Takeaways from playing Ruins & Rogues
Ruins & Rogues is an RPG by Tim B. from the NSR Cauldron. The author submitted it to the 2023 One Page RPG Jam, subsequently reworked it and later took it down from itch.io, seemingly out of dissatisfaction. Therefore, it is currently only available in German translation, Rabauken & Ruinen.
I have run R&R five times and enjoyed it a lot. As usual, these takeaways are notes for my future self, going back to the game some day. Things to remember after taking a break. Apart from that, I sincerely hope these notes provide you, gentle reader, a glimpse at the game, and also that it will one day be available again - if not for Tim himself, then at least for others to enjoy.
The adventures I ran were Strange Alchemy from Nate Treme's Patreon, Mr-Kr-Gr (two sessions) and Andjang by Zedeck Siew and Munkao (also sadly no longer available) as well as "Diamonds for the Axing" from Weird Oneshots by Joseph R. Lewis. All of these are excellent.
- R&R is a mini-RPG not much longer than this blog entry. I wouldn't even explain the basics if you could just go and have a look yourself... Well, you can't, so let me tell you that all task/saving throws are 2D6 against a target number. Combat eschews "to hit" rolls - everyone deals direct damage instead, as in Into the Odd. Apart from Health/Guard, there are no numerical stats. To create a character, roll on three tables for origin, aim and one very broad skill. Roll three more times for three starting items. Done.
- Of the character options, I liked the skills category the least. I sense that the intent of "strong arms" and "nimble legs" is to provide broad abilities, perhaps really the character's strongest attribute, but I find them not very suggestive. Two regular skills like "Dodge" and "Running" give me a better, more concrete image of the character than "nimble feet", and I believe my players felt the same. If I were hacking the game, I'd change that.
- I really, really enjoyed the level progression. The maximum level is four, with the intent of catering for mini-campaigns up to six sessions. This is a sweet spot for me. Note that spells can be used successfully only once per level, arrows (and thus missile attacks) are limited to three per level. This rule makes the moment they're used all the more special.
- The players themselves decide how many XP (1 to 3) they receive for a given session, depending on how much progress they made towards their goal.
- My other favourite part of R&R is the combat where everyone just rolls a number of Milton dice (usually two). The result is damage, directly deducted first from Guard, then Health. (Guard recovers after a short rest, whereas Health is only restored by leveling up.) So far, so Into the Odd. What's great about it though is how it encourages the players to narrate combat together.
- You see, in the first combat of my first session, when the fighting started, the players all rolled their damage dice simultaneously. I was about to say "you're doing this wrong", but it turned out it is the absolute best way to play. They looked at the results and interpreted them in turn, one firing at an obstacle, another one only marginally piercing the armor of the beast, the third delivering a mighty blow etc. A bit like Agon or Trophy combat.
- The third and last page of R&R is GM advice on how to create a "ruin", an adventure site: a fantastic collection of GM principles. You've probably seen some or most of them elsewhere, but here, with the focus on writing a dungeon, they are presented in an actionable format and with utmost brevity. Tim, if you're reading this, I implore you, even if you still have doubts about the game itself, please make the GM advice available again somewhere.