Free Kriegsspiel Pot-Pourri

If it's an innovation that I can trace back to a specific game, I mention the game in [brackets].
Most minimalist rulestuff is kinda hard to find the lineage of since various people around the world "came up with it".

Free Kriegsspiel isn't a rule system or a setting, it's an attitude. It's about, amongst other things, using only the bare-bones basics of rules to keep things free-flowing, with the Referee doing his job of refereeing when a situation comes up. It's how adventure games were invented, and it's a big part of the appeal of the Old-School Renaissance to me. Here's a bunch of rulestuff - a toolkit for your toolkits, if you will. It's also for my own personal referencing. It may be useful to veteran tinkerers. It may be useful to new or aspiring referees.

It's only the crunch. Here's examples of how to run games. The best way is to play in a good GM's game, and then to run games for a group of people who already have good practices so you can get constructive criticism and good feedback. Play with friends, or people you enjoy the company of at least - worst case scenario, you're still doing a fun social activity together so even if the game sucks at first, you'll still have a laugh.

I. CHARACTER GENERATION

1. Stats (optional)
Roll 1d6 six times for your stats.
Option A - record each stat and its score. Low is bad, high is good.
Option B - for each 6, record the relevant stat with a (+) next to it. For each 1, with a (-). Ignore the rest.

Feel free to use 2d6 (10+/4-) or 3d6 (15+/6-) instead for more fine-grain stuff.

Strength (raw physical power and training)

Dexterity (agility, hand-eye coordination and reflexes)

Endurance (health, physical toughness and grit)

Intelligence (how fast you learn and process information) or Wits (Fantasy)

Education (how much you know) or Wisdom (Fantasy) or Technical Ability (Cyberpunk)

Social Status (your standing in society - 1 is criminal, 6 is elite) / Charisma (Fantasy)

OR you can use an entirely different set of stats. Or you can ask the players to make up their own stats from a set of numbers (works better when everyone is on the same page as to the style of game played).

2A. Background (optional)
Write down your background, and one or two side skills or talents unrelated to your expertise.

Consider Stealing from Books: Maze Rats (thieves' world style), Warhammer 1E (Old World), Shadowrun 1E (use archetypes, record skills), Cyberpunk 2020 (use roles, record career skills), Call of Cthulhu 5E (use occupations, record occupational skills). If you want something more fine-grain, check out 2B, which has a bunch of skills.

2B. Skills (optional)
Begin at age 18 (16 in Fantasy or Medieval settings).
Roll 3d6 - add two dice and subtract the last die from the total. You get this many skills.
Add twice the difference between the 2d6 and 1d6: add that number to your age.

SAMPLE SKILLS
Medieval/Fantasy (d100) [AD&D 2E]
1-Agriculture
2-Alchemy
3-Anatomy
4-Ancient History
5-Animal Handling
6-Animal Training
7-Appraising
8-Armorer
9-Artistic Ability
10-Astrology
11-Bargain
12-Begging
13-Blacksmithing
14-Blind-fighting
15-Boating
16-Boatwright
17-Botany
18-Bowyer/Fletcher
19-Brawling
20-Brewery
21-Bribery
22-Etiquette
23-Bureaucracy
24-Calligraphy
25-Camouflage
26-Canoe-making
27-Canoeing
28-Carpentry
29-Cartography
30-Chanting
31-Charioteering
32-Cheesemaking
33-Chitinworking
34-Cobbling
35-Cooking
36-Craft Instrument
37-Crowd Working
38-Dancing
39-Danger Sense
40-Direction Sense
41-Disguise
42-Distance Sense
43-Drinking
44-Engineering
45-Etiquette
46-Falconry
47-Fire-building
48-Fire Control
49-Fishing
50-Foraging
51-Forgery
52-Fortune Telling
53-Fungi Recognition
54-Gaming
55-Gem Cutting
56-Geology
57-Haggling
58-Healing
59-Heraldry
60-Hiding
61-Hunting
62-Juggling
63-Languages
64-Leadership
65-Leatherworking
66-Locksmithing
67-Massage
68-Melee Weapon
69-Metalworking
70-Mining
71-Navigation
72-Poetry
73-Pottery
74-Prestidigtation
75-Ranged Weapon
76-Reading/Writing
77-Reading Lips
78-Religion
79-Riding
80-Rope Use
81-Rulership
82-Seamanship
83-Seamstress/Tailor
84-Shipwright
85-Sign Language
86-Signalling
87-Singing
88-Spelunking
89-Stonemasonry
90-Survival
91-Swimming
92-Tactics
93-Tattooing
94-Teaching
95-Tightrope Walking
96-Ventriloquism
97-Water Find
98-Weather Sense
99-Weaving
100-Winemaking

