FKR

FKR

Free Kriegsspiel Roleplaying (or Revolution or Renaissance).

Free Kriegsspiel was born out of Kriegsspiel (Kriegs = war; spiel = play) or 'War Games', played by professional soldiers, as training, almost 200 years ago. They found that the 'rulebooks' could not cover all the options, because the real world is complex and ever-changing, so they decided that "We are all soldiers. We know what is reasonable and what works. We don't need the rulebooks." So they started playing 'Frei' (Free (of overcomplicated rules)).

It worked because everyone was on the same page about 'what sort of things could happen', 'what could come up', 'what could work'. They were all experienced soldiers, playing soldiery things.

Since we can assume 'we all know Star Wars', FKR seems a good fit. We don't need overcomplicated rulebooks that force us to play a particular way. We can all envisage the sorts of scenes that we would see in a Star Wars, and we can describe it and have it happen.

FKR is not about the amount of rules, it is about everything else, the stuff that is not rules. FKR is not about the rules, it is about the mindset. (Though opinions vary.:)

FKR and Dice
Sometimes we need to answer a question that is not obvious: "can we do a thing?" but research is inconclusive. So we turn to some 'resolution mechanic', most common is 'dice'.

We will work out those details when we need them, and expand this section as needed.

I don't play FKR where: "the players don't need to know the rules, only the GM knows the rules". Everything is open to the players, though they don't need to know any details that don't directly impact how they play their character. Our 'rules' are 'common sense'.

Skills and such
We can pull skills and abilities from our imagination, or pull examples of these sorts of things from other rulebooks (WEG d6 or Force & Destiny, or whatever) and make a system that makes sense for what we are playing.

If you describe your character as 'good at diplomacy' then you are good at diplomacy and can be expected to manage well when faced with such challenges. If you are 'good with animals, but bad with machines' that tells us a lot about your character and the sorts of areas you will excel or struggle, both excelling and struggling are fun.

Using Force Skills risks revealing your Jediness, and will bring trouble. Some are obvious: like firing up a lightsaber, or using Force Jump to flip over a bully and Force Push to knock them down. Others are more subtle: like using Force Push, in a crowded street, to cause your target to stumble and miss their taxi. The details of the situation, and the narrated fiction, would heavily affect this. The fiction always comes first. Using your Force Powers to jump a little further and run a little faster to win a competition might go unnoticed... for a while. Using Mind Trick to get past a guard might become a problem when they are questioned as to why they let you pass, or why they sold teenagers death-sticks and are now rethinking their life...

We, obviously want to have Force Powers, else we would not be playing Jedi. But resisting the temptation to use them is likely to be a large part of the game. :)

'Leveling Up'
'Leveling Up' will be handled in the narrative, you will get better at things by doing things... maybe...

Your gear is also very important. Having better stuff helps you solve bigger problems, not having the right stuff might make even simple problems impossible. Gear is transient, often your solution may involve gaining access to gear which overpowers anything you could achieve without it, this is fine, you could always lose that gear. Think: "starfighter", for instance. Your lightsaber is strong, but using it brings risks.

Downsides of 'FKR'
1. No one agrees on what it is. (So, obviously, these are just my thoughts. :)

2. 'The unknown'. While 'trust the GM' is a 'no duh' statement, it does mean you have to rely on the GM to provide shape for the game, you can't just look at what ruleset it uses and already have a fair idea about what the game will be like. But this is true of many systems anyway: If someone offers a 'Fate game', or a 'Cortex Prime game', you really have no idea of what it will be like. Being able to look at a character sheet and what sorts of character you might be playing can help at the beginning. This is a 'beginning' problem.
   1. Solution: Probably rely on the genre more than the ruleset as 'advertising'.

3. If everyone is not on the same page about what is reasonable to happen in any scenario, there can be a disconnect with descriptions and 'actual' outcomes.
   1. Solution: 'Be in the same page'. But that can boil down to 'play with people you trust', and 'trust to think the same way as you'. This is not really a solution.
   2. Solution: Trust the GM. Ultimately the GM is final arbiter of the world, but, personally, I don't want to play a game where the GM has to step in to redefine 'reality' all the time. I want my players to be able to run free without GM intervention.
   3. Solution: Limit the variables. Either limit it to playing with people who think the same, or limit it to playing in genres with clear boundaries or cohesive-enough, vivid imagery the players can emulate.
   4. Solution: It takes time. FKR might be a bit rocky at the start. It is surprisingly ill-suited for short games. Play longer games, immerse yourself in the world. :)