Ruins & Rogues

Classic fantasy role-playing without so many rules!

Ruins & Rogues packs everything you need to run a fantasy RPG onto a single sheet of paper. For one-shots, it offers lightning-fast character creation (even faster than Into the Odd!). For campaigns, it offers a simple system for leveling up over 4 to 6 sessions. All you need to play are pencils, paper, and four six-sided dice.

This game is the product of five years of iteration. I've considered and worked over every rule dozens of times. I've learned a lot making it. But in the end, it's a lot like the games I played back in high school: low-budget, cartoony, and relaxed about the rules.

Who Are You? Creating a character is a two-step process. First, choose or roll for one of 36 character names, which comes with a kind and three starting items. Available kinds include dwarf, elf, goblin, halfling, human, and orc. Second, choose a skill, a spell, or neither. That's it! There are no ability scores, class abilities, or trait tables.

How to Fight. To attack, roll two six-sided dice, ignore dice that roll 4 or more, and add up the remaining dice for the damage. With this system, you deal 2 damage on average, but you could deal up to 6 damage. Combat is both predictable and surprising!

Advancement. Each player marks XP at the end of each session based on the progress they make toward a goal. Gold is good for your retirement, but whether money matters to your character is up to you.

Online SRD. Everything you need to play the game is available here for free as a searchable website. All the rules are visible in the screenshot at the top of this page. The only thing I'm charging for is for the printable PDF with the cover.

Adventures. A version of The Quintessential Dungeon for Ruins & Rogues is available via the online SRD. I plan to add more adventures and conversions in the future!

What are you still reading this for? Print out the game, grab some dice and some friends, and go have an adventure!

Tim B. is a member and moderator of the NSR Cauldron community on Discord. You can find his blog at Congas.blog and follow him @flyrefi@dice.camp.