Science-Fiction (d100, ignore results above 25) [CLASSIC TRAVELLER]
1-ATV
2-Administration
3-Air/Raft
4-Brawling
5-Bribery
6-Computer
7-Electronic
8-Engineer
9-Forgery
10-Forward Observer
11-Gambling
12-Gunnery
13-Jack-of-all-Trades
14-Leader
15-Mechanical
16-Medical
17-Melee Weapon
18-Navigation
19-Pilot
20-Ranged Weapon
21-Ship's Boat
22-Steward
23-Streetwise
24-Tactics
25-Vacc Suit

Occult (or Mundane) Investigation [CALL OF CTHULHU]
1-Accounting,
2-Antrhopology
3-Archeology
4-Astronomy
5-Blather
6-Botany
7-Camouflage
8-Chanting
9-Chemistry
10-Climbing
11-Credit
12-Cthulhu Mythos
13-Drive Automobile
14-Drive Truck
15-First Aid
16-Geology
17-Haggling
18-Hiding
19-History
20-Horse Riding
21-Law
22-Library Use
23-Linguistics
24-Mechanic
25-Medical
26-Occult Lore
27-Pharmacology
28-Photography
29-Pilot Airplane
30-Psychoanalysis
31-Psychology
32-Rhetoric
33-Sleight of Hand
34-Stealth
35-Swimming
36-Zoology

2C. Classic Traveller
For Science-Fiction, consider using Classic Traveller's character generation mini-game.

II. SAMPLE PROCEDURES (hand pick what you like, add details as needed through play)
Doing Things, Using Skills - Make It Happen. If you can make a Dilemma out of it, do so.
Don't roll if there's time to try again. Don't roll if it wouldn't have interesting (ie: harsh) consequences. Don't roll if the character is good at it unless the odds are stacked against them. Roll if it would be a Saving Throw, not if it would be a Skill Check (unless it were a very difficult skill check or whatever).

Saving Throw - To Avoid Bad Consequences of an Action
• Roll 1d6, 5+ is a success.
• Roll 2d6 vs 2d6, high roll succeed.
• Roll 2d6 vs Target Number (if unsure of TN, roll 2d6 for it), adjust for circumstances. [TRAVELLER]
• Roll 2d6 vs 7 if Skilled, 9 if Unskilled, adjust consequences for circumstances (no mods).
• Roll d20 (or any other die you like) vs TN, adjusting for circumstances.
• Roll d6, +d6 for advantage, -d6 for disadvantage. 5-6 is a success (don't add the dice).
• Roll d100 under or equal set % chance of success, adjusting for circumstances. [ARNESON]

Surprise
• [OD&D] Any party with a chance of surprise rolls 1d6, on 1-2, lose that many rounds before acting.
• [CLASSIC TRAVELLER] All involved throw 1d6 with circumstancial modifiers. If 3+ advantage, successful surprise.
With this method, the encounter can be avoided entirely (surprised party is unaware), and surprise is kept until it is lost (no automatic loss of surprise after 1 or 2 rounds. Check for victims death rattle, etc.)

Initiative
• No initiative, all action is resolved simultaneously: everyone declares intent (orally or on pieces of paper) then every action is resolved, even that of individual that die due to someone else's action this round.
• [CHAINMAIL] As above, but use phases: begin spellcasting, ranged combat, movement, melee combat, finish spellcasting.
• [B/X] One player rolls 1d6 vs the Referee's 1d6. High throw's side goes first. Ties are simultaneous.
• [SORCERER] Whoever rolls highest in the conflict resolution (if it involves rolling) goes first. Then second highest, then third, etc. So if you kill a guy with a roll of 12 and they rolled 7, they don't get to act.

