Here's something retro/simple that I'm working on over at my blog.
This is something I'm working on - a deliberately retro, simple post-apocalyptic roleplaying game called Guns & Gas Masks: Life after the Burn.

Here's the basic system. I wrote it up in one fell swoop. Took about an hour. I'll clean it up later. Let me know what you think.

Guns and Gas masks: Life after the Burn

They say them folks out far out across the sea started this war. Seems their god told em to. Our folks didn't hold truck with that foolishness, and well, we set them on fire, and they set us on fire. That was The Burn. Pretty soon everything was done burned up. Thems was dark days. Those what escaped the burn usually died of Wasting Sick or Coughing Sick. Thems that survived that bout had to kill each other to get enough to eat. Nowadays, things are a little better, but don't go round thinking you know it all, cause someone's liable to school you, and you might not walk away from it.

Attributes: (2d6 each)

Roll them bones.

Strength

A man's muscle power. You can carry 10 pounds of goods or so comfortably for every point of strength, and every point above 10 adds another point of damage to attacks with melee weapons. Note about carryin stuff: some gamemasters care a whole lot bout encumbrance, and this estimate is just for them to use to decide when you're about over your limit. I don't care nothing bout it myself. I say use yer dang common sense.

Constitution

How healthy you are, and how much hurtin you can stand before you croak. Your Constitution score equals your hit points.

Agility

A measure of how quick of hand and fleet of foot you are.

Intelligence

How smart you are.

****

Character Archetypes:

Choose one of these here archetypes and then go buy your skills.

Strappers: self-reliant, survivor types. Usually familiar with old tech and life before The Burn. Starting skills: TECH: 1, WEAPON: 1.

Primitives: barbaric, superstitious people who only know of life before The Burn. Pre-Burn life and technology is usually mythologized. SURVIVAL: 1, TRACK: 1.

Junkers: Make their livings exploring the ruins in search of items to barter or repair and use themselves. LORE: 1, LIAISON: 1

Dirts: farmers and settlers attempting to scrape a life out of the poisoned, irradiated soil. SURVIVAL: 1, LORE: 1.

****

Skills (up to +6, including +1 specialization bonus)

Roll 2d6 and buy skill levels on a one to one basis. Choose a specialty for a +1 bonus when attempting a task involving that specialty. If you have bought the maximum level for a skill (5), you can buy additional specialties at a 2 for 1 ratio.

Tech (Specify: computers, combustible engines, etc.) INTELLIGENCE

Gadgets and geegaws from before The Burn. Careful, some of that stuff'll kill you.

Survival (Specify desert, forest, etc.) CONSTITUTION

Making a way in the harsh terrain of Post-Burn earth. Knowing what to eat and where to find clean water.

Track (Specify animals or people) INTELLIGENCE

Hunting those and them what don't want to be found. What you do when you find 'em is your business.

Medicine (Specify disease, combat trauma, etc.) INTELLIGENCE

Stitching folks together, warding off the sicks.

Lore (Specify topic: Life Before the Burn, barbarian religions, etc.) INTELLIGENCE

Tales around the campfire and what-not. Listen good. Some of them stories got good information all hidden up in them.

Weapon (Specify: pistol, crossbow, club, etc.) STRENGTH or AGILITY

I reckon you need to know something bout which end to point at people. Seems like there's been enough killin already though.

Liaison (Specify: public speaking, bartering, diplomacy, etc.) INTELLIGENCE

Talking smooth, fast or just plain out intimidatin' folks as the case may be.

Stealth (Specify: move silently, pick pockets, etc.) AGILITY

Sneakin around and picking up stuff what don't belong to you.

Driving (Specify: car, aircraft, horse, mule, etc.) AGILITY

Getting round from place to place on the back of machine or animal. Don't count on seeing too much of the former, though.

****

Fightin and Fornicatin': using them skills what you got.

Task resolution system:

Add the base attribute total to the Skill Total. This is your target number. Modify this number by anywhere between -3 to +3 depending on how difficult or easy the task you're trying to accomplish might be. If you don't got a skill what match the task, just use your attribute as your target number.

Roll three six sided dice. If'n the number you roll is equal to or less than your target number you succeed. If'n you roll higher than that number, you fail. If'n you roll a natural "3" you always succeed. If'n you roll a natural "18" you always fail.

Sometimes other folk'll be competin against you. Say, you might be trying to track 'em, and they might be trying to use their stealth to hide. Just let both folks roll like above. If both folks roll a success, let the one what rolled and succeeded by the highest margin succeed. Nother words, if'n you got a target number o' 10, and you roll a 5, you succeeded by a margin of 5 (10-5=5). Now, if the other feller had a target number o' 6, and rolled a natural 3, he's the loser cause he only succeeded by a margin o' 3. (6-3=3).

You can use this here system for bout nearly anything, from smoochin up ladyfolks to sellin rusty canteens.

Time and distance:

Most of the time y'all be operatin on "dramatic time," meanin the game moves along at bout the rate the gamemaster wants it to go. Durin fights and what not, things shift to rounds. Everybody can act one time each round. You can make one simple action and move. Simple actions can be such like: makin an attack, throwin something to a friend, etc. You can move 60 ft at a time.

