The SKETCH System from Farsight Games

January 21, 2009 No comments

SKETCH is a free download from Farsight Games. It’s a 6-page PDF, half a page being the title and credits, one page of which is a table, another page taken up by the character sheet, so “rules lite” is an understatement. It uses one 6-sided die for all task resolution, and was designed to be used for one-off pickup games rather than extended campaign-style play. There’s one Attribute – Strength – used for everything physical and acts as hit points. You get six very broad “skill groups”, one a 1, one at 2, and so on up to one at 6. There are 9 skill groups listed, and it’s suggested you rename them to suit the flavor of the setting. If you feel the setting needs characters with more than 6 skill groups, the players get additional 3′s to assign. When the player takes an action, you pick what skill group seems most appropriate. For anything you do, you roll a d6 and add a modifier from +3 down to -3. Roll a positive number, under your modified number, except a natural 6, to succeed. So you your skill group is 4, roll 1-4. If your skill group is 3 and you get a +3, roll anything but a 6.

For what it is, it’s solid. It’s less abstract than Risus, for folks who of a more crunchy mindset and want skills rather than cliches to work with. The skill groups can still be a little abstract, but are closer to traditional game mechanics than Risus. I can easily see a group of players sitting down at a table saying “let’s play X” and having characters created in 5 minutes or less. For gamemasters adept at winging it, this is a dream. For folks who feel more comfortable with tables and monster stats, this game could be a stretch.

I like SKETCH. Would I use it? Probably. I’ll likely print it out and put a copy in my Risus notebook, in the event of a pickup game. I’d suggest it as a good introductory game for kids or new roleplayers, expecially if you’re trying to ease them into a crunchy game system. Is there any reason to recommend it over Risus? Aside from the fact that it’s more traditional/crunchy and less abstract than Risus, no. It says a lot that I could go either way; take that as a recommendation. I still prefer Risus, because I like the concept of Cliches, but it’s a matter of taste.

The site has a few examples of SKETCH games, including an unofficial Blade Runner game and an unofficial Star Wars game (both of which I will review separately).