VSGMR: Where Do We Begin?

A Very Simple game should have very simple rules, and in an effort to be comprehensive, I'm including everything I can think of in the game's rules. That's a conflict, of course, but here's the solution: a one-page summary of the necessary dice rolls, with detailed information on those rules, and following that a big section of optional rules, like points values, special abilities (one of the things the Yahoo Group really got a lot of enjoyment from), and scenarios.

We start with an introduction and the materials needed to play. I called the miniature figures "guys" because that's what they're most often called, especially when they're not actually hobby gaming miniatures (i.e., LEGOs, action figures, even dolls). The girlfriend of a friend used to call them "your little people," but I'm not going to use that term in the rules.

The current version of the rules also mentioned a measuring tool. As in most miniatures battle games, that refers to a ruler. For VSGMR, where "twisting and turning" the measuring tool is suggested, try a flexible ruler, like the ones used for sewing. It's basically a ribbon.

Like this, but you only need one (mine is yellow). (image: aliexpress.com)

Dice, a playing surface, and markers of some kind should be easy enough to come by. Coins are great markers, though make sure they're all the same size, since using a large coin as an objective marker makes it a little easier for figures to touch.

That leaves terrain, which at its most basic (its Very Simplest), is stacks of books or old boxes, maybe decorated a little bit. There's also print-and-fold terrain out there; finding good resources is the subject of another post.

So here's where we start, with what you need to play. It hasn't changed, and it will be part of the basic rules of the new VSGMR. It's is one of about a dozen games, or game variants, I'm playtesting and revising now. They'll all eventually be on my website, though some have work-in-progress versions available now.