This is a game I have been trying to get my hands on for a long time. I have gone through phases of frantically searching for copies to completely forgetting that the game exists to coming back around and frantically searching again. Well, this time during my quest I was on the fence about paying some pretty high prices for some copies I found but then I decided to contact the original publisher Game Science and they had some copies left at fair and reasonable prices and well, here we are. Before I even get into the review, I want to do a dive into the history behind the game.
So, TWERPS stands for "The World's Easiest Role-playing System!" It was created under Reindeer Games (whose only purpose was this game line) and it was distributed by Game Science and I think the initial point of the game was to be an antithesis to all of the rules heavy and complicated games at the time. The game was written by Jeff Dee and Amanda Dee. The first edition was published in 1987 and it was followed by the supplements Fly by Knights, Magic, Space Cadets, and Kung Fu Dragons with each supplement adding setting flare and additional rules. The game came in a zip lock bag that contained card stock inserts, a folded map, the dice required to play, and the eight page game booklet. The first edition core game and supplements were printed out on various colors of paper and black ink that had a very DIY vibe to it.
Due to the games popularity, it was reprinted as a second edition in 1995 with full color covers that still included the the card stock inserts and the folded up maps. It addition to the initial first edition supplements that got reprinted with the core game, TWERPS was expanded to include the following supplements; Rocket Rangers (which was a companion to the Space Cadets), TWERPS Twek (a parody of Star Trek), Robo-Punks (Cyberpunk), Superdudes, Metaphysical Ninja Maniac Chainsaw Vitamin Junkies (Post Apocalyptic insanity and that title is one of my favorite titles of all time), Twisted Tales of Horror (the horror supplement), M.E.C.H.I. - Tech (giant robot battles with lots of nods from Battletech), The T.W.E.R.P.S. Files (an X-Files Parody), and How to Do Everything Better (which is a rules expansion/TwerpMaster guide - and now typing that and saying that out loud I want a patch that says Twerp Master!).
It is interesting to note that a lot of the second edition titles were mostly written by Norman F. Morin Jr., Brian Rayburn, Jon Hancock and Niels Erickson rather than Jeff & 'Manda Dee. The tone of these second edition titles was noticeably one of more overt humor and silliness, peppering the text with puns (and even calling on fans to mail in suggested puns of their own for future supplements).
Per Game Science, it is out of print and I do not know if there are any plans for reprinting it. That is it for the history lesson but before I get into the review part of the post, I just remembered a funny interaction I had when I was discussing this game on a Discard server. When I explained that it was originally published in 1987 and it only uses one dice the first response I read was "Don't tell me those madmen chose a d6!" Madmen or Poets, I will leave that up to you to decide.
Presentation: The game is printed on newspaper grade paper (in feel and thickness) paper that is a weighs in at a heavy eight pages with full color cover and back cover. It is staple bound with two staples and includes a fold out map, card stock inserts with images on them (to be cut up and used like minis) some character sheets, and an odd d10 that is numbered 1-5 twice.
The print inside of the book is very small (maybe size 8?) and looks like some type of typewriter font.
Character Creation: Before I get into character creation, this game does something really unique in that the opening paragraph states this:
"Welcome to TWERPS: The Worlds Easiest Role-Playing Game. We've designed this rule book so that you can run the following introductory adventure without having to read everything beforehand (If you want to read the rules first, skip ahead to section 3). If you plan to run this adventure as you read it to your friends, please be sure to use OPTION #1 every time you are offered more then one way to take the story line (the second and third alternative directions to send the story are for those TwerpMasters who want to take the tale in a new direction or who want to try their own hands at creating interesting and challenging situations for their friends)."
This is an approach I rarely see in games and I think it is pretty clever and could be a lot of fun for both the Twerpsmaster and the players to learn as they go.
Outside of the usual stuff like name etc., characters have one stat! Which is Strength. The player rolls the mighty d10 and consults a table to determine their characters Strength Score which gives a score from 3-10. That is it, your character is created.
Resolution: The mechanics for resolution are split into Saving Rolls (for everything that has a risk or chance of failure), Contested Rolls, and Combat.
- Saving Roll: Roll a d10 and add the Strength score to the result verse a difficulty number rated 1-10. This roll covers everything the character can attempt that the Twerpsmaster deems there is a chance of failure or it would be thematically appropriate to throw the dice.
