As part of the run up to Empire in Flames, I ran an extremely lightweight roleplaying session to set the scene at the late Baron's funeral.
This was the first time I had ever run a roleplay session, and I had a great time. I didn't think it made much sense to learn and teach the extremely crunchy WFRP ruleset to basically some strangers I'd ivited to my flat, so instead I came up with a super rules light alternative. It's insired by the Laser-Feelings rules system, and I've creatively called it Strength and Subtlety. Any feat of physical prowess is governed by your Strength score, while insight, learning and magic are all done by subtlety. It won't hold up for a long campaign but it seemed perfect for a one shot.
Skills
You have 5+D3 skill points to allocate between Strength (physical and combat prowess) and Subtlety (charm, sneakiness, political savvy). The more points in a skill the better you are at it. You can have between 1-5 points in a skill (a 6 will always fail).
eg, I roll a 1 and therefore have 6 points to spend. I put 2 in Strength and 4 into Subtlety since I'm going to play a more diplomatic character.
Opposed Tests
If you are fighting against another character, I've just lifted the opposed tests rules from WFRP. Say Dermandt the ratcatcher has a Strength of 3 and has just rolled a 1. He's passed the test by two points. He's fighting Hans the guard (who has a mighty Strength of 5), but Hans rolls a 4 and only beats his own score by one point. That leaves Dermandt as the victor!
Health and Damage
Characters have hit points equal to 5 plus their Strength. If they lose an opposed combat test, they take damage equal to the amount of points they lose it by. Simple!
Here is a write up of my notes for the session if you're interested to see how I prepped. I tried to keep it quite light so I could check in at a glance and have a vague hope of understanding how the story was supposed to go. You can find a full narrative write up of the session in the narrative doc for Empire in Flames.
