I'm taking a few minutes this morning to gather up some relevant links and make a few comments about the possibilities I'm considering. The lists themselves are ordered in my general level of interest and how well I think they'd work in IRC, descending.

Rules light
"Rules light" RPG systems are usually creator-owned RPGs, made by guys that like roleplaying for people that like roleplaying. They are called rules light because (obviously) they don't have a whole bunch of extensive rules to follow. Take a look at d20 or GURPS: huge lists of skills, attributes, attacks, items, armor, different systems for combat and social conflict resolution. 300+ pages of rules, lists, and explanations. This is the opposite of that. Most rules light gamebooks fall in at around 40 - 100 pages; have one system for conflict resolution; and toss aside lists of skills, traits, and items in favor of user creativity and GM-Player interpretation.

Dogs in the Vineyard: wikipedia page, homepage, example of IRC play, excerpts from the book. Again, this game is permeated with a flavor of the early Mormon western frontier, and the PCs are essentially lawmen charged by the church to keep order and the faith. Being raised in the LDS church, and having studied these times, and generally being a fan of western-themed stuff, it's a really interesting setting to me. However, I realize that kind of flavor's not for everybody. The faith, and setting, can rather easily be adapted to various moral/ethical codes (both religious and not). I really like the conflict-resolution system of this game, and it's a neat change from your typical "I roll d20 plus my offense, it's more than your defense, I roll xd6 for damage" blah blah blah.

My Life With Master: wikipedia page, home page, a rather comprehensive review. My Life With Master is a bit different from the rest of the games that I'll list here, in that it has a set ending point: one of the minions causing the death of the Master. As such, I have my hesitations about running the game. While it's definitely a neat and rather unique game, I'm not sure that it jives well with IRC play or with the type of game I'd be interested in playing. It is quite clearly set to be played out in a couple of sittings, and not in any sort of prolonged format. All that aside, I'd still be willing to take a chance on doing it, even if it's just a one-off thing (as this whole thing may itself only be a one-off thing if it doesn't work out).

Rules Medium

These games seek to strike a balance between the simplicity/storytelling of rules light systems, and the structure/number-crunching of rules heavy systems. They'll tend to be a bit more complicated than their little brothers (with listed traits to choose from, and usually separate combat rules), but are still easier to pick up while playing or through explanation than the heavier clunky systems (with their sometimes arcanely complex combat rules, and 20 - 30 pages describing skills, feats, etc.).

All Flesh Must Be Eaten: wikipedia page, homepage, pre-made character archetypes. If you like zombie fiction, and you don't own a copy of All Flesh Must Be Eaten, you're doing yourself a disservice. Each chapter begins with a two or three page piece of great little zombie stories, and the whole thing is just deliciously well written. Character creation is a fair bit more complicated that the other games I've listed, but there are a wealth of character archetypes that can be modified and built upon with a fair bit of ease. The conflict resolution system is also a bit more complicated ("actions are resolved by adding together the character's relevant Attribute, the applicable Skill, and a ten-sided die roll, plus any modifiers for difficulty; if the total is nine or greater, the action succeeds" with various tiers of success), but you shouldn't let that put you off the system. It's easier to get the hang of than it sounds, and it runs with surprising smoothness. There are several radically different, and extremely interesting, example settings presented in the game: classic "rise from the dead" scenario, virus-based scenario, WWII scenario, alien-zombie scenario, plant-based zombie scenario, medieval zombie scenario, post-nuclear appocalypse mutant zombie scenario, a scenario based on the rapture/Book of Revelations, voodoo zombielord scenario, and even a setting/rules for playing as sentient PC zombies; though there is absolutely no need to limit the possible settings to these few. It's a fun game for zombie-lovers, plain and simple.

... and now for something completely different.

Risus: Homepage. There's not a lot to be said here about Risus. It's available as a six page pdf, and can be read in it's entirety in a couple of minutes. It's a sort of "beer and pretzels" comedy RPG, and it's certainly interesting. It's a few kilobytes big, six pages long, and free (provided you don't want to grab the already printed version, which also includes the 64-page "Risus Companion", which is pretty much the compilation of every idea and bit of advice that everyone on the Risus mailing list has ever submitted). Also available are two (2!!!) solo adventures which function as a sort of choose-your-own-adventure type things as well as an example of how the simple system works.

Primetime Adventures: wikipedia page, homepage. I absolutely adore Primetime Adventures. It's a card-based (standard deck of 52 playing cards) RPG where the players create a T.V. show. A campaign (called a season, or possibly seasons if you wanted to do a continuing game) is separated into five or nine Episodes (suggested as one per night of playing), which are then separated into Scenes. It's a system that's a bit hard to convey in text, but it's a fantastic game to play in person if you have a group of creative friends. I doubt it'd work in IRC (and that's not even including the fact that it's card-based), or really anything other than in-person, but I like to advocate my new finds whenever I can. >_> It's perfect for creating a Joss Whedon type of show, if that's what you're into (and I am).
Posted on: April 29, 2008, 09:47:10

Hey folks. My finals are done and done and done after I finish my last one on Wednesday. That means I'll be free to do something with this pretty much any time after that. Munroe says he'd be interested in doing something with Risus, as it's geared more towards comedic light-hearted games, and it seems easy (since he's apparently never played a pen and paper RPG before!). As such, I'm inclined to lean towards using Risus if we end up doing this, as Munroe's the only one who's actually shown any substantial interest so far. >_> I'd personally like to do something steampunkish or sci-fi...ish, but I'm flexible. You can find links to the free(!) Risus manual (more like a brochure, really) in this post DIRECTLY ABOVE THIS EDIT.

Anyway, I'm now looking for a little more specific interest than before. Less "sounds kinda cool" and more "let's find a time when we can get this whole shebang rolling". If your interest extends to the point that you would definitely be willing to play if we were able get an hour (or more?) together set up, LET ME KNOW! This invitation extends to MG members, MGRs, people not associated with MG in any form, and even (god help us) supertanker*! Again, if I can't get a group together here, it's no big loss for me, but you may be missing out on the opportunity of a lifetime**!

*just kidding, supertanker <3
**results may vary