So I’m a big fan of simplicity, when it comes to tabletop roleplaying games. If I can limit the amount of times in my games that a GameMaster or the players have to roll the dice to see what happens, or look up some rule in the book, then I’m a happy developer. Some of my games have only been around 30 pages long, just a basic zine in size, and I was pretty happy about that.
But then you have games like “Lasers & Feelings“.
One page TTRPGs aren’t a new concept, they have been being made for a very long time, actually. Most of them are either joke games, one-shots, or just a proof-of-concept for something more fleshed out. But you do get some one-page games that are actually fully fleshed out TTRPGs that one can run for years, and L&F is just one such game!
The legendary TTRPG developer John Harper wrote this simple-yet-effective game, and it is probably the model for all one-page TTRPGs to aspire to. I wish I could have written a game as solid and yet simple as L&F is. The rules make an aspiring developer like myself think “Wait, why didn’t I think of that!”
I’d outline the rules here, but seriously… what’s the point? The game is free, and one page in length, so click the link above and download it for yourself! Hell, hack the game and make your own game based upon it! It is released under the Creative Commons BY 4.0 license, so you can even sell your hack, if you like!
Have I mentioned how awesome John Harper is yet? Because he’s a pretty damn cool dude.
Anyway, every time I find myself struggling with something in one of my games, I think to myself “Why didn’t I just do this as an L&F hack?”, because most likely I should have just done that instead of whatever convoluted bullshit I came up with on my own.
I am not a good game developer. Just saying. But I do keep on trying…
That all said, I use L&F as the standard for simplicity in TTRPG development. Could it be crunchier, which is to say, have more specific rules for various aspects of the game? Yet, sure… but does it need to be? No. It is as crunchy as it needs to be. The GM and Players can make the game feel more crunchy by making the game need more rolls for different actions?
Whatever floats your boat. It’s not my thing, but whatever.
Anyway, all this talk of L&F has me hankering to do a hack myself, as I’ve never quite gotten there yet. What I’m thinking is wrapping one of my game settings around the L&F rules (easy enough), and going from there. It would be by no means a one-page game, not at all! But it would still have the soul of L&F, and thus the soul of a one-page TTRPG inside, and really, isn’t that what truly matters?