Solving Violence
• Consider making it a regular saving throw (2d6 vs TN, on a hit, deal damage, etc.)
You can add details like "on a double, critical hit" and so on. Easy.
• Consider making to-hit and damage the same roll.
6- Miss, 7 Stun, 8-11 Wound, 12 Kill (adjust for more/less detail, preferrably during play).
• [INTO THE ODD, MAZE KNIGHTS, OFF-WHITE, UNDERGROUND ADVENTURE] Consider skipping the to-hit roll, and going straight to damage. (make HP out of your Stamina Stat, or give a flat value, then make damage fit the level of lethality you're into. If HP=1-6 and Damage=1-6, you're in "Normal Types" OD&D/Chainmail level of grit. It makes combat undesirable, which I enjoy. Maybe throw d6 x Stamina and that's your HP, and weapons do 1-3d6 damage depending on how lethal they are. Consider accounting for armour in the to hit roll, or, in this case, subtract from the damage roll (keep it low so that combat is fast - if armour 1 saves your life short of 1 HP then it has served its purpose).
• [ANY PLANET IS EARTH] Consider skipping both the to-hit AND damage roll, and go with fixed damage. PCs have 4 Hits.
This reflects Classic Traveller level of grit and lethality. Consider increasing the number of Hits for special abilities or a more heroic feel.
1 Hit = Broken Bottle, Fists
2 Hits = Knife, Sword, Baseball Bat
3 Hits = Zweihander, Chainsaw, Pistol
4 Hits = Shotgun, Assault Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Lightsaber
Light Armour doesn't normally reduce hits. Armour reduces hits by 1. Heavy Armour reduces hits by 2.
If a creature would have both Heavy Armour and some other defense (like a Shadowrun Troll wearing Heavy Armour), give them additional Hits to avoid rendering most weapons useless.

Fantasy Crawl Stuff
I'm not going to list rules for hexcrawling or dungeon crawling, just pick whatever edition of D&D or retroclone you like. Consider checking these lesser known clones.

III. EXPERIENCE
You don't need it.

But if you want to, consider adding levels. Characters start at level 1. You need 2,000 XP (more if you have special abilities) to get to level 2. Then double the new value each time, up to say, level 9. Gaining levels makes you more powerful - maybe you get new abilities, maybe you get more hit points, or both.
If XP comes from Gold, then the game is about looking for ways to get gold. Which usually involves adventure. Replace Gold by Credit or Dollars or whatever, you'll still have a very clear objective and motivation. Greed breeds conflict, conflict is good.

Consider using milestones (pre-established either by GM or Players) instead of XP.
"To reach level 3, you must discover a landmark nobody has seen before in the Borderlands."
"To reach level 7, you must rid the region of the Dragon".
"To reach level 9, you must become a major political force, some way or another" etc.

Consider not using it. Seriously - advancement can come through diegetic stuff. Characters get money, allies, equipment, maybe new special abilities, new goals, achieve old goals, etc. All this stuff should be self-motivated.


IV. OK SO NOW YOU HAVE ALL THE BORING RULESTUFF FIGURED OUT
Now you can design the interesting parts of a game. Random tables that imply a setting that the GM can't come up on his own. Flavorful descriptive text that compliments the atmosphere of the game you want to offer GMs to run. Bestiaries, spells, magical items, NPCs, maps, songs, poetry, newspaper clippings, brief timelines, guidelines on how to run that weird setting you came up with, adventures (short ones please, or, if they're long, make them DENSE in content so it's worth reading a lot of text to unlock your mysteries).

Or, if you're not interested in tinkering but wanted something simple - make your patchwork micro-system, and run a campaign or one-shot in whatever OTHER game's setting you like that has rules you don't like. Really, go ahead, the fun police isn't going to break down your door for ignoring the crunch of say, Shadowrun, RIFTS, Davokar, or whatever exciting world you want to play in.

IVB. BUT YOU'RE NEW TO TRPGs AND DON'T KNOW HOW TO DESIGN A GAME!
Very good! You have no bad habits to unlearn then! Pick a few things from the above list. Don't worry too much about which option is better, just go with what you understand the easiest. Don't write down any additional rules - you're no designer, right? Instead, just run the game with your friends. As you play, you'll come up with on the fly rules for specific situations for your table. Those that work and are used often you can write down. Those that don't, you'll forget about. The longer you play, the more elaborate (for your needs) your game will become, and it will be yours, too. Then put it out there and tell everyone about it. Get feedback. Boom, you're a game designer.

Fight On!