FAFO RPG

FAFO RPG is a simple, one-page, pick-up-and-play tabletop roleplaying system about bad situations, and whether you make them worse or better by taking risks.

Game Overview

You have two main stats: Faff about (FA) and Find out (FO). They're measured in dice from d4 to d12.

Your faff about die is how much you're pushing your luck, how far you're willing to go, how risky you're willing to be, and how reckless, fearless, or stupid you're acting. The higher the better.

Your find out die is a measure of how much fate catching up to you. The lower the better.

When you take decisive action, you roll both. If your FA is higher than your FO, you succeed.  If your FA is lower than your FO, though, you "find out". If they're the same, it creates a twist.

Both dice will ebb and grow over time as you take risks and either make headway or crash and burn. Characters have three "strikes" – when you lose all three, you are defeated for that scene.

A One-Page RPG

Everything you need to play is on one page, which can be printed out double-sided, and folded in thirds to make a handy play pamphlet.

One side is the Player's Guide, with character creation and game mechanics fully explained.

The other side is the GM's Guide, with guidance on running games and a rubric for creating adventures.

That's all you need to play, but the game also comes with two pre-written sample adventures, also in a handy brochure format:

• Zacapulco, about a zombie outbreak at a luxury resort
• StarQuest, about space trekkers rescuing colonists from the Repton threat

This game was designed and submitted to the 2023 One-Page RPG game jam.