The Wife

I am trying to design Errant to be simple enough that someone could pick it up and play with just a basic interest in the medieval fantasy genre. Someone who likes Lord of the Rings, someone who likes Harry Potter, someone who likes World of Warcraft. I say that I "admit" it because sometimes people like to get snooty about such things. I try not to.

So, the ultimate test of this will be my wife. I plan on trying to play with her over the holiday break.

So my goal is to design it for optimal spousal / new gamer appeal.

Innovations Thus Far Along This Line:

1. Primary game mechanics divided into two types; proactive (based on attributes) and reactive (based on saving throws). Deliberate instruction is included to try anything and the GM will just tell you what attribute applies. Saves are called for by the GM. Both ways, no thinking involved unless you are using a racial/class power.

1. Racial description is a half page in 12 pt font. Modifiers are clearly marked with bullets. Once read and applied to the character sheet, no need to further reference except for flavor.

2. Class description is a single page in 12 pt font. Abilities are designed to be simple and easy to understand. There is no memorization of spells, just casting out of HP or writing down in advance via scrolls (doubtful the wife would ever choose to play Scholar, but worth noting).

3. Exploration rules are simple and really don't even need to be remembered, the GM will call for them.

4. Combat is simple. Choose from 11 actions, simple and easy rules, fits on 2 pages in 12 pt font.

5. Advancement is simple and involves only making a few choices. Most level-ups should only take 5-10 minutes, the higher end of this time frame for those levels where you are spending time thinking about which Gifts to take. No math extravaganza or cross-referencing hell.

6. A new player should only actually need 3 pages of printed text; class description + 2 pages of combat rules, all in 12 pt font. Seems pretty simple to me.


Any other suggestions to improve this even further? How can I make it even easier for the wife to play?