Errant RPG: Rules Light, Procedure Heavy

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[@QuestingBeast]

The first 1,000 people to use the link will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare: skl.sh/questingbeast10221 Get Errant in PDF: bit.ly/ErrantPDF Get the free online version: bit.ly/ErrantFree Get Errant in Print: bit.ly/ErrantPrint

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

Ablative is such a good vocab word

[@bjhale]

It's one I've only encountered in linguistics (e.g. ablative cases), but I like using it generally

[@jacobgnech5187]

​@@bjhale ablative armour and plating on re-entry shuttles is another! :)

[@archersfriend5900]

The world's largest modern toothbrush is in Peculiar, Missouri!

[@pablobarriaurenda7808]

hahaha, turns out all the unique ideas I had for a system weren't that unique after all. Relieved that I don't have to create a game from scratch now, will be checking this out (I always knew they weren't unique in and of themselves, but I did think I had come up with a rather unique set of takes)

[@RoninCatholic]

I definitely prefer the Zealot's system of asking for miracles and rolling to see if they happen/how they manifest/if there's a cost to the zealot to the standard D&D system of "Clerics basically work like wizards, but without books".

[@etheretherether]

This fits nicely with the Tools-not-Rules philosophy I've ended up with over the years. One of the great things about OD&D is how modular it was. Don't like the magic system? That's fine it's not tied to any other rules so you can cut it out and use something else.

[@picleus]

Blades, wands, talismans, and chalices is the tarot suits. Fun and thematic!

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

Ludography is ANOTHER killer vocab word!

[@MrSilvUr]

I like that there's a chance to die when you call upon your God. It might make players think of their divine blessing as something part of a cause bigger than they are, to be invoked with great prudence... Rather than a lever you pull for petty gain.

[@ohnoitisnt666]

THIS

[@timwest2322]

I wonder if this game would suit solo play since there are many different procedures that cover so many different play situations.

Probably better then many other system!

[@cawlin1]

Errant is super inspiring and a great resource - so many great ideas to steal and mash together in my games ✨

[@westsidazrhidaz]

Jeton in french literally means token or chip(as in poker chip), probably one of those words that carried over to english, maybe from the norman conquests I am not sure.

[@bobbylind1145]

I'm not overly fond of rules light systems but this seems to be good as any or better. What shines here are the game running systems in place for the GM. You could port these into any rules light or OSR game and let the game basically run itself with occasional input from the GM. Fantastic!

[@bloodrunsclear]

‘Rules lite, procedure heavy’ We used to say ‘a minute to learn, a lifetime to master’

[@aloneinthelabyrinth]

When you were coming up with the ad campaign for the boardgame Othello?

[@bloodrunsclear]

@@aloneinthelabyrinth Actually that’s exactly what that’s from!

[@aloneinthelabyrinth]

@@bloodrunsclear Nice!

[@bjhale]

Glad to see Errant is getting more and more attention.

[@VermilionMage]

Interesting that they do the "limited henchmen per lifetime" thing from AD&D. It's really makes you cherish those poor schmucks.

[@mrgunn2726]

Thanks for sharing this system. The supply rules sounds like Five Torches Deep.

[@orcuswells649]

You pretty much sold me on this. I'd been curious about running an old-school style game but was a little intimidated by having to come up with how to run all of the little possibilities that could come up, and should come up in a fleshed out world.

[@pixledriven]

This looks like a wonderful toolkit for running fantasy adventure games.

[@mtmroc]

So funny, I just read about this game and it’s lock picking mini game. I made a push your luck mini game for extracting cysts for Sleeping Place of Feathered Swine.

[@Clappers283]

great book, used the exploration rules for my group last night and they worked a treat. I'll likely use the overland travel ones as a result.

[@kelqka]

"Jetton" is just another word for "token". Usually special coins used in slot machines and games at carnivals.

[@csudab]

I love the idea of playing a lightweight system like ICRPG but pulling on this to reduce decision overload when I want to simulate something that e.g. ICRPG hand-waves

[@samuelbourassa5304]

I'd love for this to be available in print in Canada friendly sites, notably Ratti Incantati.

[@theastralwanderer]

I'm loving how elegant the roll over and under system in this is. Definitely something I'd want to port over to something like OSE for ability checks.

[@Plantgrowth]

What an interesting little RPG. Gave me so many ideas for an RPG in a hard scifi setting. Really good stuff. By the way, I was skimming through the rules, but I could find nothing about how much "Hit Protection" the Errants have. Am I just blind or is it not stated very visibly anywhere on the pages.

[@kateworm]

Pg. 57

[@Plantgrowth]

@@kateworm Hah, thanks. I knew I was just somehow skipping over it. Was going through the glossary & index and reading through the HP and Attributes parts over and over, wondering where the heck is it stated.

