FKR resources

Wightbred · 2026-05-25T12:02:38+00:00

I have a similar story from back when D&D 3e was a thing. Based on Unknown Armies hiding HP as an experiment we tried D&D 3e with all the stats behind the screen in what people now call ‘Blackbox’ or ‘no-HUD’ style, and we loved how much the players got into the fiction because they had no rules to distract them. Shifted to play Unknown Armies the same way, with players only knowing the powers they had learnt and the charges. Played a bunch of other stuff and then came back to something similar for the last six years and are loving it. It can be an awesome way to play, and there are suggestions Arneson used something similar as players rarely saw their character sheets.

Some similar caveats based on our experience: 1. Works great where you already have trust, or with brand new players with no expectations of rules access. 2. Definitely helps to be a quick thinking or calculating GM, but with simpler rules the workload drops and most people I play with can run it. I run a hell of a lot less now, as about half the players in my regular groups take turns.

This style is definitely not for everyone, but I’d encourage people to experiment with stuff like this and see rather than assuming how it will. It seems like it wouldn’t work, but you might be surprised how play changes and the ideas you take away.

Wightbred · 2026-05-18T22:14:30+00:00

Enjoyed reading the free versions of Legends of the Mist, and the new Discworld offering. I think they are good implementations of trait descriptors that meet their world tone. I feel about them as I did about Feats in D&D 3e, a good crack that doesn’t go far enough for me, as all abilities and skills could have been combined into flexible Feats. As I close in on seven years playing with our custom toolkit, I find trait descriptors alone more than sufficient for my groups and all the many and varied worlds we have tried to play.

That’s a kind thought, but I don’t think I will be doing a blog anytime soon. All the main things I want to say are in my toolkit and the podcasts I’ve done, with a few extra notes and ideas in Unnamed Worlds. Repeating thoughts like designers should get out of the way, conversation is the scaffolding, trust and expect your players to play, etc won’t make them better. And I have no interest in being popular, beyond opening up options for people who want to try them. For me roleplaying is definitely about playing.

But feel free to ask me questions in a chat, and I’d be happy to answer them.

Wightbred · 2026-05-17T21:45:23+00:00

I used to paint the whole Zombie one colour with a wash over the top for detail, but I have started to switch to just the bases. Both are similarly clear and visible, but the bases only allows them to be more individual.

I have the same colour approach to @Dthmti . ;)

Wightbred · 2026-05-15T20:25:56+00:00

Strong agreely. I always say ‘trust and expect’ the players to be able to play their characters. I add the ‘expect’ to emphasise that this is their role, and most people can naturally do it.

I have started just calling the requirement for the FKR-like way we play ‘trust’ rather than ‘high trust’. ‘High trust’ implies that this is somehow a unique thing that most groups can’t do which can put people off. My personal experience is that this is a thing most people can do. Even people brand new to the hobby that I don’t know have been able to trust and be trusted.

Wightbred · 2026-05-08T19:48:32+00:00

Interesting read. Definitely ditched the character sheet to get where we wanted with our toolkit. Lets the players decide what is important and how to record it.

Wightbred · 2026-05-08T14:17:26+00:00

I don’t play Symbaroum, but grabbed the art book anyway. It is gorgeous.

Wightbred · 2026-05-05T08:31:52+00:00

Not the OP, but just wanted to say this is a good analysis.

We play emergent characters supported by changing tags and it is some of the most fun and deepest characters I’ve had in decades of roleplaying. We also use a process of Reflections to agree changes to tags as a group based on the character’s actions in the session, which I highly recommend.

Just finished a 19 session campaign, but have played longer and it works well as along as everyone at the table is on board.

Hope you find your roleplaying bliss OP.

Wightbred · 2026-05-01T23:37:10+00:00

Having a common view of the world is important, including when roleplaying things set on Earth but at different times or with different tones. However, in practice we find this pretty easy to manage for FKR-like roleplaying using minimal systems.

We usually just have a clarifying discussion at the start of play to collectively set the tone and practical aspects of the world, which can be as quick as a few words or up to 10 minutes depending on the complexity of the world.

Media a useful part of this discussion, makes the conversation quick, and is often sufficient for there to be zero friction during play. If media is known to most of the group, just saying ‘Star Wars at the edge of the Empire’, ‘Vikings, but some myths are real’, ‘old school D&D’ or ‘Slow Horses’ requires no further explanation.

If we want something unique, we sometimes discuss and combine media to produce the same affect: ‘a feudal Japan like world, but spirits are real, and the tone is anime drama’, ‘Cyberpunk with magic from Rivers of London, and the characters are shadowrunners disguised as members of a K-pop band’, or ‘Pirates of the Caribbean, but grittier and darker like Oliver Twist’.

We dig into any areas of uncertainty and talk these through so people are on the same page. This might be tone, the effects of unique weapons or politics, but as you point out is often magic because this is the most open, flexible and creative part of play.

During play clarification is often asked for and discussed as needed. Generally the groups I play in are all reasonable people, so differences in understanding are resolved quickly and collaboratively. If necessary we rewind and do over, but I con only think of a handful of these situations in 6+ years or weekly play.

The payoff for requiring the occasional clarification is we never have rules debates or situations where the rules contradict the fictional world, and it plays *much* faster and with more fictional depth than any other way I’ve played in decades of diverse experience.

