I just submitted a series of nano-rpgs to the 12 word RPG Jam. Using diagrams was really the key to work under such a strict constraint! You can find them all listed on this entry: https://abstr.substack.com/p/craft-12-word-rpgs
On top of the great ones that people have already pointed out, Blades in the Dark has a rudimentary diagram showing the loop from free play to the score to downtime and, implicitly, back to free play. It has an ink-splatter aesthetic that (imo) doesn't contribute much to its readability.
Both Stormbringer (or perhaps Elric!) from Chaosium and Traveller 2nd edition from Mongoose have flowcharts to help on character creation. Both manage to fill the complete process on a single page.
Trophy Dark has a flow chart for the core Risk roll.
R’lyehwatch has a very simple set of visual steps for dice rolls in Tricube Tales.
Mythic Game Master Emulator 2e is full of great flowchart style displays. This follows on Mythic Magazine going back and doing flowcharts of the various checks from Mythic GME 1e as well as Mythic Variations 1 and 2 and the other Crafter books.
Muster has some interesting flowcharts illustrating various concepts it lays out for wargaming-style D&D. These serve as a quick summary of a lot of the content, and I kinda wish they were repeated all together in an appendix (something Mythic content has been pretty great about).
It’s not a flowchart, but concise cheatsheets are great. Chaosium’s “gold book” for Basic Roleplaying has a great rundown of the various options it lays out, which is really helpful with toolkit-style systems.
I would really like to see a game that diagrams out larger flows in more detail. Most diagrams I see tend to be way too abstract or way too narrow; I can’t think of one that diagrams out core resource flows or the role leveling options impact gameplay or the game economy.
I'm a big fan of the flow charts for PbtA play in Mina McJanda's games. I'm not sure which came first, but the one in Voidheart Symphony is a great example.
Chronicles of Darkness has a diagram explaining the process of spirits manifesting in the physical world and possessing things, and boy does it need that - it's pretty involved.
Viditya Voleti's tech pack "the goblin pulls out a gun" uses the dicier font to build a diagram showing the contested rolls in the system really well! Great use of the font too if you ask me
Paul Beakley’s position/effect diagram for Band of Blades is absolutely a diagram that illustrates a rule, and I found it so important to my understanding of FitD that we put it into a|state as our risk/reward grid.
I just submitted a series of nano-rpgs to the 12 word RPG Jam. Using diagrams was really the key to work under such a strict constraint! You can find them all listed on this entry: https://abstr.substack.com/p/craft-12-word-rpgs
On top of the great ones that people have already pointed out, Blades in the Dark has a rudimentary diagram showing the loop from free play to the score to downtime and, implicitly, back to free play. It has an ink-splatter aesthetic that (imo) doesn't contribute much to its readability.
Thanks for the write up! I love the conceptual model idea applied to ttrpg. As for flowcharts:
https://www.reddit.com/r/callofcthulhu/comments/11peiyn/cocs_sanity_system_in_a_simple_flowchart/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
Sorry for the long link
Both Stormbringer (or perhaps Elric!) from Chaosium and Traveller 2nd edition from Mongoose have flowcharts to help on character creation. Both manage to fill the complete process on a single page.
Night Witches and Ironsworn Starforged have great flowcharts in my opinion
Trophy Dark has a flow chart for the core Risk roll.
R’lyehwatch has a very simple set of visual steps for dice rolls in Tricube Tales.
Mythic Game Master Emulator 2e is full of great flowchart style displays. This follows on Mythic Magazine going back and doing flowcharts of the various checks from Mythic GME 1e as well as Mythic Variations 1 and 2 and the other Crafter books.
Muster has some interesting flowcharts illustrating various concepts it lays out for wargaming-style D&D. These serve as a quick summary of a lot of the content, and I kinda wish they were repeated all together in an appendix (something Mythic content has been pretty great about).
It’s not a flowchart, but concise cheatsheets are great. Chaosium’s “gold book” for Basic Roleplaying has a great rundown of the various options it lays out, which is really helpful with toolkit-style systems.
I would really like to see a game that diagrams out larger flows in more detail. Most diagrams I see tend to be way too abstract or way too narrow; I can’t think of one that diagrams out core resource flows or the role leveling options impact gameplay or the game economy.
I'm a big fan of the flow charts for PbtA play in Mina McJanda's games. I'm not sure which came first, but the one in Voidheart Symphony is a great example.
The whole character sheet for Mothership is the best diagram I can think of
Chronicles of Darkness has a diagram explaining the process of spirits manifesting in the physical world and possessing things, and boy does it need that - it's pretty involved.
Viditya Voleti's tech pack "the goblin pulls out a gun" uses the dicier font to build a diagram showing the contested rolls in the system really well! Great use of the font too if you ask me
Ironsworn has never flowcharts for game loops
Apocalypse Keys has a pretty great flowchart for how the various phases and moves of the game connect.
Paul Beakley’s position/effect diagram for Band of Blades is absolutely a diagram that illustrates a rule, and I found it so important to my understanding of FitD that we put it into a|state as our risk/reward grid.