Single Sheet Horror

[Galeros]

Single Sheet Horror is a simple rpg that I am working on. I am just in the beginning stages right now and as a result everything is kind of a jumbled mess, but all of the base mechanics are there. What is below is basically just me jotting down what came to mind when I was devising the system.

Single Sheet Horror is a complete Horror roleplaying game on a single sheet of paper. All that is needed to play is a single six-sided die for each player and the Gamemaster. Unlike other roleplaying games, Single Sheet Horror does not provide a long list of monsters or spells, but instead relies on the Gamemaster to create these so they will be appropriate for their games.

All PCs will get six wound points. Armor can add 2-4 extra wound points. Monsters can have anywhere from 1 to 15 wound points. Any time a PC is hit by a monster, they must subtract one wound point from their total. PCs heal one wound point per day of rest. When they reach 0 wound points they are dead.

All weapons a PC wields can do one wound point worth of damage to a monster. The GM may decide that certain weapons or materials can do more then one wound point of damage.

All skill rolls require the roll of a d6, if the skill is relevant to the PCs background, then a roll of 3 or higher is needed to succeed. If the skill is not relevant to the PCs background, a roll of 5 or higher is needed.

Combat requires attack and defense rolls. To attack a player must roll 1d6 and beat the opponent's defense roll. To defend, a PC must role a defense roll of 1d6. In order to harm a PC a monster must roll higher then the PCs defense roll. If a player rolls a 6 for their defense roll then the GM need not roll an attack roll for the monster as the player has gotten the highest possible defense roll. Monsters follow the same rules for attack and defense as PCs.

Fear rolls work much like attack and defense rolls. The GM rolls 1d6 for a monster and the PCs must beat the monsters "scare" roll in order to not run away. If the PC loses a Fear roll they run away from the monster and try to escape the situation by the quickest means possible.

Initiative is determined by rolling a d6, and whoever rolls higher goes before those who roll lower.

Magic works much like skill rolls, if a PC has studied the occult as part of their background then they may attempt to cast a spell if they have the right materials and knowledge.

This is still a very rough draft, I want to smooth things out a lot before I can call it complete.

I am also considering making a diceless version...though that is just a bit of a pipe dream right now.

[ScS of the Fraternity]

Single sheet horror reminds me of the One Page RPG Project that was in Knights of the Dinner Table magazine a few years back. The idea was to create a modular RPG - one page for the whole set of basic rules, and additional modules being complete rule sets - each module being compatible with the basic rules, and each being completely independent of each other.
A rule module could be a magic system, or sanity rules / insanity consequences, or a single magical item.

[Galeros]

Single sheet horror reminds me of the One Page RPG Project that was in Knights of the Dinner Table magazine a few years back. The idea was to create a modular RPG - one page for the whole set of basic rules, and additional modules being complete rule sets - each module being compatible with the basic rules, and each being completely independent of each other.
A rule module could be a magic system, or sanity rules / insanity consequences, or a single magical item.

Interesting, this was meant to be a complete rpg in one page. Although I had also considered the idea of "Single Sheet Fantasy" or "Single Sheet Science Fiction" (Although I may change the name to "One Die Horror"). I am going to start up a PBP on another forum soon so I can iron out the rules more.

[Galeros]

Here is a slightly more revised version. As you can see I have changed the name.

One Die Horror

One Die Horror is a complete Horror roleplaying game on a single sheet of paper. All that is needed to play is a single six-sided die for each player and the Gamemaster. Unlike other roleplaying games, Single Sheet Horror does not provide a long list of monsters or spells, but instead relies on the Gamemaster to create these so they will be appropriate for their games. Many of the things your PC can do will have to be worked out between the players and the Gamemaster. One Die Horror is meant to be a loose set of rules that can be used as is, or added to by a Gamemaster and his group.

All PCs will get six wound points. Armor can add 2-4 extra wound points. Monsters can have anywhere from 1 to 15 wound points. Any time a PC is hit by a monster, they must subtract one wound point from their total. PCs heal one wound point per day of rest, excluding any extra wound points they have gained from armor. When they reach 0 wound points they are dead.

