Smoke & Steel

Usually when I role-play, I prefer rules light games that take advantage of the fact there is a Referee. That's one of the biggest things I love about OD&D, and that first moment that "clicked". Players could JUST describe what they were doing, and you could figure out what would make sense to have happen.

On the other hand I'm a war gamer, and some times I just like a "gamey" game with fun rules and lots of options (I love BattleTech). Now I don't think the d20 system is real tactical war game. It has lots of "tactical" rules, but I personally don't feel it is a solid tactical war game. Complex? Sure. Comprehensive? In a way. But that's neither here nor there, and it's really a matter of opinion.

What I do think d20 handles well (3E D&D, Pathfinder, etc.) is character customization. While I do find RAW (Rules As Written) 3E a bit much for my personal taste, I still like it better than GURPS. You have games like BRP and Pendragon, but they most involve customization through skill selection, and that's pretty much it. D&D and GURPS have quirks, special rules, powers, and odd abilities that players just like. GURPS however is way to complex, and tries too hard to be realistic for my tastes.

As I said, 3E is a bit too complex, but Microlite20, is not.

I'm currently working on a fun little project I'm calling Smoke & Steel. It's for a campaign I want to run for my wife, wherein she will have a small party of fighters. Eventually she can build up her forces, amass an army, build a kingdom, etc. The whole point of the game though, will be to customize her fighters, and eventually build up a little army.

In OD&D and old school D&D, customizing is as simple as how you outfit your character, and how you play them. My wife loves to play creatively, using various tricks and traps to her advantage, and usually doesn't rely on class features to have fun. Just this once though, I think it will be a fun change of pace for us.

Right now I'm starting with Microlite20, adding back all six ability scores. I'm going to heavily edit, and supplement feats. I'm going to make a bunch of classes, but they're going to be a lot closer to "kits": they'll just be a set of restrictions and benefits to the fighter class; everyone will get a feat every level or so. I'm going to add henchmen rules, which weren't really that great in 3E; the ability for her to amass a true army, and hire on troops without the "Leadership" feat. I'm also thinking of plundering FantasyCraft for "backgrounds". I'm not sure about skills, because all in all this is going to be pretty much straight combat; with out of combat being purely role-played and refereed. For race there will only be human, as it's going to be a quasi-historical setting; though I might include different human races to choose from. Most importantly I'll be expanding the weapons list with everything I can find and think of.

Basically I'm taking the parts I think are fun about d20 and shoving them in one set of house rules. In the end there will be several avenues for customizing your characters. I doubt I'll share it, unless anyone shows interest. But it's nice to write about it, and keep track of what I'm thinking.