Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition (5e)
What is Microlite20?
Microlite20 is an OGL role-playing game containing character generation¸ combat and rules for magic¸ monsters and level advancement. It ripped the guts out of d20 leaving just the essence of the game. Skills are much simplified¸ there are no feats and combat is as simple as it gets. Microlite20 is a trimmed-down¸ subminiature version of the Primary Fantasy Tabletop RPG SRD rules that has been designed to be quick and easy to play. The goal was to create a simpler game¸ but one where all of the resources of Primary Fantasy SRD (monsters¸ spells¸ adventures and equipment) could be used without conversion. It was designed for the 3.5 SRD but will work with the 3.0 SRD or even the PF SRD. The original rules for character generation¸ combat¸ magic and level advancement took up a single sheet of paper (of very fine print)¸ making it great for introducing role-playing to new players¸ gaming one-shot adventures or tailoring into your own game system. Of course¸ the Microlite20 quickly grew beyond the original (extremely basic) rules with a number of optional systems and supplemental modules (e.g. lists of equipment and spells) designed to make the game playable without needing to constantly refer to a copy of the SRD. Microlite20 is also the basis for a large number of independent variant games in many genres -- the current (2017) edition of the Microlite20 RPG Collection has just over 2000 pages of Microlite20 based RPGs.
What is the Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition?
In its raw form¸ Microlite20 and its more important optional and supplemental sections are a hodge-podge of pdfs produced by different people and formated however the producer of that section wanted. The Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition takes all this material and combines it in one document -- all formated the same and somewhat reorganized in places to make it easier to use. You end up with either a 68 page two-column letter sized pdf or a 164 page digest-sized pdf. You can see the complete contents of the (digest-version) of book from the quick preview link above.
What Do You Get?
If you buy this paid version of the Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition you receive the following:
- a pdf of the single-column digest-sized version -- 164 pages¸ with art
- a pdf of the two-column letter-sized version -- 68 pages¸ with art
- a pdf of the Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition Player's Guide -- 10 pages¸ no art: has all the player-facing rules (plus equipment and spell lists) and is designed to be printed and given to players.
- epub and mobi ebook versions of the Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition
- epub and mobi ebook versions of the Microlite20 Comprehensive Edition Player's Guide
The epub and mobi versions contain tables and many ebook (especially epub) readers display tables in a single column unreadable mess. Epub reader software designed to display epub3 files usually have no problem with the tables. Note that tables in epub and mobi files may not adapt well to small screen devices. Some ebook readers do not display all of the art. The epub and mobi conversions have minor font size issues not present in the pdf version¸ but are quite usable if your ebook reader displays tables properly.
The actual rules include the following sections: Basic Rules¸ Basic Rule Examples¸ Expert Rules¸ Equipment¸ Spell Lists (Magi¸ Cleric¸ Illusionist¸ Druid)¸ Monster List¸ Gamemaster's Guide¸ Designer's Notes (explaining the hows and whys of Microlite20's design)¸ Appendix A: Minor Rules Expansions¸ Appendix B: Microlite20 Martial Arts¸ Appendix C: Microlite20 Psionics¸ Appendix D: Rune Magic¸ Appendix E: Microlite20 Mass Combat¸ Ap