#200 word RPGs

[strixludica]

FIGHTING VIDEOGAME TOURNAMENT RPG

REQUIRES: -2+ players -Poker decks -Spectators

The overall game is a series of double-elimination tournaments

Make a roster of persistent characters. Players can choose the same character for a match.

CHARACTER CREATION Shuffle two decks together, draw until you have six trips (sets of 3), write down only the four highest trips; its MOVES.

MATCH

Begin with 0 HYPE and 3 HEALTH (you lose at 0)

Pick a character. Their MOVES are your hand.

Put down a random card.

TURN

Set face down a MOVE with the same SUITE or NUMBER as the card on the table

Declare a card

Guess if the opponent lied

The MOVE face-up goes back to its hand

Face-down MOVES are revealed

Describe your move in 10- seconds. Spectators vote on who gains 1 HYPE.

Highest card wins and deals 1 DAMAGE.

If only one player guessed right, their card remains on the table, otherwise whomever has highest HYPE makes the other guess which hand hides a token. If the other guesses right, their card remains; otherwise, the other. The other card returns to its hand.

DISCOVERING TECH ONLY 1/TOURNAMENT, with HYPE >= lowest trip of the character you just used, SECRETLY add 2 random cards to its MOVES.

I grant my permission to publish this game off-site This game is meant to simulate the unique thrills of competitive fighting games like Smash Bros Melee or Tekken, both on and off the ring.

The suits are meant to symbolize the broad state of the fighters in relation to each other: their relative distance and positioning, and who has the advantage in the "neutral game". Due to how characters are created, not all of them are equally viable in all situations, and indeed not all f them are equally viable period.

That is why the DISCOVERING TECH rule works the way it does: to reward players who stick with a "low tier" character with potentially powerful new moves. Its requirement mean it is much easier to trigger with characters who have at least one weak set of 3 in their moves.

200 Word RPGs 2024

Each November, some people try to write a novel. Others would prefer to do as little writing as possible. For those who wish to challenge their ability to not write, we offer this alternative: producing a complete, playable roleplaying game in two hundred words or fewer.

This is the submission thread for the 2024 event, running from November 1st, 2024 through November 30th, 2024. Submission guidelines can be found in this blog's pinned post, here.

[prokopetz]

I decided to try to make something for the 200-word ttrpg thing, and settled on using a deck of cards, but it turns out that you can do a lot of interesting things with a deck of cards that doesn't easily fit into 200-words and I am spending way too much time and effort on this and I just wanted you to know that this is entirely your fault.

(With reference to this post here.)

That's kind of the whole point. A one-page RPG really "wants" to be 300–400 words; fitting one into 200 words and having it still be complete and playable is hard, at least if you want to do a good job. To the extent that the 200-word RPG challenge has any purpose beyond fun, it's to give you the chance to exercise your skills as an editor and technical writer, which are areas where a lot of folks in the indie RPG sphere could use the practice!

[cardboardhyperfix-games]

stupid wizard battle

I put my 200-word RPG on itch. You can see the original post here: https://www.tumblr.com/cardboard-hyperfix-games/735104253101768704/stupid-wizard-battle?source=share

Also, there are some amazing photos in this that I love. I created an art book to go along with this game that is WAY longer than the game. Check it out on Itch!

Stupid Wizard Battle

2 Players Materials: highlighter/pen/pencil, two books, chess timer, construction paper, tape

Set up:

Make a wizard hat using construction paper and tape. Make sure it fits!

Each player needs a book. They will be writing in this book.

Each player holds their book out in front of them for at least 60 seconds.

Then, spend 60 seconds looking through the book and dogearing pages for powerful words.

Put on your wizard hats.

Put 3 minutes each on the chess timer.

Gameplay:

The oldest player goes first. Open your book and find a powerful word. This word is your SPELL.

Mark it out with your writing utensil, point to it, and announce it to your opponent.

Start the chess timer.

The other player does the same but looking for a word that either: A) Counters or B) Is more powerful than the previous word. Do step 2. Hit the timer.

NOTE: You cannot use a word you have marked out!

Go back and forth one upping/countering each spell until someone's timer runs out. That player loses.

The winner rips up the wizard hat of the loser.

