About

Imagine a TTRPG with the design philosophy of a deck builder card game. μRPG (pronounced micro-RPG) is just that. With just 3 pages of basic rules to read it is quick to learn, yet its inherently modular design gives it infinite expandability. The idea is to strip things back to the very basics, and then allow players to add new mechanics as needed through supplemental materials.

This is primarily achieved through the perk pack system, where a character's progression (and access to interesting mechanics) is not tied to a class or some other restriction. Instead, characters advance through a series of perk trees, the trunks of which (the entry level perks at the base of each tree) are always accessible to anyone. A soldier can start climbing a spellcasting tree halfway through a campaign, simply because the situation called for it. This system enables the creation of diverse characters and fosters emergent behaviors and synergies that can often be discovered mid-campaign.

Combine that with the skill fusion system, which allows new skills to be created by combining two or more existing ones, and the variety of characters and builds becomes enormous. Fuse Lockpicking (+15) with Sleight of Hand (+10), for example, and you have Pickpocket at +25.

All in all this means the game can be learned in less than 10 minutes whilst still facilitating a depth of mechanics that allows for it to be used in campaigns spanning years! And because every new perk pack and every new skill slots into that same core, it never runs out.

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FAQs

Why a d100 system?

We believe that a d100 system makes things simpler for many reasons. To begin, it makes estimating the difficulty of a roll much easier, as the number is simply the percentage chance that an average human would fail it. A target of 60 means an average person misses it six times in ten. Secondly, you now only need one type of dice to play the game, a d10, rolled twice for tens and then units (all other rolls rely on a d10 also).

It's not just that though. Having a more stratified system allows the skill fusion system to work, where the modifiers from multiple skills can all be added together when combined into new skills. Overall, this simple change neatens up the game nicely and keeps everything working together.