Microlite20 is a tabletop roleplaying game system based on the d20 system. It’s stripped down, simplified, and trimmed to be a very small document. It’s a quick read, and has a very active community.
Its rules aren’t restrictive to creativity
Dungeons and Dragons will tell you what things your character can do, and what limitations exist therein. This article I read on geek-related.com describes it perfectly. Dungeons and Dragons attempts to tell you all the things you could possibly do, as though it were creating actions you could select in a computer game. It also attempts to create the boundaries… that Knock spell alone had holes you could poke in it if you really wanted to, and the article certainly did – “it mentions ropes and chains, but makes no mention of cables! Hahah! Now what!?” Now the DM has to go look up in a hidden sourcebook somewhere, or read the Dragon magazines, or Sage Advice, all in the hopes of finding a specific rule on whether or not this Knock spell affects cables, because we’re all playing by the rules here, and if it’s not in the rules somewhere, then it cannot be done. Anything you try to do must be able to fit within the rules! We must be able to code our computer-game style adventure around this logic!
Seriously, this is ridiculous. Even in its attempts to accomplish this, it fails. And I say why should it attempt to accomplish it anyway? Is tossing an idea to a DM to mull over for a few seconds suddenly a faux pas?
Microlite20 doesn’t tell you what you can do in every situation – it lets you think up your own way out of a situation. There’s no rule to stop you.
Also, as a DM, you want to bend the rules sometimes if it makes the story more interesting. Your job is to make the adventure fun, engaging, and immersive. Having to stop and check the rules because the jerkpot of the group who knows the rules back to front keeps correcting you and arguing that the rules need to be followed and never bent (even to make a situation more interesting) breaks the immersion. That’s no fun.
It encourages roleplay
A popular conundrum I read once involved 3 players needing to climb a cliff. One player was a fighter, who had many points in Strength. The DM asked him to use a physical+strength roll to climb up that cliff. And the fighter obeyed. Another player was a rogue, with high points in Dexterity. He chose the physical+dexterity roll to climb up. How? He climbed it – quickly – as fast as he could. Wouldn’t wanna get caught on the side of a cliff when something bad happens, after all. And the DM allowed it. The last player was a Magi, with high points in Mind. He chose a physical+mind roll to climb up the cliff. How? By climbing it logically and methodically… testing each handhold to make sure it would support him the whole way up, and planning the safest route to be sure he wouldn’t fall. And the DM allowed it.
Notice the latter 2 players had to get creative with their actions to allow them to use their strengths to their advantage? One could argue that all they did was BS around not having the highest Strength score – all they really did was argue semantics in order to have the most pluses to their final score. Although, on the other hand, they did come up with valid reasons for why they chose that path. It wasn’t like the player said “nah, I’m gonna roll physical+dex, cuz I have a higher score in that.”
Also, remember: the DM allowed it in both cases. The DM had the power to shoot down every one of those suggestions and instead say “no, physical+strength roll everybody… sorry guys. This is important.” And hey, think of how interesting the game could get if the DM had actually enforced that… Think about it. Why would the DM insist on using a physical+strength roll? Is there something special about the cliff that disables the players from choosing those alternative courses of action? Perhaps more information shall be revealed… like, the DM says that the cliff has a draft blowing down on it, requiring everyone to hold on really tightly and not fall off. And where does this strong draft come from? Oh no! A wind demon! Just from that one little insistence on a particular roll, the game starts getting interesting! The DM had to argue semantics as well, but compare this to a Dungeons and Dragons game… Everyone rolls against strength (no questions asked), they climb (or don’t climb) the cliff, and then… I guess stuff happens. You didn’t have each player climb the cliff in any interesting manner. You didn’t have the cliff allude to anything happening. It was just a boring cliff climb with boring people to a boring place with boring stuff happening boringly.
It’s faster
This game is way faster. The article mentioned above touched on this, where you don’t have to stop and look up rules and sourcebooks to find the magical rule that explains the boundaries of what you’re doing. You just toss it to the DM to mull over for a few seconds before giving you a yes or no. Furthermore, the spells and descriptions are smaller… You could read the entire rulebook of Microlite20 (expert rules included… and the DM guide) in 20 minutes (I timed it…). All the core rules can be printed on one page, even.
But faster still – character creation. It took me 15 minutes to roll up a character, but I’ve heard speeds as fast as 10 minutes. What took me the longest was having to use my starting wealth to select the equipment I wanted, and also spending time coming up with a name. I played Microlite20 while on vacation with a few friends. All we had was the floor of a hotel room, dice, and a pad of paper. Our DM took about half an hour to come up with a campaign, and it took us about half an hour to roll our characters up (took me 15 minutes for mine, and then I rolled one up for a friend of mine since he was unfamiliar with Microlite20). All in all, we were up and running, off the cuff, within half an hour. If any of our characters die, sad as it is, rolling a new character doesn’t take very long… It’s not so bad when you can roll up a new one in like 10-15 minutes. Hell it takes that long for the DM to decide where the party will even find your new character. Nothing breaks the game immersion here.