All weapons a PC wields can do one wound point worth of damage to a monster. The GM may decide that certain weapons or materials can do more then one wound point of damage.

All skill rolls require the roll of a d6, if the skill is relevant to the PCs background, then a roll of 3 or higher is needed to succeed. If the skill is not relevant to the PCs background, a roll of 5 or higher is needed.

Combat requires attack and defense rolls. To attack a player must roll 1d6 and beat the opponent's defense roll. To defend, a PC must role a defense roll of 1d6. In order to harm a PC a monster must roll higher then the PCs defense roll. If a player rolls a 6 for their defense roll then the GM need not roll an attack roll for the monster as the player has gotten the highest possible defense roll. Monsters follow the same rules for attack and defense as PCs.

Fear rolls work much like attack and defense rolls. The GM rolls 1d6 for a monster and the PCs must beat the monsters "scare" roll in order to not run away. If the PC loses a Fear roll they run away from the monster and try to escape the situation by the quickest means possible.

Magic works much like skill rolls, if a PC has studied the occult as part of their background then they may attempt to cast a spell if they have the right materials and knowledge.

Religious characters may also work miracles in the name of their deity in much the same way a person using magic can cast spells. The character must have a religious background and the must succeed at a skill roll to invoke their deity.

Initiative is determined by rolling a d6, and whoever rolls higher goes before those who roll lower. For combats with more than six opponents, you may group enemies into clusters and have them attack on the same turn. Note that this can become very deadly for the PCs.

[Steve Miller]

A few suggestions/questions:

I think I like "One Die Horror" better than "One Sheet Horror" as far as titles go.

I think you need to add paragraph headers.

How much Life do monsters have? As in... should there be a couple of examples like "a mummy has 4 points of life but a cultist only has 1 point"? Benchmark sort of things, just to give the GM a little guideance?

A paragraph with a sample monster and adventure would complete the package, I think.

All that said....

I love mini-RPGs! If you should ever have a version you want to publish, keep me in mind. I'll happily add it to NUELOW Games' line-up of other RPGs... we'll do a nice PDF with a picture or two. (This would make a great freebie, or possibly a $0.50 price-point game. For what it's worth, we saw over 2,000 copies downloaded of two mini-RPGs we were offering for roughly three months earlier this year ["Vector" and "Double-Cross"]... and will offer again once we work out how to make them look nice on our store-front under Onebookshelf's revised websites.)

Of course, you don't need someone else to publish your RPG these days, but regular releases boosts visibility and sales/downloads.

(Click here to see what we've got, aside from our ROLF! and REH lines. I'd love to add some more RPGs to that category.)

[Galeros]

A few suggestions/questions:

I think I like "One Die Horror" better than "One Sheet Horror" as far as titles go.

I think you need to add paragraph headers.

How much Life do monsters have? As in... should there be a couple of examples like "a mummy has 4 points of life but a cultist only has 1 point"? Benchmark sort of things, just to give the GM a little guideance?

A paragraph with a sample monster and adventure would complete the package, I think.

All that said....

I love mini-RPGs! If you should ever have a version you want to publish, keep me in mind. I'll happily add it to NUELOW Games' line-up of other RPGs... we'll do a nice PDF with a picture or two. (This would make a great freebie, or possibly a $0.50 price-point game. For what it's worth, we saw over 2,000 copies downloaded of two mini-RPGs we were offering for roughly three months earlier this year ["Vector" and "Double-Cross"]... and will offer again once we work out how to make them look nice on our store-front under Onebookshelf's revised websites.)

Of course, you don't need someone else to publish your RPG these days, but regular releases boosts visibility and sales/downloads.

(Click here to see what we've got, aside from our ROLF! and REH lines. I'd love to add some more RPGs to that category.)

Yeah, I am still working on it! I am doing a PBP to playtest it on another forum. I am going to tinker with it a bit more. I will take into account your suggestions about monster life and add an example. If I were to ever ask you to help me publish it I would want it as a freebie.

