Day 22 of #RPGaDay 2017.
Which RPGs are the easiest for you to run?
I just noticed something about this question after seeing many other people's responses online. The question says RPGs, not RPG. That really changes things. To me, this means the question is looking for a style or genre or something like that and not a specific rule system. My original answer was going to be Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, because I know that world and system like the back of my hand, but due to noticing that s after RPG I'm going to have to change my answer.
I'm going to have to go with generic fantasy RPGs. Dungeons & Dragons. Pathfinder. Middle Earth Roleplaying. I realize this is probably the easy way out but we are looking for the easiest to run. The reason I'm going with generic fantasy is that it's well known. Fantasy tropes are common place. It's going to be hard to find someone who isn't familiar with them.
You sit me down with a table of 6 strangers and I can get them involved and active in a fantasy setting in moments. Now-a-days fantasy tropes are so common that I would not have to worry about explaining the world the players were about to enter. Everyone sitting there is going to have an idea in their mind of what I'm talking about when I say "you see an elf" or "The orc charges." What's most fascinating about this to me is that everyone at that table is probably picturing something different, and that doesn't matter. Elf = ally good thing. Orc = bad thing trying to kill the characters.
I have shown up to the FLGS in the past and asked to run a game on the spot. I was able to start a game in moments using a generic fantasy setting. That particular moment I just made up a 5 room dungeon. First room had some goblins in it and was a straight up fight. The second room had a trap. The third room had some Gnolls that could be dealt with through fighting or talking or be snuck by. The fourth room had some treasure and something wondrous (a magic fountain). The last room had a boss. The FLGS happened to have some D&D pre-gens on hand so that's the basic rules I used. I didn't have stats for the bad guys. I didn't have a module telling me what that fountain did. I just made it all up as we were playing and it worked brilliantly. That day I know that at least 3 people entered our wonderful hobby and I was able to pull that off due to the cultural knowledge of general fantasy tropes that now exists.
I have shown up to the FLGS in the past and asked to run a game on the spot. I was able to start a game in moments using a generic fantasy setting. That particular moment I just made up a 5 room dungeon. First room had some goblins in it and was a straight up fight. The second room had a trap. The third room had some Gnolls that could be dealt with through fighting or talking or be snuck by. The fourth room had some treasure and something wondrous (a magic fountain). The last room had a boss. The FLGS happened to have some D&D pre-gens on hand so that's the basic rules I used. I didn't have stats for the bad guys. I didn't have a module telling me what that fountain did. I just made it all up as we were playing and it worked brilliantly. That day I know that at least 3 people entered our wonderful hobby and I was able to pull that off due to the cultural knowledge of general fantasy tropes that now exists.
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