Roll20 uses cookies to improve your experience on our site. Cookies enable you to enjoy certain features, social sharing functionality, and tailor message and display ads to your interests on our site and others. They also help us understand how our site is being used. By continuing to use our site, you consent to our use of cookies. Update your cookie preferences .
×

Does this kind of game exist?

So, I'm new to TRPG, and being honest, this is a quite rough start. I came here hoping to play D&D, but after checking the rulebook, or rather after checking the sheer size and detail of them I lost all hope of even getting started. Regardless, there's one specific element of D&D I am trying to find in another game and that is the character progression system (sorry if I'm using the wrong terminology), or basically the posibility of turning the character into like an MMORPG character. Starting from level 1 with no skills  and continuously gaining exp, new skills, and getting it to be overal stronger. Is there some rule-light game that follows that path without the extensive knowledge needed for D&D and that can be played here on roll20? 
1491365550

Edited 1491365638
Lithl
Pro
Sheet Author
API Scripter
Most tabletop RPGs have character progression. In fact by some definitions that's a critical feature of an RPG. If you're interested in D&D and want something more rules-light, I would recommend looking up Microlite20, which is basically a simplified form of D&D (the PDF is just 17 pages).  Try Reddit for more recommendataions .
Sounds like you should just play video games. All games are pretty rule heavy its the burden of being a table top game and most have character level progression. No matter which game you choose you will have to read some rules. However there are plenty of youtube videos explaining a majority of these systems and really as a player you really only need to learn the basics and what you require for you own character.  But what you are asking for doesn't really exist as most games will give you the bare minimum skills, its like choosing class you need some form of path to follow so that you can progress. Even if you had a system as you are asking, you'd need a butt load of rules to manage all the skills and such you would acquire.
1491367634
Gold
Forum Champion
Try Basic Fantasy RPG. It has character progression (XP, Levels), the 1 core rule book is free, and there is a Character Sheet for it in Roll20 along with a community of players for it here.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.basicfantasy.org/" rel="nofollow">http://www.basicfantasy.org/</a>
Not even one day in and I already get my first rude response... Vegemite, there's a huge difference between having to read 3 booklets of rules and reading just one of 17 pages like the one Brian sugested (thanks Brian by the way). As you might know, there are stuff known as gateways. like Naruto/One Piece/Bleach can be a gateway animes or Runescape a gateway MMORPG, I am looking for a gateway TRPG. A starting point with simpler rules before getting into the real thing at my own pace. Also, Thanks Gold too.
What was rude about my reply. I gave concise information about the issue you have. I explained how most games are largely rule heavy, there are some with less rules but you will have to do some reading. I also explained why these systems exist the way they do. But hey call me rude for helping sure.
Few things that migh help you: Roll20 is by design system agnostic. This means that one can use almost any rules with Roll20. For example I've used Roll20 for Fiasco, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd edition, D&D 3.5, D&D 5th edition, Pathfinder, Savage Worlds, Deadlands Reloaded (a variant of Savage Worlds), Fate Core, Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Fall of Magic and even a system of my own creation. A vast majority of Pen&Paper RPG systems have some sort of game mechanical character progression. Some use levels (such as D&D) with more or less fixed "improvements" with each level up, some use more open ended methods where the player has more freedom to choose what to improve (such as Savage Worlds or Fate Core). There are A LOT of different systems with varying level of "crunch". Many of these have a free starter package or similar available for download. I recommend using sites such as RPGnet to ask for help for finding the system you might like most since Roll20 forum is only for matters about Roll20. D&D is fairly rules heavy and it's based on the idea that WoC will release additional options (read rules) with each new book. So you can play using only a very limited amount of published content but in order to get most of the system, even the player easily has to read something like 5+ books. And god forbit if you choose to be a spellcaster. Then you need to read all the spells your character can have access to, which is easily 3 figure number.
1491369333

