mrpg, minrpg, or minimal RPG is my personal attempt to devise an optimal system for use in a play-by-post format.

Play-by-post is a tricky format, especially if you want to play long-running games as I do. You would think it would be fairly straightforward: the GM describes a situation, and the players respond. However, it's often not as simple as that. The pace can slow to a crawl specifically in play-by-post because of the nature of the format and the number of decision points baked into most RPG systems. Players may need to clarify a situation. They may need to ask the GM for their interpretation on a rule. They may want to confer with their fellow players about how to act in some scenarios.

Adapting certain systems to the play-by-post format requires the GM understanding these decision points and front-loading these as much as possible, thereby reducing the back-and-forth discussion between GM and players to the absolute minimum. This is especially true in particularly crunchy systems that requires grid-based representation.

My aim is to provide a system where the rules are baked into the character sheet and game posts as much as possible. I liken it to Magic: the Gathering. There's a base set of rules that determine a few common set of assumptions. But most of the rules are found within the cards, and if there is a contradiction between the base rules and the individual cards, the card wins. Or in this case, the character sheets and game posts.

Players can make tactical and strategic decisions based on the plain language of the text they have in front of them. They don't need to flip through a mountain of books just to figure out if one bonus or another is applicable in this or that situation.

The system should be modular so that any sort of character the player wishes can be played, in any sort of genre, whether that be epic fantasy, superhero stories, or cozy slice of life games. Players can mix and match different features, and the system should support this without unnecessarily getting in the way of a good story.

There should be a minimal amount of dice-rolling as well, based on a common resolution mechanic.