Quickstarts I Like: OneDice Quickstart

Quickstart or jumpstart, call it what you like.  These truncated rule-sets serve the purpose of introducing players to a game, usually for free or at a minimal cost.  Some do this more effectively than others.  I want to do a couple of posts about quickstarts that I like and the reasons I like them.  Ones that I liked so much that I acquired the full game as a result.

I'll start with OneDice Quickstart.  I have written about the OneDice system before but I'll do a brief recap.  It's a simple system that  uses 1d6.  Yes, it still bugs me a bit that they call it OneDICE.  But, oh well.

Characters have three abilities, Strong, Clever and Quick.  Three derived stats, Health, Defense and Move.  And then you have some skills.  Pretty quick and easy.

The basic system is ability + skill + die roll vs. target number.

The book itself is 42 pages overall with 27 of them being character creation and rules and the rest divided between two adventures.  The first is a GM run fantasy adventure and the second is a programmed SF adventure for a single character.

So, why do I like this quickstart?  There are a couple of reasons.

The quickstart has the complete character creation system.  It only leaves out rules for character advancement.  There are a lot of quickstarts that come with pregens and that's it.  I think that getting a taste of the character generation process is an important way to get to know the game.

The two adventures really give you a chance to see how the game plays.  The solo adventure allows you to do this even if you can't round anyone else up to play.  It also shows how it can work with different genres.  The adventures do highlight different aspects of the game.  Playing through the solo adventure, for example, taught me that combat can be deadly.

And I did pick up the full game, OneDice Universal, after reading the quickstart.  I've also picked up several of the genre books also, including Pulp, Science Fiction, Steam Punk and several more. What's beautiful about the genre books is that each includes the full rules suitably modified for the genre.  If you are only interested in OneDice Fantasy, for example, that is the only book you would ever have to buy.

So, if you have any interest in the OneDice system at all, pick up the free quickstart.

Gundobad Games

 Gundobad Games is a gaming blog written by "a professional ancient/medieval historian who teaches at the university level."

I really like this one because it blends ancient and medieval history with gaming.  It's fun as well as educational.  He's currently discussing Merovingian Gaul/France and how to build a campaign around it.  In the past he's covered creating quick histories for a campaign, archaeology and rpgs, the decline and fall of civilizations and more.  Check it out here.