The writing in this is clear, and light hearted. A little bit edgy, in a humorous manner. The funny does not lessen the strength of the rule system. Simple enough you could use it to play anything, and enough crunch that it can handle anything you want to throw at it. Plus, Elmore art!

http://www.teilzeithelden.de/2016/04/19/indie-spotlight-spass-rollenspiele-die-man-kennen-sollte/

Manchmal muss es eben simpel sein. Gegen zu komplexe Plots und politische Korrektheit hilft ROLF – The Roleplaying Game of Big Dumb Fighters. Es verzichtet auf jeden Schnickschnack und steckt die Spieler in die Rolle von stumpfen Muskelpaketen im Lande Gog. Das wurde erst kürzlich im Krieg mit dem Nachbarreich Magog von seltsamer Magie verwüstet. Die anschließende Strahlung ließ viele Bewohner zu gefährlichen Monstern mutieren. Die wenigen Überlebenden durchstreifen nun das Land auf der Suche nach Nahrung und Sexualpartnern. Wie wir, so schafft auch das Regelwerk die Hintergrundbeschreibung in rekordverdächtigen vier Sätzen.

ROLF ist ein Spiel um körperlichen Konflikt. Ein Großteil des 10-seitigen Regelwerks dreht sich um den Kampf. Charaktere bestehen aus den drei Attributen: Brawn, Body und Brains. Brawn dient dabei dem Nahkampf, während Brains für Kampfmanöver und Zaubersprüche entscheidend ist. Man ahnt es schon: Das ganze Regelsystem ist eine Satire auf Rollenspiele. Weibliche Charaktere haben keine Nachteile, sind aber klüger. Als Kampfmanöver ist „Debate Philosophy“ möglich, um den Gegner zu verwirren oder per „Seduce Enemy“ zum Beischlaf zu überreden. Mit optionaler Regel für Charaktereigenschaften kann ein Charakter „Too sexy for my shirt“ erhalten und verliert regelmäßig im Kampf sein Oberteil. Zauber in ROLF haben so treffende Namen wie „Die, Die, Die!“ oder „MORTAAAL COMBAAAAT!“ und die Initiativereihenfolge ist mit ABCCBA herrlich unsinnig. Die Beispielcharaktere Rolf, Ralf und Rebah tun ihr übriges, damit das Spiel nicht ernst genommen wird.

Zugegeben, der pubertäre Humor von ROLF ist nicht jedermanns Sache. Das Spiel ist bewusst unfertig (in den Regeln wird ein Spielleiter nicht einmal erwähnt) und erfordert etwas Nacharbeit. Gerade das Thema des dummen Kriegers in einer entvölkerten Pseudo-Steinzeit ist sehr ergiebig und heilsam für Spielrunden, die drohen an überzogenen Ansprüchen zu scheitern. Wer es noch absurder mag, sollte einen Blick auf die passenden Erweiterungen werfen: In ROLF: The Associated Shades of Hades kommt ein Gentlemans-Club ins Spiel, in dem berühmte Persönlichkeiten ihren Zwist mit Gewalt lösen. In ROLF: The Breast Hope for Peace löst ein Bikini-Zwischenfall eine internationale Krise aus und die Beispielcharaktere umfassen Papst Benedikt, Präsident Obama und Chuck Norris.

Yep, it's a "rollplaying game." I've heard an awful lot about rollplaying and how terrible of a thing it is, so I was surprised to come across a game that is all about the ill-aligned practice.

ROLF is a beer and pretzel's game about sexy muscle bound idiots who either want to kill each other or fuck each other. It's a game best played with a lot of beer and pretzels. This is the kind of game you bring to the table when you've lost the cognitive faculties for a more nuanced game. A dumb, frisky warrior is very easy to roleplay when you've had a few too many.

The game is based on a simple roll-low system based three attributes and there are no rules related to anything outside of combat. At only 10 pages, you don't get much more rules-light than this. There are some rules for Traits, for players who want more fleshed out characters, but the book makes it perfectly clear that your priority should be killing things, not telling an interesting story.

The one problem that ROLF may have is its initiative system. Each character makes two moves each round, but in a forward and back order. For instance, if there are three characters in a fight the order of moves would be ABCCBA. This seems like it would add some interesting strategy, but I can also see it getting a bit messy since Character C's first turn may be a reaction to Character A's move, but first they have to wait through Character B's turn to resolve if Character A's move is successful. This can get very dicey if more than three characters are in a combat, which puts a hard limit on how many people can play ROLF and what a gamemaster can throw at the players.

As I wrote that last sentence, I realized that there is no discussion of a gamemaster anywhere in this book. I assumed that there would be a gamemaster, but it's possible that ROLF is intended to be a GMless free-for-all game. There is mention of using ROLF for a campaign, but that seems impossible if this is the case.

ROLF is an incomplete game. The foundation is strong, simple and goofy fun, but you can't help but think that there is a lot missing from this game. It's important for a beer and pretzel's game to be as complete as possible since drunk players are not going to want to figure out a way for fair rulings on the fly. However, ROLF is very well supported by the publisher, so some of the holes in the system may be addressed in other releases.

With a list price of only $1.50, ROLF may be worth a look for your gaming arsenal. The concept of stupid, sexy fighters is certainly something that would appeal to gamers who need something simple and lighthearted. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if it can match the quality of similar games like Old School Hack and Kobolds Ate My Baby.

ROLF seems fairly good for the price (£0.95).

While most RPGs I've played make no bias on gender with attributes, this game does (surprisingly). The 3 attributes are Brawn, Body & Brains. Brawn & Body are the same for male & female, but Brains are 2D4 for males, and 2D6 for females! The character generation on page 2 states that females are more intelligent (gender cliche?); if so, then another gender cliche states that females are the 'weaker sex', and therefore (for balance), as all games should have SOME balance, the Brawn attribute for females should be for example, 1D20 + 1D8, instead of 2D20.

Practically most/all the artwork is from various D&D books (Elmore). The game is not to be taken seriously; it it rather tongue in cheek. It's good for short term, but not for long term (campaigns).

Let's see: Cost: 1.5$ Complexity: Simple and effective Learning curve: Fast Average game time: 10 mins for the battle including bragging to the loser, showing off to your friends and laughing heartily. So you could play that at lunch break in your job. Originality: Do you know many games where you can strategically bleed on the winner as you die or that you can castrate the enemy? Fun: Very!

The only minor flaw I found in this game is that it could use a bit more replability. But with updates coming every so often, and with the "expansions" and all costing less than a trip to the cinema I say it's well worth it. And speaking of the cinema? If the movie sucks you can always ROFL! Charlee Sin.

So... what are you waiting for?