It’s easier to understand
I’m not going to say that Microlite20 is written in the best way possible… It could certainly be improved. That said, you wanna compare that to the giant mess that is Advanced Dungeons and Dragons? How about Pathfinder?!
Microlite20 is regarded as one of the easiest RPGs to pick up for newbies. With only 3 stats and 4 skills, it’s easy to keep track of your bonuses to rolls. With only 4 classes and 4 races, you’re not overwhelmed with choices and paths. The spells logic is simpler, no longer expending spell slots or preparing spells for the day. Instead, you expend HP for your spell, which forces a magic user to use discretion when casting a spell. You can cast any spell at your spell level, so you don’t have to spend any time choosing which spells out of the pile are yours to command. Furthermore, the spell list is pretty short, and the descriptions are small. You could just keep a page full of the spells in your back pocket… just unfold it and read what you want to use.
Any class can use any weapon. Perhaps that’s crazy, but it certainly is simpler. You could conceivably have a rogue make a sneak attack with a battle axe… ridiculous as that sounds. But, remember, they have to pass their stealth check, don’t they? And the DM sets the DC on such a check… Remember, just because you can think up something crazy and nonsensical that these loose rules allow doesn’t mean the DM won’t forbid it (or at least make it so difficult for you that it isn’t worth it).
Choosing a starting inventory is also quick. The list isn’t that long (compare that to the 4-5 pages worth of items in the D&D 5e handbook… I don’t even wanna look at Pathfinder or AD&D2). Not only that, but you can choose an “inventory pack”, which contains all the things you’ll probably need for an adventure. Hell, you don’t even have to choose – just roll the dice and let that determine your starting pack.
As a newbie player, I find all of these things so much easier. I’m not overwhelmed with choices, nor am I confused with any special tweaks to the rules. Just pick my character and let’s go. We’ll make it more complicated as the game goes on… not right out of the gate.
It’s free
Yeah, hard to beat “free” isnt’ it? All the other popular tabletop games cost money… gotta buy the rulebooks, then the monster collections, inventory collections, the story campaigns… and let’s not forget the little figurines and whatnot. Microlite20? 100% free with no extra purchases necessary. In fact, not only can you get Microlite20 for free, but you can get a whole myriad of games based on Microlite20 for free… There’s well over 100 of ‘em now. It’s the gift that keeps on giving, and it doesn’t cost you a cent. I figure anyone wanting to play an RPG would be pretty damn well intrigued by one that doesn’t require them to buy a book, print out character sheets, and then purchase figurines (not to mention someone who wants to DM a game doesn’t have to get the player handbook, DM guide, monster manual, monster figurines, and any supplemental things they might need such as officially sanctioned campaign settings, extra classes/races, and more monster manuals!).
It’s flexible, and scalable
If you think D&D has better stuff, or if you think Pathfinder has better stuff, then feel free to incorporate it into your Microlite20 game. I know spells, items, armor, and weapons could most definitely be expanded upon. Add whatever you want. In our game, our mage player was messing around and flipping through the AD&D2e book I had, and found a spell he wanted to use. It was the Alert spell… a spell level 1 spell. We never wound up using it, but still, it’s a spell that Microlite20 didn’t have in its repertoire. The DM allowed it… feel free to add more in if you choose. The best part is, you can add in stuff like this from any game (as long as the setting makes logical sense… wouldn’t want to suddenly have cybernetic chest rockets from the cyberpunk 2020 world in a medieval setting…).
Also, DMs, if you have already purchased campaign settings from, say, D&D 3.5 edition, you can run them pretty much as-is. Even the monsters detailed therein can be used as-is. For example, there are no spot checks in Microlite20, but your monster needs to roll a spot check, and they get a +2 to the roll. Some DM’s think they have to then go in and translate their monsters into the 3-stat/4-skill design of Microlite20 in order to get that +2 to their roll. And since there are no spot checks, their monster will have to use … hmm… maybe a physical+mind check, which will somehow come out to a +2.
But let’s look at this logically… Regardless of the skill used, your monster is rolling to determine whether or not he spots the party, correct? And however the skills/stats/whatevers are broken down, he gets a +2 to that check, correct? Then who cares how his stats/skills are broken down… You don’t need to translate anything. All you need to do is just roll the dice with the +2 and determine the result. That extra work was never necessary. Even when fighting, the only things you need to know about the monster are AC, HP, and what dice to roll for damage for each attack. Nothing needs to be transferred… unless the monster is going to join the party or something (like, for instance, it’s an animal, and someone tames the animal to use as a pet… that pet needs stats now).
In Closing
Microlite20 is an awesome tabletop game. I’ve been playing Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition for about half a year now, and I own the source books for Pathfinder and Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd edition. And every time I play, I keep wishing I was playing Microlite20.
I love its simplicity, ease of use, flexibility, and efficiency. It’s the smartest system I’ve ever seen, and I’ve had a lot of fun playing it.
So check it out. Download it here, and for free.