[@simonpearson7044]

Hi Ben a Jetton is a token or coin produced in the 13th centuary

[@emarsk77]

Modern Italian still has "gettone".

[@dwi2921]

I think it depends on what kind of pantheon/s you are running. Personally, I think the D&D system of "sure fire" clerical abilities make sense given the deities in the settings. Of the otherhand, Errant's system makes sense for a setting with deities who are universally capricious or cantankerous. Or alternatively, a pantheon/s of semi-divine beings (or beings who stole or inherited divine power) who don't fully understand their powers.

[@muggogoop]

It looks like the lockpicking minigame is a bit more complex, as it says to roll a d12 for each column. That gives 364 different possible locks (if I did the math right XD)! Still, thanks for introducing me to this awesome system, definitely going to look into it more!

[@kateworm]

Nope, the d12s are to match one of the 12 locks to a descriptor and to an optional modifier.

[@PossumMedic]

Why did page 4 have to come at me like that 😔

[@abstractbybrian]

I got the pdf of this and it’s pretty much useless. It takes forever for each page to load in…anyone else having this problem?

[@darecarrasquillo]

i just ordered this book. the one question i have about this genre of games is how to make the characters less expendable, for players who want to play a single character for a very long time. are there rules for going beyond level 9 or for making characters a bit more action-heroey from the get-go?

[@Imabot602]

I know of a product that might help, but having not read it, or errant I feel remiss offering it to your attention. Oh well, 6 days and nobody chimed in. Black Streams: Solo Heroes by Sin Nomine for Labrynrh Lord might give you ideas.

[@p1ermonkey]

I believe in old-school DnD the assumption was that after your character became sufficiently powerful and well-known, you'd move up into the domain/faction play. So building up a thieves guild and fighting off rivals would be the way of continuing the story for a rogue/thieve, after which they might start engaging on the level of politics. There's probably a ton of old modules and whatnot that dive into how to do this stuff. I think Matt Colville has some videos talking about that sort of playstyle. His company also produced a book called Strongholds and Followers whihc is all about that, but i think it's probably a bit too tailored for DnD 5e for something like Errant. That being said, it did look like there might be quite a few pages dedicated to that type of play in this book. Just in this flip through I saw sections on followers, reputation, infrastructure, estates, and domains. If that isn't to your liking, you could also transition into looking for increasingly powerful magic items. The kind that requires following through on entire quests to acquire

[@loonardtheloonard]

Have you looked at Dungeon Fantasy RPG from SJG? I heard it's pretty OSR

[@colbyboucher6391]

I mean, it's just GURPS Fantasy all set up for you so you don't need to build it yourself. It's certainly old-school but I wouldn't call it OSR, it's the high-crunch, simulationist kinda old school.

[@DungeonTracks]

This is actually really similar to an TRPG system I made in middle school. (The system I made was designed to only need a d6 to play and was meant to get some friends into TRPGS)

[@greystorm9974]

In Danish Jettons is the word for poker chips :P And I think it is from French

[@johnmarcgreen]

Wow this is a great toolkit

[@mausklick1635]

This looks quite intriguing.

[@Jimalcoatl]

Jeton is French for token. Jeton can be pronounced (approx) as JHEHTAHN, not jet-ton.

[@nickalumbaugh8510]

Ight

[@emarsk77]

While jeton is French, jetton is English, and it's pronounced exactly as Ben did.

[@Valkenvr]

I really don't like the position & impact kind of rules. They make DMing too flimsy for my taste.

[@samchafin4623]

I liked that thing about the unlocking the grimoire to get the spell; is there another place where that is broken down?

[@PossiblyTheBestGamer]

Im looking for a UK based seller can anyone help??!?!

[@Darius12235]

is it me or is your mic picking up some high frequency noise?

[@nemesisurvivorleon]

"rules light" means grandma and dad could play it without whining "it's too complicated!". this doesn't look "rules light" at all. Might as well just go all-in with rules since the only people playing are the non-cowards with brains willing to engage with a great system.

[@tallergeese]

Gravel Gurns

[@TonyJ1776]

One month later the Free version link is no longer Free.

[@kateworm]

Click "preview"

[@chrisdonovan8795]

I enjoy your videos, and tend to watch all of them, but covering a lot of new products isn't as valuable to me. There's only so much time/funds available, and new games/supplements seem to be coming out daily. Anything you review has merit, but I think that your best strength shines when discussing concepts/histories/approaches in role-playing (as seen in your dark vision episode). Yes, to each their own. I can select what I choose to watch, but I'm offering my two cents, which means less and less when you consider inflation.

