The Gaming Outpost

Microtactix Games is known to gamers as a source of inexpensive, generic roleplaying supplements (such as their Vyllage-On-the-Cheep buildings) and games (such as Budget Battlefield, a miniatures game), has come out with another in their line- Simply Roleplaying!, based on the PlainLabel game system (which I’ve never heard of, but then again I’m from South Dakota- I’m sure you can understand). Simply Roleplaying! is the first product from Microtactix I’ve ever looked at, so I don’t have the benefit of knowledge of some of their other product lines, which Simply Roleplaying! claims to be compatible with. However, given the genericness of the rules, I’d say it’s a safe bet that SR! integrates well with Budget Battlefield for detailed movement. The core rules for Simply Roleplaying! are just that- the basic rules for running a game under the SR! system. You’re not going to find fantasy spell lists or details on the various alien races that would populate a space-based campaign. Specific settings are going to be covered in future supplements such as Simply Super! (for superhero roleplaying).

The core rules for Simply Roleplaying! seem to be well-thought out and comprehensive. The basic system covers any situation I could think of that a group might find itself in. The core rules cover good old, regular, hack-n’-slash combat, two people battling each other for supremacy in a contest of skills (including rules for making such a thing more cinematic and drawn-out), as well as rules for vehicular combat and structural damage. They included a table with Armor ratings for various substances up to things like carbon-fiber and spun titanium. For weapons, printable weapon cards were included as a seperate PDF file. This is a very handy bonus, as it allows for quick reference without having to flip pages in a book, keep paging down on the screen, or look through an index.

Simply Roleplaying! seems to work well as a generic system. I can’t make any comparisons to Steve Jackson Games’s GURPS, as I’ve never had any experience with it either, but from what I’ve heard it’s bogged down with lots of specific rules, and if you decide to scrap one of them that doesn’t seem to work for you, the whole system can fall right out from under it. That isn’t so with Simply Roleplaying! . The system isn’t bogged down with lots of complexities, though there are some things that seem to be a little daunting at first. First among these are the skill levels. Ranging from Familiar to Expert, the levels determine just how much your character knows about whatever skill it is he’s using. SR! factors skill level in quite heavily when figuring difficulty for a task. It’s calculated to be part of your Skill Rating, which is the total measure of how good you are at something. You take the skill and the related stat, then add the stat and the bonus for Skill Level together to get your overall rating. It’s kind of like the system for HOL. At first glance, I thought the Skill Levels and Ratings were exclusive of each other, rather than one being a part of the other. This could probably be worded a little better in the next edition.

Second, the thing I had the biggest problem with was the section on running an RPG. Yes, it’d be helpful to the people who are just cutting their roleplaying teeth, but this could have been included as a seperate file in the ZIP. It ws 50 pages of things I’d either read before or already knew, and since this is all in PDF they could have easily made it its own file. Failing that, they could have at least put it at the end of the book. It came even before the main system for things like Tasks and combat! Now, I know it’s good advice, but I just think it was a bit ill-placed in the book. It should have gone after all of the system information, not between parts of it. Also, cutting this out into a seperate file would have cut down on the print size. Someone wanting to print out the rules would be in a world of hurt ink- and paper-wise due to this extra 50 pages, and with a lot of printers (O.K., mine- a new HP Deskjet 932c, but the thing is sweeeet… ), new ink cartridges can’t exactly be bought with couch change.

However, for all the nit-picking I’ve done over it, the system seems to be good and solid- great for people who want to roleplay in various settings without having to buy tons of different books. If you want stats for a Zenobulan Space Freighter, just make up a top speed and armor value for it, give it a handling modifier, and there you go! Granted, the Zenobulan Space Freighter may be covered in Simply Spaced! (or whatever they decide to call their space opera setting), but until then you can make it up for yourself using the guidelines they give you. Also, you don’t need tons of different dice. All you should ever need is a couple of d10s and you should be all set. All in all, Simply Roleplaying! looks to be a solid system with a lot of potential. All you need is some creativity and off you go! Overall, I’d give the Simply Roleplaying! core rules a B+ on ground of readibility and clarity. The system itself, however, is probably worthy of an A. For those of you looking for a generic roleplaying rules set and don’t want to shell out the money for the legions of GURPS products, Simply Roleplaying! is a good choice for your gaming dollar.