New Game and System

I've recently discovered Microlite20, a "stripped down" version of 3.5 Dungeons and Dragons. To give an idea, the core rules- including character creation, combat, and monsters- fit on the front and back of a piece of printer paper. The other significant thing about this rule set is it comes in "pocketmod" format. A pocket mod is simply a little booklet that folds out of a normal piece of paper. I have a little library of M20 pocket mods, including:

• 4 copies of the core player rules
• 2 copies of the equipment list
• 2 copies of the spell list
• 1 copy of the skills and feats supplement
• 1 copy of the Psionics supplement
• 1 copy of the psionic power list
• 1 copy of the "Modern" supplement
• 1 copy of the GM rules (traps and poisons, basically)
• 1 copy of the monster list (includes most of the significant monsters from the MM)
• 1 8-character NPC booklet
• 1 premade adventure (The Temple of Kuth'ulak)
• 1 mini-campaign setting (by me)
• 1 adventure (by me)
• 1 "idea booklet" by me

This all fits in my pocket. A small collection of dice in the other pocket, plus a pencil, and I'm good to go!

The Campaign

I've recently started a small campaign using this rule set. The heroes (a slightly eccentric dwarven magi, elven cleric of Athena, and a human fighter) have bee travelling on a caravan, but are attacked by hobgoblins! They fight bravely, killing two of the monsters, but eventually fall unconcious after taking wounds. Have they been captured, left for dead... or are they? What happens next? The cool thing about this is we managed it in half an hour, while eating, with players entirely new to RPGs!

A bit about the games I run

Here's a list of the games I'm currently D/GMing:

• Allakee Playtest: This is my current RPOL (an online service that allows Play-by-Post games) game. I'm playtesting Allakee, the module I'm writing for OSRIC. It's a bit like Hommlet, except it doesn't fit into a certain storyline (like the Temple of Elemental Evil does). The characters are currently investigating an abandoned tower (play-by-post moves very slowly).


• Morgansfort: This is a one player, one DM BFRPG game with one of my friend's children (a fourth grader). We're playing through the Old Island Fortress at the moment, and it's about half cleared out. Recently, the player collected some giant bee honey and sold it in Slateholm, which I thought was a great opportunity to introduce a merchant that plays a part in the Cave of the Unknown.


• The Chaotic Caves: This was originally a one-off of the BFRPG homage to Keep on the Borderlands, but I've introduced it whenever I have some D&D players over my way.

Also, here are a few that I have DMed before:

• White Plume Mountain: Our group (middle school) played through this recently, and it was a blast! They got all three weapons, and... killed the owners. What an anticlimax. Of course, I made a mistake and allowed the Plaldin to play Lawful Stupid...
• The City of Kobolds: An entire villiage was captured and taken into the Underdark by kobolds! The players fouught their way out in a gladitorial exacution, taming a Learnan Hydra along the way, and were about to regin the surface world with what was left of the village, when the game died out.