I want to get into RPG

Don't use DnD. If it's first timers, try Vampire Dark Ages v20. It's much better to introduce players via a non-d20 shitfest, it will instill proper ideas about roleplaying.

Girls also like World of Darkness a lot.

They have enriched mine.

I don't know much about GURPS Lite, but 38 pages is actually pretty fucking short for an RPG. I mean, a lot depends on what those 38 pages look like, but certainly it's not getting excluded by length alone. I tend to think of Moldvay Basic D&D (B/X) as the quintessential rules-light RPG, and it's 128 pages (granted, that's split into two sets, and you only need the 64 page Basic Set until you reach level 4, but still).* 5th edition D&D is, by contrast, something like 900 pages for the three core books (Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual), and plenty of people mistakenly believe it's rules-light? Why? Because they're used to rules-heavy games like 3.5, and 5e is actually more of a rules-medium game (though probably not on the low end of that category).

Sure, there are one-page dealies that are much simpler than Moldvay Basic, but there are large ranges to cover, and if you were to put Moldvay Basic down as rules-medium, then the vast majority of RPGs would be rules-heavy, and shit like 3.5 would be ultra-heavy, or something (and it's not like it's the most complicated system out there). If you want to divide things into more categories than just 3--light, medium and heavy--then the minimalist RPGs that are under a dozen pages would probably be "ultra-light".

If you want a minimalist, but full-size game, and like the idea of Conan-style high-adventure, you might want to check out Barbarians of Lemuria.

>Barbarians of Lemuria,Mythic Edition (current edition) -- mediafire.com/folder/7llc83r2xf8bg/Barbarians_of_Lemuria_-_Mythic_Edition

>Barbarians of Lemuria, Legendary Edition (earlier edition, shorter but not as refined) --mediafire.com/download/p5w885sa9a869ma/Barbarians Of Lemuria - Legendary Edition.pdf

>Barbarians of Lemuria, House Rules / Patches for Legendary Edition (if you want minimalism of Legendary, but with the rules tightened up) -- mega.co.nz/#F!CtQR2bST!y_awB-GHCiL3CdK4iLCV7A

While the full Savage Worlds rules have far too many details to qualify as rules-light, the "test drive" starter rules are actually pretty concise. And if you get into it and want to expand, you can always selectively drop in shit from the core (Deluxe) rules without having to to fully embrace the full system (unless, of course, you want to).

Here's another Savage Worlds test drive version that's pegged to Fritz Leiber's Lanhkmar swords & sorcery.

I mean, my main system is 22 pages... And that is in a page size about the same as a vidya manual (A5), not letter. That might also mean that I am not the best person to discuss this with, because I condense things to a ridiculous degree.

And GURPS Lite is written with a pretty small font (probably the same size as my game, that is, again, on smaller paper) and it has a lot of tables and situational modifiers.

My homebrew systems are often in the range 6-12 pages long, but that's all charts and shorthand and shit. If everything was written out, and monster and treasure sections were included, they'd probably be like 10x the length. But like I said, I don't really know GURPS Lite, so I can't comment on that in particular.

It's not that bad as far as the weight goes IMO. The heft is just character creation options.

And Ultra-Lite for your perusal

I'm the original anti-GURPS-fag, but maybe my problem with GURPS is just that it absolutely is against everything I stand for design-wise. Like, even Ultra-Lite seems unintuitive to me, due to subtractions and divisions you make while playing. It just doesn't sit with me at all.

But I will admit to my grave that I am biased, I am a dude who has made a thinly veiled storygame, no wonder I'm kind of put off by GURPS.

I would still recommend something else due to clunk. All in all, something like RISUS would serve better for first-timers. Although, I find it hard to perceive games through a lens of someone who hasn't played anymore, so I don't know whether the system is as immediately obvious to them as it is to me.

Of course, was my own system ready, I would probably give some elevator pitch of it here... But it's still missing some small parts, so can't be done.

You be surprised by how quickly GURPS actually resolves though. It is just 3d6 versus a set target number. I picked it up in the first place because it plays faster than most iterations of D&D.

But yeah, here's RISUS.

That's weird. But the problem to me, personally, is that all the heft in the game is in the GM-side, basically.

Fuck, now I'm seriously thinking of dropping my own game as a counter-example.

Eugh, fuck it.

I estimated the word count in RISUS (it's copy protected, and you can't copy text from the PDF), and my game actually is the same amount.

If you use one of the series like Dungeon Fantasy or After the End you can get rid of most of the front loading. If you are going to do something otherwise specific then yeah, there is a lot in the way of GM work.

Seems pretty cool. I like the inversion of attributes as weaknesses rather than strengths. I was fucking around with a homebrew that did something similar, though it was a "how fortunate the man with none" sort of thing ( youtube.com/watch?v=qzTBsbXFY7I ) where the attributes were things that you would normally view positively, but which have a downside (honor stands in the way of guile and deceit, for instance). It never really came together though.

One recommendation for the presentation of your rules: present the central mechanic up front. You roll dice, add them together, and try to beat the appropriate weakness. Before you know that, you don't have the context to understand how everything fits together, and you're juggling Weaknesses, Ordinary, Problems, Saving Graces, Powers, Secrets, the number of points you have to divide, Advantages, Disadvantages and so forth without really knowing what any of the do mechanically.

That's true. It's not even a big stretch to change their places, so I'll look into it.

These are both good.
Fuckin' D&D holds your hand through the tropes of modern D&D and presents a very easy game to play.
Risus let's you run wild with your imagination and vocabulary. The system is simple and blunt.

SW isn't really my thing but many people like it and it has worked well as an entry level game.

GURPS is for gearheads. Some people are gearheads and don't even know it. I won't play GURPS but I don't think it's a bad game. These lite versions are a very succinct introduction.

I'mma read this and get back to you

Attached file is what I'd use for one-on-one with my gf.

Sure. I have an alternative version where Playing the game and Rolls are before Character creation (due to 's advice), but which way is better is up to interpretation.

>GURPS is unintuitive to me, due to subtractions and divisions you make while playing and it just doesn't sit with me at all.
I agree.
And yet it is the best system I've found for my setting.
So I'm fixing it.
I'm in a self-imposed race to see who finishes first, me or Toady with Dwarf Fortress.

>I've dediced I'll try to run my own games at our place, and maybe invite her friend and her boyfriend
I read that too fast and read "maybe invite her boyfriend"