[strixludica]

Developing a 200 word RPG - log 1: concept

Something that's always fascinated me is the world of competitive fighting games, especially those very open to the development of "tech" like Smash. I've decided to try and make a 1v1 ttrpg that simulates those thrills.

At a fundamental level, I intend to simulate fight thus: each player character has a number of moves to choose from, and a state which determines which moves can be taken. This state represents things like stance, positioning, and other such factors.

Each turn, both players choose a move and reveal it at the same time, rock-paper-scissors style, and the state of their character (as well as their remaining hit points) changes depending on both the move they chose and the one they received, with some outright countering others.

Something that I already know is that, although most moves will be completely deterministic, I want a few to be able to succeed or fail based on a dice roll: these will represent the extremely high-skill techs, the frame-perfect inputs, the desperate gambits that can turn the tables of a fight and make the crowd go wild, IF you can pull them off.

The hardest challenge with this idea, as I see it, is to come up with a system for creating characters that is balanced, decently varied, but still simple enough that an opponent has a fair chance at figuring out your character mid-fight.

[critical-catastrophe]

the end of the world (coming soon)

play begins by deciding the session’s rough length (e.g. “about an hour”) and, by extension, how long it will be before the world ends. the GM privately sets a timer within this range, but does not start it.

next, players create their characters. after a setting has been decided, players note the following about their characters (usage of phones for notetaking is encouraged):

name

description

NPC attachment

a regret

a dream

the GM briefly describes the starting scene and relevant NPCs, reiterating the time limit set by the group before. the timer starts, and play begins. now, the GM’s job is to settle disputes and, more importantly, keep the session on-track. they remind players of their very limited time in-universe and seek to create feelings of urgency through their words. they do not reveal the exact time left.

players act out scenes, with other players or the GM playing NPCs when needed. if a character performs a task based on luck or the will of others, their neighbours play roshambo. the winner gets to choose whether the task succeeds.

when the timer goes off, the end of the world arrives. the GM narrates the deaths of all PCs.

[renaissancewoodsman]

200 Word RPG Meta-Anthology

I was inspired by a probably-unwise-rpg-concept by @prokopetz and couldn’t get the idea out of my head. So here’s a first crack at it. I welcome feedback and suggestions, the limitations make the concept difficult to pin down!

The concept: a full fledged RPG built out of 200 word RPGs. The high level framework game is 200 words, and leads you to resolve situations in other 200 word RPGs. Best described as a “Tabletop RPG version of Mario Party”

Examples of subgames that might be included in such an anthology are included below the cut, but the idea is you could use almost any game as a subgame. 

Meta-Game

To begin, play a subgame to create the setting.

Then, each player plays a different character creation subgame of their choice. You begin with ten endurance.

Turn order is decided randomly. On their turn, a player describes what actions they take. The other players describe how they are helping or hindering.

If they are attempting a task with an uncertain outcome, they play an appropriate subgame. If they succeed or partially succeed, they describe what happens. If they partially succeed or fail, they lose one endurance, gain one experience, and the player to their right describes a new complication.

If they are seeking an item or information, play an appropriate subgame. They lose one endurance and add the result to their inventory.

If they are interacting with a person, play an appropriate subgame. Note down the resulting changes to your relationship. Gain one experience. If it changed for the worse, lose one endurance.

Otherwise they describe the outcome of their action.

Spend ten experience to play a character improvement subgame and note the changes to your character.

If you have zero remaining endurance, play an appropriate consequences subgame and note the changes to your character. Regain all your endurance.

Micro-Micro Scope This game can be used as a subgame to create a setting. To begin, each player writes two genres on notecards. Reveal them and discard any duplicates. Each player then gets three votes, which they place on notecards of their choice. The two with the most votes combine to form the genre of this setting. If there is a tie, include all tied genres. On separate notecards, each player describes a major region and a significant historical event. Shuffle the events and deal them out as the horizontal axis of a grid. This is the timeline. Create the vertical axis with the locations. Randomly determine a turn order. On their turn, a player can do the following. They may never write more than 20 words in one turn:

Describe a minor event. Place in on the grid to denote where and when it occured.

Describe a person or object. Place it to the side.

