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Introduction
The Simple Roleplaying Game (SRPG) is a collection of very simple rules designed so as to be easy to understand and not impede action at all. Essentially, they aid freeform roleplaying, offering the alternative of dice. The game aims at two different target groups: beginner players and experienced gamemasters, or experienced players, with or without a gamemaster, who would prefer objective results as gained from the dice. Of course, it can be run by experienced gamemasters, but its lack of concise rules and tendency to leave things to eyeballing might confuse those new to the trade.
The purpose of this game is for every player, including the gamemaster, to create with the others a story where he or she is the protagonist, exactly as he wants it... or, rather, how he or she defines it according the the choices he is given-just like life...
Every player controls one, or in some cases more than one, character, dictating what he will say or do, however, he cannot dictate the results of said words and actions. Here is where the Gamemaster takes his role, who judges objectively and with the aid of these simple rules, the results of the players' actions, as well as how the rest of the world reacts, from the humblest man to entire nations and empires, from the tiniest speck of dust to an entire universe. In short, the Gamemaster presents situations for the players to confront and react to, describing what their senses perceive, and judging the results of their actions.

Characters
The characters are the protagonists of the story, if controlled by the players, or one of many tools at the disposal of the Gamemaster. A character is any person or creature which is "alive" (with the broader meaning of the word, e.g. a robot), and which can in some way interact with some or all of the players, and the rest of the world.
Characters have a name, form (though not always material!), personality, past, quirks... every character is unique, and it's highly suggested that the player characters or PCs be unique even when they're just starting out, since they'll be evolving parallel to the story. However, aside from the aforementioned, rather broad qualities, a character has nine basic characteristics which sum up in a glance his basic qualities.
*Strength (STR): The muscular and physical strength of the character, as well as his ability to use it efficiently.
*Dexterity (DEX): Hand eye coordination and manual dexterity.
*Agility (AGI): Speed, mobility and flexibility of a character.
*Constitution (CON): The natural resistance of the character to wounds, diseases, poisons etc.
*Intelligence (INT): A character's smarts, reasoning and learning ability.
*Perception (PER): A character's awareness of the environment.
*Willpower (WIL): Discipline, strength of personality and natural stubborness (or lack thereof) of a character.
*Charisma (CHA): The character's ability to interact successfully with other characters.
*Luck (LCK): A character's sheer amount of luck!

Every characteristic ranges from 0-10, with most being around 3-4.
0: Abyssal
1: Useless
2: Substandard
3: Below Average
4: Average
5: Above Average
6: Talented
7: Legendary
8: Superhuman
9: Demigodly
10: Godly

There are some characteristics that directly depend on the aforementioned ones. They are calculated using a very simple method, and all fractions are rounded down. These are:

*Reflexes (R) : How quickly a character reacts. (DEX+AGI+INT+PER)/4
*Melee Attack (MA): A character's natural ability to score a hit against an opponent in close combat. (STR+DEX+AGI)/3
*Melee Defense (MD): A character's natural ability to avoid or defend from a hit against an opponent in close combat. (DEX+AGI+CON)/3
*Ranged Attack (RA): A character's natural ability to hit a target from afar. (DEX+PER)/2
*Ranged Defense (RD): A character's natural ability to avoid, dodge or take cover against ranged attacks. (AGI+PER)/2

Appendix A, at the end of the book, contains ready characters and creatures for your use, if you need one quick, or you need ideas to create some. There's also profiles for creatures, both real and mythological ones, that the heroes may have to face.


Abilities & Skills
Besides the above general characteristics, a character has special abilities and skills that may affect the rolls he makes. EVERY kind of roll can somehow be affected by skills and abilities, however the Gamemaster maintains the right to judge how much a roll is affected.
Actually, abilities don't have to be all defined at the start of a character's career- if a situation comes up where a character might possibly have the appropriate skill or ability, the Gamemaster may feel free to add it to the character's repertoire. Be warned, however, that there are also negative abilities (rarely skills, though) that penalize rolls, for which the same rules as positive abilities apply.
With the general term ''Ability'' we describe any special quirk a character may have, with a subset of mostly positive abilities termed "Skills", which reflect what a character has learned so far. There's an appendix at the end with specific examples. Usually, Abilities and Skills raise or lower the number of dice a character rolls. A quick glance is as follows:

+/- Level of Ability or Skill
1-2 Minor
3-4 Medium
5-6 Major
7-8 Great
9-10 Superhuman

Examples of Abilities:
*Great Willpower
*Extraordinary Toughness
*Honed Reflexes
*Natural fighting ability

Examples of Skills:
*Martial arts, armed and unarmed
*Archery or shooting
*Driving & Piloting
*Computer Operation
*Repairs and juryrigging
*Stealth & Detection
*Tactics & Strategy
*Foreign Languages
*History & Social Sciences