[@DareToWonder]

would you review my TRPG system? (its in the works but its pretty much done with prototype)

[@KonradZielinski]

The basic claim that you can be rules light and procedure heavy is nonsense because procedures are rules. While I like the rules of Errant I can't say I'm a fan of the classes, because they are complex and sort of handwavy and very difficult to expand in new directions. To the point where even the book does not detail a procedure for creating a new covenant and just says here's an example use it as inspiration.

[@bjhale]

Yeah. Technically, the game should be called "substantive rules light, procedural rules heavy," but that is a mouthful

[@emarsk77]

Exactly my thought. I don't care much how the crunch is called, if the effect is the same: this is a very crunchy game. And I'm not convinced it's very much modular, either, there are lots of interdependent bits all over the place. It seems to me that it has many interesting ideas, but it's not particularly "elegant", many subsystems feel ad hoc and not very reusable, and some seem unnecessarily complicated to me. All in all, I think that streamlining Errant down to the point I would like to play it, would take more effort than starting with Cairn or Mausritter or Knave 2e and possibly expand from there.

[@bjhale]

@@emarsk77 In my opinion, the real stars of the show in Errant are the downtime activities, which are fairly independent of other aspects of the game (though I do like a lot of the other aspects of it). It's a shame Ben glossed over them so quickly.

[@emarsk77]

@@bjhale Yeah, you're probably right.

[@ilyaalexakhin8745]

Agreed. I think at this point "rules-light" is just a desirable token phrase to have attached to an OSR /NSR game for making it more palatable to the wider audience. One definition of a rule is the "regulation of procedure" so they are basically synonymous. The more procedures you have, the more rules you need to run them. My yard stick for what is rules-light is if the reference sheet comfortably fits on 1-2 A5/digest pages, or Mork Borg. Maybe that's due to writing style, layout, density of ideas etc, but it must fit and be comprehensible with those constraints to be rules-light. To me, digest-sized, saddle-stitched manuals of board games, like OD&D or other zines of its time, is the perfect, cheap, and effective way to deliver and consume rpg products.

[@NoNameAtAll2]

"get the free online version" link just redirects to pdf download :/

[@narianexis6394]

is the pdf download free tho?

[@NoNameAtAll2]

@@narianexis6394 I prefer in-browser reading (I always forget to delete stuff) And mobile browsers don't have reader in them :/

[@VermilionMage]

Oh boy. Mechanics that make me need to keep my armor in repair and simulate the brainless busywork that nobody enjoys from any videogame that has it. Where do I sign up? /s

[@emarsk77]

I wonder what's the "armour repair kit". A forge?

[@GreylanderTV]

"Errant"? First Rule of Game Design: _don't invent new words for common things we already have words for._ It's not clever. It creates a mental speed-bump for the reader your RPG system book(s). If you mean _player character_ say _"player character",_ or _PC,_ or _adventurer,_ or simply _character._ If you mean something more specific, say _explorer,_ _investigator,_ _combatant,_ and so forth. It's a fairly minor sin here, but there's a slippery slope down the path to Montey Cook's nightmare of unnecessary babble of new terminology in _Invisible Sun._ Mind you, I'm not knocking the ideas here... they're great! Just a knit-peeve-peeve in this case.

[@ShoggothLord]

..."Errant" literally means "traveling in search of adventure." It's archaic English, not a made up word. As in the phrase "knight errant?"

[@metallsnubben]

@@ShoggothLord I don't think it was about errant being a "made up word" and more about using other words for stuff that has a "standard name" already. Like similarly, I see the party being called a "company" here, which makes total sense in "lore contexts" or box text, but can feel unnecessary when parsing rules. It's like in card games when the phrase "tap" for "turn 90 degrees" is _actually_ trademarked, so every game calls it its own weird thing, but if someone's informally talking about it they'll just say tap regardless

[@GreylanderTV]

@@metallsnubben Yes I know. But most people don't. But regardless of what 'errant' means in archaic English, what it most definitely does not mean is "player character" in the context of RPG games. Most creative RPG terminology is "clever" in the sense of the chosen word having a definition, etymology, or root meaning related to the game concept. But it ends up being cumbersome. Also, errant is an adjective not a noun. Making it doubly obtuse. Anyways, I'm just needed to... um... er...rant about a pet peeve. Pay me no mind. 🤪

[@GreylanderTV]

@@metallsnubben 👆This. And I understand its unavoidable when they have to dodge copyrights and trademarks.

[@emarsk77]

Yeah. And "company", "jettons", "violent", "deviant" (wtf?), "grimoire" (which means "spell _book_ " in normal English, but not here, for… reasons).

[@tragicmissile]

"You are a failure. You are an errant. You are a loser... your life is not worth anything" 🥲