Describe a sublocation. Place it next to the larger location on the vertical axis.

[Once per game] Describe a major event. Place it in the timeline.

Elaborate. Add text to an existing notecard.

Play continues until each player has taken five turns.

What Is a Man? This game can be used as a subgame to create a character. One player plays the man, who is being described. Another player, chosen at random, plays dracula. Any other players play a demonic chorus. Dracula begins each round by asking, “What is a man?” The man goes first, and must describe one of their positive qualities. The demonic chorus then elaborates on and belitles these virtues. Then Dracula makes a dramatic gesture, such as dashing a glass of brandy into a fireplace. Dracula then pronounces one of the man’s flaws. The demonic chorus then elaborates on and offers a silver lining of these vices. This continues for three rounds, with Dracula getting more heated each time. Record all that is said of this man, for it is all true.

Arm Wrestling This game can be used as a subgame when arm wrestling, or for any contest of strength. Describe a contest of strength and its stakes. Describe your participants. Rate their raw strength on a scale of 1-5. If they have character sheets from another game, use those as reference. Each player draws cards from a 52 card deck equal to their rated strength. They each place a card face down and reveal them. Both cards are discarded, but whoever has the higher card draws a new card. Aces are high. If the value is the same, suit order is spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs. Some cards are special.

Aces are surges of strength. If you play an ace, draw an extra card if you win or lose.

2s are feints. They beat any face cards.

7s are lucky. If you would lose with a 7, replace it with the top card of the deck.

Put it in the Pot This game can be used as a subgame when cooking, brewing, or any form of crafting with many ingredients. One player is the cook, the others are assistants help find ingredients. They may be trying to help or hinder the cook. The cook describes the dish, then chooses five adjectives. Three that they want associated with their dish, two they do not. The assistants each take five notecards and write the adjectives on them. On the flipsides, they write an ingredient they think matches both the adjective and the dish. These cards are shuffled, adjective down, to create the market. An adversarial assistant may try to make bad adjectives seem enticing. Three notecards are dealt. The cook picks one and discards the rest. This continues until the deck is empty. The cook then flips the ingredients they’ve chosen. Any adjective that shows up more than twice is included in the description of the final dish.

Small Talk This game can be used as a subgame when you make casual conversation. This game is for two people, and requires a six sided die and some stackable objects such as jenga blocks. To begin, stack seven of the objects in any arrangement. This stack represents how heavy the conversation is getting. On your turn, roll the die and then add or remove exactly that many objects. Say some small talk. If the pile is ever empty or has more than 20 objects, you successfully have small talk. If the objects fall while you’re removing objects, the conversation is too banal! The other person now thinks you’re boring. If the objects fall while you’re adding objects, the conversation gets too real! Say what subject you brought up. You have one last chance to salvage it! The other player will try to grab as many objects as they can away from you. If they have more than half, they think you’re too familiar! If you have more than half, you divert back to small talk. Success! If you can make a stable stack of at least six objects, they don’t mind the heavy topic! You get closer as friends.

Training Montage This game can be used as a subgame to improve your character when you spend some time training. This is a game for three or more players and requires many six sided dice. One player is the trainee. They choose a character sheet they have on their person. The other players play the mentors. A mentor chosen at random starts. They narrate their training, holding a die out in the palm of thier hand. The trainee takes it and rolls it until they get a six. They then stack it on a relevant part of their character sheet. All the while, the other mentors are trying to stack dice. When they get a stack six high, they hijack the narration and the scene montage cuts to their training. They get to knock over the other mentors’ stacks. When the trainee has a stack six high, the montage ends and they can improve whatever part of the character sheet the stack was sitting on.

So You Got Kicked In The Face This game can be used as a consequence subgame when you’re physically injured. This is a game for one player. They describe a character. They just been kicked in the face, metaphorically speaking. Cut two pieces of paper into those cross shapes that can be folded up into cubes. Partition them into squares, which will become the faces of the cubes. On one, fill one square with FACE. Put other body parts the character has in the other five spaces. On the other, fill one square with KICKED. Put other methods of harm in the other five space. Fold those papers up and tape them into cubes. Roll them like dice to find out if you’ve been KICKED in the FACE or what.

