An EPIC Introduction

Hello!

My name is Harry, I’m a Dungeons and Dragons 5e DM, a player of D&D and many other tabletop games and a habitual problem solver.

Some friends of mine wanted to try playing D&D, so we arranged to play a one shot. I would DM and prepare a simple, but fun adventure so that the two new players and the two with more experience could all explore roleplaying together.

I spent two hours sitting down with one of the friends in order to create a character, explaining some of the rules and concepts as we went.

Two hours is too long for a one shot which I expected to last three or four hours.

There had to be a better RPG system which allowed for quick access to games, but in my searches, I couldn’t find anything which I liked the feel of.

So it was time to crack my knuckles and start jotting down what it was I didn’t like about D&D and see if I could create a system which omitted those elements while allowing for the immersive experience I already loved.

Obviously slimming down character creation and rules understanding was the first goal, after that it was anything which takes lots of time away from roleplaying at the table – rolling for initiative, rolling damage dice, checking the flipping rulebook for the tenth time tonight!

And so EPIC was born.

The core design of EPIC is that it utilises 10 ready-to-go characters. These are all well established fantasy RPG classes and have abilities which are evocative of more crunchy game systems and adhere to well-known tropes, but which are mechanically simple.

The concept of the game is to enable new and returning players alike to play one-off games with minimal preparation. Imagine playing an RPG the way you play a familiar boardgame. You’ve got a few hours free with some friends, but no one has prepared a game. The intention is that Epic will provide all of the tools to start playing immediately.

It’s still in early development, but the first playtests have been enormously successful. We’ve got straight to the heart of the action and enjoyed a couple of hours of fast-paced story telling, without the need to stop and ask what the rules say.

I can’t wait to share it, and continue to develop it beyond the core concepts.

I’m keeping it manageable with 10 characters to play, simple to run monsters and minimal rules, but at the same time shaping the rules to enable many more features, including ways of creating your own characters, monsters and items.

So this is where I’ll share updates on EPIC as well as thoughts to help you in your own game design and campaigns. You can join me on the journey by signing up for the newsletter below to receive important updates and to be a part of early release playtesting.