The Last Word is a generic role-playing system that uses a set of letter tiles as the randomizer. Players create words to define their characters, and draw tiles based on their characteristics during conflict resolution. The idea is to develop a rules set that minimized munchkinism and power-gaming, and encouraged cleverness and social gameplay: players have to explain how and why their specific characteristic would be useful in a given situation.
It’s my very own invention.
I’ve had the idea for this RPG system kicking around my head for over a year, ever since I read about the 24-Hour RPG Challenge and Philip J. Reed’s excellent vs. Monsters game. Of course, the fact that I was working on a series of word games for my company at the time didn’t hurt. I’ve made a couple of abortive attempts at writing out the rules, but I figured that I’d better jot down the basic concepts in my blog before I forgot about the project entirely. I thought that seeing the words on screen would motivate me to finish.
I was right.
I drafted the blog post in about an hour before dinner, mulled it over through dinner, and then decided to organize the material in a PDF file. The result is here: The Last Word LITE.
As you can tell from the title, and as will be apparent from the contents, this is the basic, bare-bones system. I have a notebook full of refinements to add, but if you’re experienced with RPGs and game systems, this should be enough to get you started.
Feel free to download a copy and share it among your friends: just don’t charge a fee, alter the text, or forget to include the copyright notice. And please, send me any and all comments you might have.
This was an entertaining experiment. I hope you enjoy the results.