[zarvasace]

We Are Fairies: a fairy rpg

Fanwork for @linked-maze !! Written for the 200-word rpg November thingy

Google drive link to the pdf here, and text version under the cut :) Art is by me but based on LM’s drawings and AU!

Play with 2+ people. Choose one to be the Great. The Great is not a character.

Obtain a large jar of dirt. Fill it with plain pebbles and painted or glass pebbles, ten to twenty each. When you are asked to DIG, dig the dirt until you find a pebble. A plain pebble is failure and a painted pebble is success. Build a tower with your pebbles. When all the pebbles are pulled, the Great chooses the best tower, and that player gains a Point. Put all pebbles back in the dirt.

You are a six-legged, furry little rodent of a fairy. You EXPLORE, FIGHT, and USE MAGIC. If your fairy type is good at the action you take, DIG twice and choose one, but you have to put the extra pebble back.

The Great tells you what your surroundings are like. Describe what you do, choose an action, and DIG. The Great describes how the world reacts. Spend a Point before DIGGING to make the result extra-good or extra-bad.

Choose a fairy type:

• Healing (USE MAGIC)

• Knight (FIGHT)

• Navigation (EXPLORE)

• Light (USE MAGIC)

• Cave (FIGHT)

• Fish (EXPLORE)

• Ice (USE MAGIC)

• Depths (EXPLORE)

• Desert (EXPLORE)

• Twili (USE MAGIC)

• Magma (FIGHT)

[andyboff]

i made a 200-word cooking supplement for your dungeoning adventures, inspired by dungeon meshi! all you need to play is the supplement itself, a d100/d% + d10, a handful of d6s and creativity!

[damsels-n-dice]

have you ever wondered what you would do if you knew you were going to die today? what if everyone in the world was going through that same thing, in the same moment? anarchy, most likely. crime, perhaps. but also a chance to say the things you weren't brave enough to say, or do the things you didn't have time to do until now. a chance to change things.

this is the premise of my 200-word ttrpg, WHAT TIME WE HAVE LEFT. play in real time as people experiencing their last hours on earth, racing to find closure before the end. because, of course, knowing the apocalypse is coming doesn't necessarily mean you know exactly when. neither you or your character does. you can see the original version of the game on tumblr here, and the itch.io page here, but more importantly, it's now up on drivethrurpg!

[200-word-rpgs]

Tumblr 200 Word RPGs

This is a sideblog for the informal 200-word RPG jams organised by @prokopetz each November.

Current Event

2024's event runs from 2024-11-01 through 2024-11-30; entries can be submitted as reblogs on the following thread:

https://www.tumblr.com/200-word-rpgs/765900047632203776/200-word-rpgs-2024

Past Events

2023 – Tumblr thread | Offsite archive 2022 – Tumblr thread | Offsite archive

Submission Guidelines

Each entry should be a complete, playable roleplaying game in two hundred words or fewer. Coming in lower is fine, though you're welcome to try to hit 200 words exactly if you want an extra challenge.

This is an informal game jam; entries are not curated or judged, no eligibility rules are enforced, no winners are chosen, and the organising parties explicitly refuse to define the terms "word" or "RPG". If you wish to participate, you can follow these steps:

Step 1: If you're unfamiliar with 200-word RPGs, read a bunch of previous years' entries (linked above), or browse the 200 Word RPG Challenge archives at https://200wordrpg.github.io/ to get in the proper headspace. (Note: this blog is not affiliated with the 200 Word RPG Challenge; its archives are provided for reference only.)

Step 2: Write your own 200-word RPG. If you're not sure of your word count, you can use the counter at https://200wordrpg.github.io/wordcount to check. If you disagree with how this tool defines "word", feel free to use a different counting method – adherence to the word limit is on the honour system anyway.

Step 3: Reblog the current event's main post (linked above when an event is active) and append your 200-word RPG in the reblog. Please do not submit your entry as a reblog to the post you are reading right now.

Step 4 (optional): If you wish to provide any author's notes on your entry, please place them under a "Read More" break to make it clear which part of the post is the game and which part is commentary.

