Making a Micro RPG

Whelp... if you missed it I did a thing called the 200 Word RPG Challenge in 2019 and boy was it a trip. I kept typing out ideas and rules on the train to and from work and getting to a computer to copy the text over to the word counter AND~ ... always being over. Looking at them I'd realize they were better suited for the slightly longer format of a Micro RPG and have to start all over again. This lead to 12 Micro RPGs over 7 days. Super frustrating considering what my goal for the week was but I did learn alot of fun things when it came to designing for a TTRPG that was as minimal as possible, while still providing the structure needed for players to go wild in a particular atmosphere and world you set up for them. Let me share my headaches with you so that you can avoid them!

So first, what is a Micro RPG?

Micro-RPGs are compact games that fit the entirety of their rules onto a few pages.

Pretty much it is a whole rule set, world, and all things needed to run your RPG in a few pages. You should be able to learn how to both run and play it within a few minutes. People argue how many pages are a Micro RPG vs how many pages are a Macro RPG. Honestly I determine it more in how long it takes someone to learn how to set up and play the game. It should be quick to pick up and run with. Some of the best examples out there in the wild are games like Lasers & Feelings, Honey Heist, and Quick Quest.

Micro RPGs are fantastic as a tool to get someone who may be interested in playing TTRPGs but who haven't gotten a chance to yet. They are easy to understand and pick up, so they don't have to worry about whole handbooks or messing something up with a table full of vets. Running these games are also the best ways I find for a DM to stretch out their ability to roll with the punches, manage tables, and to think on their feet. If you want to get better at taking whatever curve balls your players throw your way run these! Using them also keep you from having to try and carve out regular large chunks of time to play together. You can meet up whenever you have time, even if its last minute, and still have fun playing in a world together!

Alot of the time since they are so small they leave alot to interpretation or to the DM to have to fill in. If you aren't confident at running games this can be a big trail by fire because you will run into situations where you will have to make a call and trust your gut on it to keep the game moving forward. This can also be a bit of a good thing if you feel this is a weakness of yours. I have also found that these Micro RPGs are only good for one shots, it is really stretching them beyond their limits to do a mini shot. BUT alot of the time if people haven't played TTRPGs outside of the Micro RPG you are using to introduce them to it they want to continue playing it and move into a larger campaign. So you've got them hooked but now they are hooked on something that isn't sustainable and need to be transition to systems that can often be daunting.

We've discussed the Good and the Bad about Micro RPGs and playing them, but why should you practice designing them? Well if you work on TTRPG systems in any capacity it is a needed stretching of some muscles you didn't realize were really rusty. Alot of the time as designers, writers and even as editors we forget how important being succinct and straight to the point is for running a game. We fluff language and expand on ideas trying to give as many tools and as much help to the players and DMs of the game. But sometimes this can actually undercut what we are trying to do, it can make the things we are presenting harder to understand. Or even worse it completely convolute the rules we are trying to present for play. So giving yourself some strict guidelines can be freeing. I've done this before not just with trying the 200 Word RPG Challenge, but in Game Jams I have run that limit the number of cards or rules you can have. Each time I have done it I have surprised myself and come out of it feeling stronger as a designer and writer as well as pumped full of ideas. Heck one of my partner's favorite games to take to her tabletop club is a card game called 'Pandora's Box' that I made from one such Game Jam exercise.

If you have gotten to this point in this rant you are very interested in trying this yourself. Everyone approaches the challenge of a Micro RPG in their own way but I'll go over how I do to help you get started. I try to first start with a line blurb about what I want to attempt to do, this can come from or be inspired from anything from wrestling matches to ghost hunting to my favorite spy movies. For the one I designed for the 200 Word RPG challenge was inspired by some of my favorite supernatural horror movies. Ones like The Thing (1982), 28 Days Later, and Resident Evil. All of these movies had a theme in common that I wanted to distilled down for my game. I wanted a something, an other, a corrupting force. It had to want to cause harm to the players and consume them, yank them into their void and assimilate them into the ranks of the darkness. That was where I started - the feel I wanted to give when playing the game. Now comes what mechanics best fit that vibe. How we physically play a game effects how we feel about a game more then we realize. It changes the experience if you take out dice and switch it to a battle of card suites instead. There are innumerable ways to resolves actions and conflicts and plot lines. Take your time researching them, have fun hacking and slapping a couple of them together. From there write out your game, see where your word count lands. Then go through with a goal in mind and cut out useless words, sentences and instructions. If you think you have cut out enough then cut out some more, honestly the first few times you won't cut enough during your editing process. It was a hard thing for me to get on board with but it honestly made me take editing and criticisms on my own writing and design better when on other projects. Finally check your word count, then all that is left to do is slap it on a page with some fun layout and design. BOOM! You have a fun game to pull out at any point to have fun with your friends.

With that little rambling over with, I’m JustKay your regular DM Dalliance on the web and I’ll see you next post.