Combat
The Initiative
Combat is segmented into rounds lasting a few seconds (6, to be exact, for the ease of having 10 every minute). At the beginning of each round, every character rolls a d6 and adds his Reflexes to find out his Initiative for the round.
The Gamemaster may, if he wants, declare that some or all of the characters he controls automatically have an Initiative of Reflexes+3 (half of d6), in order to speed up combat, and keep the rolling for important characters.
The characters act in order of Initiative, starting from highest- those with the same score act simultaneously. Every result is a phase- starting from highest score down to 0- once phase 0 is over, a new round begins. If people have initiatives lower than 0, they act in phase 0 or none at all, depending on the Gamemaster. Of course, any character may act in any phase equal to or lower than his Initiative.


Close Quarters Combat
If someone decides to attack with a melee weapon, he rolls as many dice as his Melee Attack while the Defender rolls as many dice as his Melee Defense. The Attacker compares his rolls to his weapon's Attack and the Defender with his weapon's Defense. Anyone with more than one weapon, may choose which one is considered primary and adds his Complementary Attack or Defense to the dice he rolls, separately for each weapon (Colored dice work great). If the Defender is attacked by more than one character, then against each additional opponent he rolls one less die (cumulatively) of Defense.
Afterwards, the Attacker's successes from the Defender's. If the result is 0 or lower, the Defender has avoided, parried or blocked the attack. If the result is higher than 0, however, the attack has succeeded.
To calculate damage, the Attacker rolls as many dice as his Strength plus the previous result and compares it to his weapon's Damage. The Defender rolls as many dice as his Constitution and compares it to his Armor, if he has any- otherwise, he may not reduce the attacker's damage.
Again, the Defender's successes are removed from the Attacker's , and if the result is 0 or lower, the Defender is unharmed. If they are above 0, however, the Defender suffers as many points of damage as the result (usually losing Health Points).
Appendix B has a list of melee weapons with statistics, that can be used as is or modified depending on the Narrator, or even used as the basis for creating new melee weapons.


Ranged Combat
First of all, the Gamemaster should judge whether the target is within the weapon's Range, in order to see if the target can be hit and how difficult it is, so as to set the Difficulty for the shot. A simple guide.

Difficulty Distance/Cover/Factors
2 Point Blank, 5 meters or less
3 Short Range, 6-15 meters
4 Medium Range, 16-30 meters
5 Long range, 31-50 meters
6 Extreme Range, 51+ meters
+1 Slightlly covered, e.g. bushes
+2 Moderately covered, e.g. wooden post
+3 Extremely covered, e.g. stone wall
+4 No light/Very little Light (No moon, dark night) or Blinding Light
+2 Little Light (Moonlight) or Very Strong Light (Very sunny day)
+1 Limited Light (Dusk/Dawn)
+3 Fog

If the difficulty is above 6, the shot is impossible, since the conditions assure that there's no chance of success unless the Gamemaster decides otherwise. Also, the ranges above are for most ranged weaponry- skills with long-ranged weaponry like bows or rifles may increase the above ranges.
Then, the Attacker rolls as many dice as his Ranged Attack. plus or minus his weapon's Accuracy, and compares it with the shot's Difficulty, while the Defender rolls his Ranged Defense and compares it with the inverse of the shot's Difficullty (which is 8-Difficulty). However, like in close quarters combat, if the Defender has been attacked more than once in a round, each additional attack cumulatively reduces the Defender's Ranged Defense dice by 1.
Then, the successes are subtracted just like in close quarters combat, and to calculate damage the Attacker rolls as many dice as the rest of his successes and compares to his weapon's Damage, while the Defender rolls as many dice as his Constitution and compares it to his Armor, if any. Thrown Weapons are an exception to the above, since they may add half (rounding down) of the Attacker's Strength to the successes they roll for damage.
Appendix C has a list of ranged weapons, just like there's a list for melee weapons, which depend on the Gamemaster if and how they will be used.


Mounted Combat
In some cases, characters may fight atop of steeds, which are not necessarily horses-from camels to dragons to anything inbetween, if it can be tamed and ridden. Obviously, one of the advantages that a mount offers is movement- faster, seabound or airborne, or even just less tiring for the rider.
In close quarters combat, a rider gains +1 to both Melee Attack and Melee Defense against unmounted or those mounted on significantly shorter steeds (like dragon vs horse). Also, in case he is charging with a lance or some other similar weapon, he may replace his own Strength with the mount's.
However, if the rider wants to attack with a ranged weapon, things get tough. Any thrown weapon removes is at Ranged Attack -2 while any other ranged weapon, from bows to laser rifles is at Ranged Attack -4, since it's harder to aim atop a moving steed. This penalties do not apply if the steed is moving, and at the GM's discretion they may be halved if the steed is moving slowly.