Step 5 (optional): Indicate in your post whether you're okay with having your 200-word RPG archived off-site for posterity – if you don't say anything one way or the other, we'll assume the answer is "no". Please state this separately from any more general discussion of sharing or remixing permissions; don't make us guess!

Note: In previous years, we'd requested that folks refrain from discussing entries on the submission thread in order to avoid making them hard to find. Since we have a dedicated sideblog this year, that request is not being made this time around.

[prokopetz]

I forget, are we allowed to submit multiple entries to the 200-word rpg jam?

(With reference to this post here.)

We don't have submission rules so much as submission polite suggestions, so "allowed" isn't exactly the word for it. Certainly, if you did submit multiple entries, you wouldn't be the only one to have done so. Heck, I think there was at least one person who submitted multiple entries on the first day!

[cardboardhyperfix-games]

Something about the fact that 57 of the 75 people who have looked at stupid wizard battle have downloaded it is hilarious to me.

What i plan to learn from this: put my face on more things

[rathayibacter]

just realized it was my five year anniversary of being a published game designer last week! thinkin about something to do to celebrate

[heelycular-manslaughter]

game i made for the 200 word rpg challenge but ended up being like ~300 words. sighs. kicks ground. rips hair out until i bl

Standoff at the Edge of Memory

2 players, 1 coin

You are a hunter being hunted by your prey. 

One player is the Flipper, and one is the Caller. 

There are 6 bullets. The bullets are split between each player. There are 6 rounds in game, the last round presents the final standoff. On a private piece of paper, draw 6 circles representing scenes, assigning bullets to scenes of your choice. The other hunter cannot know your order. 

Scenes:

 Each scene with at least one bullet on it is a Cross. Scenes that you have a bullet on make you a Hunter. If your opponent has a bullet and you don't, you become the Hunted. 

If both players have a bullet, the round is considered a standoff. The flipper flips a coin, the caller calls the result. If the caller is correct, the player with the least amount of bullets left dies; if the amount is equal, you both survive and run away.

If neither of you have bullets, you do not cross paths. On these empty rounds, players flip a coin; if the caller is incorrect, they are no longer the caller, as players' roles switch.

The Final Standoff

Players flip a coin

Each time the Caller has been Hunted, they have planned more for this encounter; increase the Situation by 1. Decrease the situation by 1 for every previous standoff.

Situations:

-1: Correct call leaves both alive, incorrect kills both

2: Correct call leaves both alive, incorrect kills caller

3: Correct call kills both, incorrect kills the caller

4: Correct call kills the flipper, incorrect kills the caller

5+: Correct call kills the flipper, incorrect leaves both alive

If there is only one hunter on the final scene, they flip a coin, the Hunted calls it. If correct, they survive.

If there is no hunter on the final scene, you cross paths, exhausted. You leave your prey alive.

[notsomeoneyouknow]

My 200 Words RPG Repository

I made a bunch of 200 Words RPG in the past and after checking the tag I actually forgot that some of them exists! So I decide to put them all in one post, mostly for my convenience.

[joomju]

(DON'T) CREATE THE TORMENT NEXUS by @krawkpaladin

A SOLO GAME OF UNBRIDLED CONFIDENCE, LACK OF COMMON SENSE, AND DISDAIN FOR ETHICS.

Ever since you were a child, you loved reading Don't Create the TORMENT NEXUS. You loved it so much that you saw the potential in the TORMENT NEXUS as a force for world improvement, and now you have the knowledge and resources to make it a reality.

DESCRIBE THE TORMENT NEXUS' PURPOSE, BENEFIT, AND TORMENTING NATURE. DIFFICULTY STARTS AT 10.

Roll a d10.

If the result is lower than Difficulty, you DON'T CREATE THE TORMENT NEXUS. Describe what unethical thing you add to the design in a bid to make it work. Reduce Difficulty by 1. Roll again.

If the result equals Difficulty, you CREATE AN IRRITATION NEXUS. It works broadly as intended with the ethical issues described previously. You learn nothing and begin work on another TORMENT NEXUS. Reset Difficulty to 10. Roll again.

If the result is greater than Difficulty, you CREATE THE TORMENT NEXUS. It spirals out of control and creates a techno-dystopic hell on Earth. The game ends.

(191 words, including this sentence and permission to host off-site.)