- Contested Rolls: When a characters attempt is being resisted by something or someone else, both parties roll a d10+Strength and whoever total is higher wins.
- Combat: Initiative is determined by the characters Strength Score, the highest gets to act first and you go down the line. If there are ties between PC's and NPC's the PC's always go first. If two characters tie, they act at the same time. Now, the attacker and the defender both roll as a contested roll. The attacker roles 1d10+Strength+Weapon Bonus (if any) verse the defenders 1d10+Strength+Armor Bonus (if any) and if the attacker wins damage is dealt. If the defender wins, no damage is dealt at the defender was able to avoid the attack. Some weapons include damage and to hit bonuses (as well as ranges) and armor provides defense bonuses, The minimum damage that can be dealt is 1.
That is the core mechanic. There are some additional rules that help flesh out the game. Some of these include:
- Time and Distance: TWERPS follow the usual a round equals 10 seconds and a character can move and take a single action. This action could be to attack or to do just about anything else. Each hex or square is equal to 10 feet. Two allied characters can occupy the same square.
- Movement: Characters and NPCs can move one hex or square for each point of Strength they have. When a character enters a hex or square that contains a hostile opponent the character must stop and the character can only disengage after dealing a successful hit. A character can forgo their action for a "double" move and move up to twice their Strength Rating. Characters also move in order of their Strength from lowest to highest.
- Damage: Successful hits reduce a target's Strength score by the amount listed. When a Strength score is reduce to 1, the character is incapacitated. At Strength 0, the character dies.
- Healing: After a battle, the characters left alive restore their Strength score to max. There is verbage regarding how the Twerpsmaster can tweak this to create more gritty games.
- Victory Points: Each player is awarded one victory point at the end of the session. Victory points can be spent to increase Strength when enough victory points are gained to equal the current score. So, if a character had a Strength score of 6, the player would need to spend six Victory Points to increase the Strength score to 7.
Final Thoughts: There is a lot to unpack here but I have to mention my two favorite things right off the bat. The first thing is I am beyond impressed how much mileage the authors were able to squeeze out of a single stat and a single d10. My other favorite thing is the inspiration behind TWERPS was to create an antithesis from the current iterations of Dungeons and Dragons, GURPS, Rifts, and other rules heavy or complicated games that were all the rage in the 80s. This purpsoe is akin to John Wicks Houses of the Blooded but TWERPS had Houses if the Blooded beat by 21 years and it still continues its original purpose to this day.
Now, taking just what is in the core book into account there is a few problematic idiosyncrasies that may come up but your mileage may very.
- Low Strength Characters can be weak, squishy, and struggle to accomplishing tasks.
- Some of the damage and bonus ratings of weapons are higher or lower then what makes sense or the ratings match their smaller counterparts.
- The game is set up to run on a grid or hex map and there is not a translation for more of a Theater of the Mind approach.
- There is contradictory language when it comes to initiative. Order of attacks are resolved based on Strength from highest to lowest but movement is resolved by Strength from lowest to highest. There is no guidance on what should happen first. How I would read this would be to resolve all movement first in the round then resolve all attacks. I cannot vouch is this is what the authors intended but it is the simplest solution and plays well with the other movement rules.
- There is no Twerpmaster guidance in regards to how to set difficulty class.
With that being said, some of these idiosyncrasies have been curved with examples in the opening adventure and the various supplements provide backgrounds (that give bonuses to Save Rolls when dealing with certain subjects) and abilities that provide flavor and bonuses to just about anything which included combat actions, more speed, etc. Others have not been resolved by the 10 or so supplements. Some of these idiosyncrasies will be bigger problems to new Twerpsmasters over more experienced Twerpsmasters and players.
The biggest issue for me is the quality of the paper and the size of the print. This game will not hold up to heavy use (getting bent, falling apart, etc.) and it is a struggle to sit down and read the 8 pages of the zine from cover to cover. I also understand that the quality was a design feature and not a bug to get it to people as cheap as possible in a bag with a die or two included.
I think it also requires at least the Magic supplement to feel 100% complete and I plan to review the Magic supplement at a later date.
There are not a lot of sources out there for TWERPS because it is out of print and I think a rather unknown gem in the table top role-playing world.
- Game Science has back issues but there are not plans for reprints or updates. Outside of this source, you can find the game through the usual after market means.
- Jeff Dee's Patreon, Deviant Art, and Monkey House Games
- Drivethrurpg
- Youtube Discussion
