rest is up to you. Have fun with the EZRPG.