[Galeros]

All right, here is yet another version a little more cleaned up.

One Die Horror

One Die Horror is a complete Horror roleplaying game. All that is needed to play is a single six-sided die for each player and the Gamemaster. Unlike other roleplaying games, One Die Horror does not provide a long list of monsters or spells, but instead relies on the Gamemaster to create these so they will be appropriate for their games. Many of the things your PC can do will have to be worked out between the players and the Gamemaster. One Die Horror is meant to be a loose set of rules that can be used as is, or added to by a Gamemaster and his group.

Health and Armor
All PCs will get six wound points. Armor can add 2-4 extra wound points. Any time a PC is hit by a monster, they must subtract one wound point from their total. PCs heal one wound point per day of rest, excluding any extra wound points they have gained from armor. When they reach 0 wound points they are dead.

Weapons
All weapons a PC wields can do one wound point worth of damage to a monster. The GM may decide that certain weapons or materials can do more then one wound point of damage.

Skills
All skill rolls require the roll of a d6, if the skill is relevant to the PCs background, then a roll of 3 or higher is needed to succeed. If the skill is not relevant to the PCs background, a roll of 5 or higher is needed.

Combat
Combat requires attack and defense rolls. To attack a player must roll 1d6 and beat the opponent's defense roll. To defend, a PC must role a defense roll of 1d6. In order to harm a PC a monster must roll higher then the PCs defense roll. If a player rolls a 6 for their defense roll then the GM need not roll an attack roll for the monster as the player has gotten the highest possible defense roll. Monsters follow the same rules for attack and defense as PCs.

Fear
Fear rolls work much like attack and defense rolls. The GM rolls 1d6 for a monster and the PCs must beat the monsters "scare" roll in order to not run away. If the PC loses a Fear roll they run away from the monster and try to escape the situation by the quickest means possible.

Magic
Magic works much like skill rolls, if a PC has studied the occult as part of their background then they may attempt to cast a spell if they have the right materials and knowledge.

Religion
Religious characters may also work miracles in the name of their deity in much the same way a person using magic can cast spells. The character must have a religious background and they must succeed at a skill roll to invoke their deity.

Psychic Powers
Some PCs may choose to have Psychic powers at character creation. Psychic Powers work the same as magic or religion when it comes to using them, the PC must succeed at a skill roll in order to use their Psychic Powers.

Initiative
Initiative is determined by rolling a d6, and whoever rolls higher goes before those who roll lower. For combats with more than six opponents, you may group enemies into clusters and have them attack on the same turn. Note that this can become very deadly for the PCs!

Monsters
Monsters may have anywhere from one to fifteen wound points. A rotting zombie may have only one wound point; where as a bioengineered monstrosity or a millennia old vampire may have fifteen wound points. Note, not all monsters need be inhuman in nature; a crazed cultist can be considered a monster for purposes of combat. Monsters do one wound point of damage per attack


Midnight Werewolf Attack!!
“Midnight Werewolf Attack!!” is a starter adventure for One Die Horror. The adventure deals with a malevolent werewolf stalking the residents of a U.S. suburb. The PCs are assumed to already be in the suburb for one reason or another.

The PCs will hear on the news of a murder that is believed to have occurred around midnight the previous night. If they should choose to investigate it they will find a series of clues that leads them to the outskirts of town (Gamemasters should feel free to make up whatever clues that will lead the PCs to the Werewolf’s lair). There they find an abandoned barn where the werewolf makes its lair. The werewolf will sense the PCs and choose to attack the PCs. The PCs then have the choice of engaging it in combat or fleeing. If they vanquish the monster in combat they will find themselves greeted by a Werewolf Hunter the next day who thanks them for slaying the werewolf. He will give the PCs his contact information and tells them that they may call on him if they feel they ever need help fighting another werewolf.

Werewolf
Wound Points: 8, vulnerability to silver weapons, takes two wound points of damage from silver weapons.