10 Reasons Tricube Tales Is My #1 Rules-Lite RPG System
In my last post I outlined some of the reasons Tricube Tales is my preferred rules-lite rpg game. While I shared some of the features that make this game great, here are 10 reasons that pushed Tricube Tales into the top spot:
It is free. You can pay for Tricube Tales (and should!), but Richard Woolcock offers his game and library of one-sheets settings for free. Bonkers. You can literally load up on an rpg system and access 25+ game settings for zero dollars. You have no excuse to not check it out.
It is setting-agnostic. Tricube Tales doesn't presume a default game setting, which means it has been designed to work equally well for any genre setting. That's really helpful, because once your players learn the basic mechanics they can pivot to any number of preferred settings (e.g. sci-fi, fire fighters, fantasy, cyberpunk, etc.) seamlessly.
One-sheet micro-settings. Tricube Tales offers one of the most generous and creative gaming ecosystems due to its ever expanding number of One-Sheets (examples here, here, and here). Between Richard and a few other publishers, a new Tricube Tales one-page gets released every few months. These are ideal for one-shots because they provide everything you need, including adventure prompts for the setting. It’s always fun to throw down a few laminated one-sheets in front of your players and ask, “What are we gonna play tonight?!" While you can get most of these for free, I’d encourage you to support Richard’s work by buying the Tricube Tales bundle (25+ One-Sheet settings for under $10!).
Rules for solo play. Solo role-playing took off during the pandemic, and Richard has an excellent solo resource for the Tricube Tales system. Not only do the solo rules offer a succinct guide to GM-less play, but the oracle tables are really well done and offer lots of ideas for GMs looking for inspiration.
Player-facing rolls. In most conventional rpgs, when a monster or character controlled by the Game Master (GM) takes a turn, the Game Master rolls their own dice to determine whether their attacks hit, do damage, etc. This means the GM takes up significant time playing out the actions of each creature under their control. Not only does this place a greater mental load on the GM, it also means players are waiting much longer between their turns. This leads to disengagement and boredom. But with player-facing rolls, only the players roll dice. The GM describes what is happening, and the players roll in response to the threat. To the uninitiated that might seem like a small difference, but it speeds up play in a big way. Instead of waiting passively to see if any of the 5 goblin archers hit (one roll) and do damage (another roll), a player simply rolls to evade each attack. This puts the player at the centre of the action. Once you experience player-facing rolls, you won’t go back. They make life easier and fun for both players and GMs.
Karma points. Karma points are a pool of points players can use to "bend" the story through their character's strengths. Some people don't like currency that can be spent to alter rolls, but I love it. And it's especially helpful with kids because it offers some cushioning for a string of bad rolls, makes their characters feel more awesome, and is something tactile (gems!).
Resolve. Resolve is subtly awesome. While most games use hit points to track a character’s health and strength, hit points assume a game world where combat is a defining feature. But what if you're playing a family trying to successfully launch a burrito business? Or a group of emissaries seeking to secure peace across the galaxy by avoiding conflict and negotiating peace treaties? Resolve, in these cases, might refer to each character's ability to maintain mental fortitude or strength of spirit despite challenges and opposition. To that end, resolve expands the possibilities of what can “damage” to include non-combat threats. This really opens up story-telling potential and allows the GM to provide diverse types of challenges (i.e. physical, emotional, relational, psychological, magical, etc.).
Classless character creation. Archetypal rpg classes like mage, thief, and warrior are awesome, but I so appreciate that Tricube Tales doesn’t place limits on the kinds of characters that can be created. Want to play brawny wizard who is also stealthy? No problem. How about a fighter who uses her mind more than her might and speaks several languages? You got it. Tricube’s character creation process of selecting a trait, concept, and perk(s) allows you to lean into conventional tropes or get wildly creative and play outside the established character class sandboxes.
Flexible magic system. Tricube devotes a mere 3 pages to how to incorporate magic into your game. By encouraging magic to be taken as a perk, offering magic limitations to those perks, and then offering guidance on how to incorporate spell lists into your game, Tricube offers parameters that unlock flexibility and freedom when it comes to how magic can be used by players. Magic is very tricky to get right in rules-lite systems, and tend to veer in one of two directions: the magic system is too open-ended and vague, or it is too delineated and only works for particular settings. Tricube Tales threads the needle of providing a framework that allows GMs and players to conceptualize magic in whatever way fits their particular world and gaming preferences.
Art and Layout. Originally I had “Phone PDF format” at number 10, but that really does a disservice to the overall beauty of Tricube Tales’ art and layout. Yes, I love the phone pdf file for its convenience, but a big part of what makes reading and re-reading Tricube Tales pleasurable are its inspiring illustrations and aesthetically pleasing interior design. From the cover design by Luigi Castellani, to the interior artwork by Rick Hershey and Storn Cook, Richard Woolcock has created a product with a level of professionalism and polish unparalleled for a rules-lite rpg system that is, essentially, free.