RUINOUS: an ashcan ultralight system

13 Oct, 2025

This morning I had a eureka moment about how I could simplify Ruins & Rogues and still retain what I like about it. Here's what I’ve come up with.

Character Creation

Describe what your character is good at in a few sentences, then give yourself three starting items. Here are some examples of different kinds of items you might give yourself:

1. Counterfeit (loaded dice, fake jewelry, forged documents)
2. Cover (flour sack, smoke pellets, glitter powder)
3. Distractions (wind-up toy, whistle, firecrackers)
4. Flammable (coal, kindling, sawdust)
5. Floor traps (caltrops, marbles, snare trap)
6. Irritants (spice jar, poison ivy, feather pillow)
7. Relaxants (calming incense, sleeping powder, bottle of ether)
8. Slippery (soap, vegetable oil, butter)
9. Sticky (pot of glue, jar of honey, pot of tar)
10. Silly (musical instrument, pet goldfish, large natural sponge)

Your maximum HP starts at 4. If your character is supposed to be good at fighting, give yourself light armor and/or a shield.

1. Wearing armor increases your maximum HP by 2 (light), 4 (medium), or 6 (heavy).
2. While wielding a shield: Once per combat encounter, you can negate one attack that you could reasonably block.

Finally, give yourself a melee weapon (sword, axe, spear, etc.) and/or a ranged weapon (bow, crossbow, sling, etc.).

Rolling Dice

Only the GM rolls dice. Whenever the GM is uncertain, the GM rolls a d6; the higher the result, the better the outcome for the PCs.

If the result seems unlikely, the GM may roll a second d6 and take the new result if it seems more likely. The GM may not roll a third d6.

Combat

Each round, first each enemy gets a turn, then each player. On your turn, you can move a reasonable distance and take one action. Exception: Surprised enemies do not go first.

No dice are rolled in combat. Weak attacks deal 1 damage, normal attacks deal 2 damage, strong attacks deal 3 damage, and attacks against an especially vulnerable target deal 4 damage.

Since damage is static and the odds may be stacked against you, you should be clever with your items and your environment. If it isn't outright deadly, a trap or other environmental hazard deals 2 (weak), 4 (normal), or 6 (strong) damage.

Damage and Recovery

When you take damage, you lose that much HP. If you run out of HP, you die.

A good long rest restores you to your maximum HP. Up to twice per day, you can take a short rest to regain up to half your maximum HP.

Monsters

Monster statblocks look like this: "Name. HP, weapon (attacks x damage tags)."

For example: "Dragon. 32 HP, claws (2x3) or fire breath (6 heavy blast)." 2x3 means the dragon can make two claw attacks per action that deal 3 damage each; attack tags are explained below.

Monsters have HP as follows:

1. Easy: 2, 4, or 6 HP
2. Medium: 8, 10, or 12 HP
3. Hard: 16, 24, or 32 HP

Here are some attack tags:

1. Blast: The attack strikes all targets within whatever area of effect the GM deems reasonable.
2. Body: The attack strikes all targets that the attacker moves into or otherwise touches on its turn.
3. Heavy: The attack costs two actions: one to ready the attack and one to attack next turn.
4. Stun: The target takes 1 damage if it moves and 1 damage if it acts on its next turn.