Edited 1491369647
To keep this Roll20-centric, I'll mention that the Basic Fantasy system mentioned by Gold has its own Roll20 Character Sheet, which is being actively developed. From the Roll20 Community Code of Conduct : The Roll20 Forums exist to discuss topics directly related to the use of the Roll20 program. Anything that more fittingly could be discussed on another website SHOULD be discussed there. Here are some good places to discuss this topic: /r/rpg /r/EasyRoleplay/ /r/gamemasters Also, a reminder to all to please be mindful of the Civil Discussion and&nbsp;Common Courtesy clauses of the Code of Conduct: Common Courtesy It is expected that all discussions here will have a tone of respect. While the members of our community are growing rapidly in number, it remains important to us that all discussions remain intelligent and amicable. There will be no tolerance for person-based attacks, passed judgment (be it on issues ranging from gameplay to lifestyles),or incendiary language (dramatic communication with the intention of provoking a strong reaction from other users). This does not mean that debate is disallowed -- only that it is to be constructive. However, critiquing posts is only allowed if the original poster specifically requests a critique. Civil Discussion Posts should be centered around adding to our community in an intelligent manner. Trolling, whining, passive aggression, reliance on memes, spamming, irritating repetition (including topic duplication), and intentionally unclear or misleading posts are not welcome. Further, while these areas are intended for adults, clearly explicit content is prohibited. Please make an effort to use the best grammar available to you. Thanks!
Vegemite Dangerous said: What was rude about my reply. I gave concise information about the issue you have. I explained how most games are largely rule heavy, there are some with less rules but you will have to do some reading. I also explained why these systems exist the way they do. But hey call me rude for helping sure. I have to agree that I didn't feel that Vegemites reply was rude in anyway. I just disagreed with her/him in almost everything s/he wrote.
I'm sorry Silvyre, I considered this as a roll20-related topic. Just an error of judgement which I'll try not to make again.
1491407474

Edited 1491418182
As someone new to TTRPGs myself, I vividly remember how daunting it looked from the outset. I just got the rule book for golden sky stories and yeah, over a hundred pages in the core book and another almost as big in the expansion. but keep in mind, unless you want to DM, you really only need a small fraction of the rules. Shoot, when I had my first game ever (pathfinder, kitsune trickster/mysterious stranger) I went in knowing very, very little beyond how to make a character. : P but because I had a good group, who were happy to have a newbie like me and wanted me to have fun with a genre of games they know can be awsome, they were happy to teach me as we went, with myself picking up new rules and info as we went. I had a blast, even with a pair of more comlex classes for my first go, and now I'm looking to DM myself. So in a nutshell, yea it seems stressful at first. I was terrified that I was just going to waste everyone's time, but, if your with a group that's kind and understanding, everything will be fine, even if your going in knowing next to nothing. You learn fast, no problem. Now I just need to figure out how I'm going to host my game... golden sky stories doesn't lend itself to online groups very well, I'm learning...
There is quite a few games that seem like a real chore to learn (D&D doesn't have the smallest books I will admit) but if you find a group that will support you through the initial stages you'll probably find you pick it up relatively quick, just have a look on the looking for groups with the 'welcomes new players' option ticked (or alternatively make a post saying you are a new player in the Looking for group forum) sometimes not knowing a few of the rules help you develop the side of TTRPG's that allow you to do things not always covered by the rules system which is where video games and TTRPG's really separate in style. If you find a game accepting new players message the DM/GM and let them know your a brand new player looking to learn, maybe they can get some time before the game to ease you in and help with character creation. on the other hand there are a lot of systems that are very rules light but if you are starting out you will find it easier to get a place in a D&D game than any other just due to the fact that D&D is currently a very popular game comparative to others. Though there are many rules to playing D&D I generally feel that reading the rule book isn't the best way to learn (As a single character rarely uses all the rules) I find that having a very basic outline of the game and then jumping into a group willing to support your play is the best way to go, on a side note you may find that two groups play some rules completely differently too.