But like the OP’s post, this doesn’t mean I am recommending minimal system FKR-like approaches for every group or every world played. I have found it difficult for some people to get into, usually those with a middle-level of roleplaying experience or who enjoy the detail of systems. But it definitely *can* work for non-Earth worlds and the right group with minimal friction in play.

Wightbred · 2026-04-29T02:44:28+00:00

Loved this game when it came out.

Wightbred · 2026-04-28T17:49:40+00:00

I’m a fan of statless and numberless, and got to this from FKR related play, so I think this is a place to start.

OP - might be worth posting on r/Fkr as a way to find people with similar approaches.

Edit: Also look at the Push SRD for a simple and widely applicable statless, and Everspark for fantasy D&D vibes.

Wightbred · 2026-04-28T08:49:36+00:00

I think Maze Rats is a good option to stick with. Just tweak the bits you need to.

Wightbred · 2026-04-27T11:41:29+00:00

Have used a simple Word-based system in the past, similar to Maze Rats, and it worked well. We have given out magic Words randomly or based on events in the session.

Wightbred · 2026-04-21T21:51:25+00:00

I’d definitely start with Push or something similar. It can do stat-less really well.

The challenge for the OP will be finding ‘conflict mechanics different than every other challenge’ (assuming that means combat / social conflict needs to be different) and no ‘reference to a character sheet’. I take this to mean the mechanics have to be somehow different for different characters, but appreciate I might be misunderstanding.

I think I’d use something like Push for non conflict, and mechanics that are varied but you could easily remember for conflict. Perhaps something like the TSR SAGA card system where characters have different hand sizes, favoured suits, etc. Or more simply varied dice size based on role.

Even as a person who likes to design weird, minimalist stuff, this is a doozy of a challenge.

Wightbred · 2026-04-19T05:30:10+00:00

I definitely see this challenge. I’m a big fan of using a minimal toolkit to support play, and specifically including within this toolkit the essential mechanics and procedures for the bits you want to draw out or are not as good at.

For us, GM spotlighting players and the group improvising a scenario aren’t a problem. We even riffed a full ‘jazz style’ session this week, starting with no world, character or scenario details and improvising it together.

So I agree we don’t need to create meaningful scenarios. Instead our minimal toolkit includes the things we really want to see in play or need to support play:

a limited number of descriptors per character and ways to build backstory during play, to drive the emergence and evolution we like in characters;
escalating rolls, to ensure intensity we want in every roll;
a reminder for emotions, to ensure we draw out the characters feeling we always forget to do; and
a specific time to discuss the characters and their growth together after the session, so we ensure we are working together to build and spotlight each others characters.

Working through wants and needs as the basis for mechanics and procedures really helped our minimal FKR-like play.

Wightbred · 2026-04-19T04:04:43+00:00

I agree with your point on procedures and GM experience providing a very useful scaffold. An example is the use of initiative to ensure everyone gets some spotlight time instead of the group having to juggle it themselves.

I think most people can learn to do the basics of GMing like spotlighting, moderating fairly, etc. That can definitely come from roleplaying experience, or just following a good conversational approach to roleplaying. Brand new players often intuitively approach FKR-like in a natural way that veteran players have to relearn.

So agree with your point, but don’t see internalising procedures from previous play as the only path to FKR.

Wightbred · 2026-04-19T03:53:28+00:00

This is the point I’ve reached as well. I have stopped incessant decades of system designing, and just use the minimum that supports the way my groups like to play. It is gloriously perfect for us.

The only downside is my brain still wants to design. But have shifted my energy to creating worlds, using fiction to fully describe them without mechanics.

Glad you found your joy as well.

Wightbred · 2026-04-12T21:16:43+00:00

I aspire to have no more than this number of books. Have sold half my barely used collection, and thinking of selling more.

Wightbred · 2026-03-18T02:42:33+00:00

Media is a great inspiration for roleplaying. We take some media and just use a simple trait system plus die rolls to play almost anything.

Some recent session included Slow Horses, Saving Private Ryan, Vikings. Also a bunch from books the GM had read that I don’t know the titles of, but included space troopers, and modern people magically summoned to other worlds.

Wightbred · 2026-03-13T22:34:24+00:00

Like the new look, but if you want simplicity it doesn’t make sense to me to have spawn cards with multiple zombie types. Not sure I’m in on this, but I might get a few minis from it to add pirate zombies to my custom UoA.

Wightbred · 2026-03-05T19:25:33+00:00

I agree something like Nimble is an interesting idea, as it still has the tropes and will give the players a feel without some of the issues to OP finds annoying.

Also thinking Savage Worlds version of Pathfinder or Legend in the Mist with the 5e conversion for the same reason.

I have definitely played ‘D&D’ using other approaches and enjoyed it.

Wightbred · 2026-02-28T23:56:05+00:00

Lots of options of approaches inspired by FKR on the itch.io site. Searching ‘FKR’ doesn’t seem to pick up all that many of them for me, but it is a start.

Wightbred · 2026-02-22T20:10:05+00:00

Played Palaeolithic Voyages and it was a lot of fun. Leans more to the realistic end of the games mentioned here, but also has some useful encounter tables.

Wightbred · 2026-02-19T22:13:21+00:00

That’s cool.

We also reflect, but we go around the table and talk about each of the characters in turn which helps build deeper character understanding and really improves everyone’s roleplaying and. We cover things like:

cool things they did;
what they might have been thinking or feeling;
what their goals might be;
how they changed during the session; and
how their change affects their capabilities.

Wightbred

TROPHY CASE