Deathbringer & the Promise of Lightweight TTRPGs (Some Thoughts)
I’ve been watching (and re-watching) videos by Professor Dungeon Master (PDM) on his YouTube channel, DungeonCraft. The channel has been a loyal companion of mine for some time now. While I find some of PDM’s videos clickbait, he does offer some great insights into the nature of rules-light TTRPGs and their value as great introductions to the hobby overall.
This last weekend I also decided to reread the deluxe rules of PDM’s Deathbringer, which sells itself as a rules-light, grimdark D&D– and OSR-friendly toolkit. While the claims are modest, I think Deathbringer and others like it have the potential to reshape the dominant conversations around TTRPG design.
Players today have a lot vying for their attention and time. Who has the time to explore a 600-page rulebook? When I was younger, when I had more time and a bit more patience, I could gobble up massive rulebooks and other such tomes with little effort.
With a kid, a dog, a wife, a job, and other such things, I’m lucky if I can skim ten pages of a rulebook a third the size.
Rules-light games have the potential to break down barriers for new players. They also can keep existing fans, with limited time on their hands, in the hobby. Rules-light games have another benefit: They offer ample opportunities for newb game designers to get their hands dirty and explore their approaches to designing and developing games, feeding into an ecosystem of cool indie TTRPG content.
It is through rules-light games, from the OSR, FKR, and other such movements within the TTRPG hobby, that I made my first game: Pursuing the Dream. I made a second game, based on the Breathless system, called Bella Ciao! Both games came into existence because of rules-light games and resources. If I had relied on the 5.0 SRD, I’d still be working on my first game.
The promise of rules-light games is this: It is a promise to keep the hobby alive and well by making it easy to enter and participate in while making meaningful contributions to the hobby itself.
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