Tiny Dungeons looks like a fun game. I like the rules-lite approach.

If anyone here has played the game I'd like to hear about your experience with it. I'm not looking for a 'review' of the system. Just an idea of how well it works on RPoL or in person play. Has anyone attempted to use it over Roll20? Or Zoom?

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I played once in a Tiny d6 game (on another site).  It was a very meh  sort of experience.  I'm all for rules-lite, but for me this system was just a bit too  pared down.

The core mechanic was very simple, but it felt stale after the first encounter.  The novelty of it wore off very quickly, in other words.

With the right group though, I think this kind of 'explain it on the back of a cocktail napkin' system really does have a lot of potential for PbP.

A Tiny d6 GM would have to be real comfortable ruling things on the fly (just straight-up inventing things when weird situations pop up, adding/tweaking rules, etc) in order to keep it fresh.

The basic 'do I succeed' framework is there for simple tests, but invariably, something will pop up that the rules do not cover.  Almost like an OD&D / free form sort of experience.

The players in any game where the GM takes these sort of liberties would have to be comfortable with things regularly being declared via GM-fiat.  As in, 'The GM has ruled, 'nuff said, moving on.'

On the other hand, if they are of the variety that needed a quote chapter-and-verse about why the world works as it does ... this system would not be a good fit for them.

My $0.02, applicable to any ruleset with a narrative system ... players should be willing to lean into their character's flaws/frailties.  When the mechanics are spare like this ... sometimes the tendency is to spam the one or two things a character is 'good' at just to declare advantage (and in this case, roll the extra die).  I sort of feel like ... if every roll is special, then none of them are.  And if everything is the same all the time ... the blandness sets in and the whole thing becomes meh.

Sounds like it just covers those things were you need "some random factor" thrown in to keep it interesting.
Certainly not one a "Rules Lawyer" would be welcome in.

Ski-Bird, thank you for the thoughtful response. :)

I tend towards enjoying the OD&D style of gaming myself, so that is a point in its favor. However, those games do require a lot of trust among the players, and the GM, so they are not to everyone's taste.

It sounds like Tiny Dungeons, as well as other similar narrative systems, would require players to actively seek to vary their own experience instead of just looking for 'what's on my sheet?' That can be a hard sell.

In order to make it work the DM has to do a lot more work on the setting. NPCs need to be detailed and interesting with quirks that the rules don't cover. Plots need to be more involved and interconnected as well. Basically, because you can't rely upon the crunch to eat up time, or provide the complication your players need, you have to be on your game as a DM all the time.

I'll admit, I sometimes get a little lazy when designing a Roll20 or in person session for 5th ed D&D. I know combats take a while and my players like fighting. So I will create a series of challenging fights that are only loosely connected by plot and they seem to really like it. But those fights eat up all of our time and I don't have to worry about complex story telling. I'd never be able to get away with that kind of prep in a Tiny Dungeons game. That's a double edged blessing indeed. ;)

Seems like a fun idea for a pick-up or casual game, however. Maybe just not for RPoL. I'll keep on reading.

In reply to GreenTongue (msg # 3):

I think you're right. There doesn't seem to be much here to argue about unless you want to get into it about GM Fiat. That would be a lose/lose argument.

Trust is a good way of putting it.  I think with the right group, it could be pretty cool.

In the recruitment thread, I’d be pretty clear about your GM-style and what sort of tone you were after.  That would probably do the trick.

Many of my favorite games involved some elements being determined by GM fiat.  I tend to play with people who specialize in creating unconventional problems, for which they come up with even more unconventional solutions, so depending on the group and the game, we routinely found ourselves in situations where the GM said, "Well...the rules really don't cover this, so...we're gonna handle it THIS way."

But I've also been in games with people who just can't function that way.  It's not for everyone.