Hurtin folks:

Combat works just the same. You roll against your weapon skill the same way. If'n you succeed, you done struck the bastard. Roll for damage, and then it's his turn to whack you a good one, lest he'd rather parry (in a melee combat, that is). In this case, you wait to roll for damage, and let him roll his weapon skill, and – again – if he succeeds with a higher margin of success than you did, he done blocked you, but he don't get a turn next round. If he don't succeed, you just roll them damage dice like you had planned anyways.

Some additional considerations:

Say you're in a gunfight and you got a tricky sumbitch what wants to dodge your bullets. You do just like above, cept he don't get a skill bonus. He just rolls his Agility skill.

Who goes first?

Hell, I don't know. Sometimes the circumstances dictate that. Other times, just let everybody roll a six sider and add their agility. Whoever got the highest number goes first.

How many times can I attack a round?

Just one time, ace, less you're usin a gun that can fire more times than that a round. In that case, every additional attack you make is at a -1 penalty, up to the maximum number of attacks a round. Usin' a full auto weapon lets you make a burst attack. Doin' this gives you a +1 to hit and increases your damage by double the amount given for the weapon's description.

Addin up the damage:

Roll 1d6 and add the damage indicated for the weapon you used. If'n your opponent is wearin armor, subtract that value from your total, and apply the rest to hit points.

If you run out of hit points, you're dead.

Sick, Poison, and other nastiness:

Say you run across some badlands what still got the radiation. You might catch some rads. Maybe you eat something poisonous, it might tear you up inside. Or maybe you just up and get sick.

No problem. All of them work the same. Just roll your Constitution attribute check the same way you done above, with the difficulty number modified by -1 to -3 depending on how deadly the situation is. If it's a poison or sick you're exposed to, success means you don't catch it or die from it. If it's radiation you're being exposed to, just check below:

Radiation:

Roll once upon initial exposure and then every day you're exposed.

   1. Low radiation (-1): Success = no illness. Failure means temporary loss of 1d6 hit points.
   2. Medium radiation (-2): success = temporary loss of 1d6 hit points. Failure means permanent loss of 1 point of Constitution.
   3. High radiation (-3): success = permanent loss of 1d6 hit points. Failure means permanent loss of 2 points of Constitution.

Fighting off radiation:

You might want to get you a rad suit, but they're hard to find. Wearin' a rad suit protects you from whatever level of radiation it's specified for, and automatically reduces the level of penalty from radiation above this amount to the next lower level.

Like so:

Say you're wearin a Medium level Rad suit. If'n you're exposed to medium or low level radiation, you're protected completely. If'n you get yourself exposed to High Level radiation, you ain't protected as good. You gotta roll your Constitution check, but the damage is downgraded to that indicated for MEDIUM level radiation.

Radiation pills can't protect you completely, but they're far more common than them fancy suits. Takin' one a day gives you a +1 modifier when rollin' against radiation.

Other hazards:

Example sick:

Black Rot:

Your skin turns all squishy and black. It comes off in pieces.

Difficulty: -2.

Succeed: You don't catch it.

Fail: you're sick for 1d6 days, and suffer -2 to Agility and Strength until fully healed.

Example poison:

Red dust.

It's a powder you could inhale. A gasmask will negate the effects.

Difficulty: -3.

Succeed: suffer 1d6 hit points of damage

Fail: suffer 2d6 hit points of damage.

Healin' up:

Folks heal up hit point damage at a rate equal to their Constitution score divided by 3 and rounded up each day of full rest they get. The minimum amount even the weakliest folks heal is equal to 1.

If'n you got a doctor or medic type, you can heal that amount plus 1d6 each day that person attends to you and successfully makes a Medicine roll.

Looters, Guns and Money:

Eagles are the coins of the realm. They're metal discs about the size of a modern quarter. They're accepted everywhere, just about. Thems what don't accept them usually prefer to barter. Your character will start out with 1d6 x 50 Eagles to outfit themselves. Here's some stuff you might want to buy.

Gear:

Gasmask $50 (protects against gas poisons, some biological agents, GM's discretion)

Radiation Suit, low. $300

Radiation suit, medium. $400,

Radiation suit, high. $500

Tinted goggles $20 (good for dust storms, look real cool)

Radiation Pills (3) $15

Canteen $20

Leather wineskin $5

Rope, 20 ft. $10

Canned food, one day $25

Dried meat, one day $5

Torch $5

Flashlight $30 (Comes with batteries, them last bout 24 hours, continual use. New batteries cost bout $10)

Crowbar: $10

Armor

Ballistic armor $500. Damage reduction: 4

Combat gear what before the burn. Hard to find. Composed of interlocking plates for chest, limbs, abdomen. Plus a helmet. Impossible to conceal.

Protek Vest $150 Damage reduction: 3

Fancy armor made before the burn. Hard to find. A thick vest. Can't conceal it for shit.

Ragtag leather: $50 Damage reduction: 2

Reinforced leather jacket, duster.

Skins: $20 Damage reduction: 1

Animal skins, thick cloth

Shield: $10 Damage reduction: 1 against melee attacks only.

Weapons:

Melee, cost, damage

Axe $20, dmg: +5

Club free, dmg +3

Spear $10, dmg +4

Knife $10, dmg +3

Sword $15, dmg+4

Ranged, cost, damage, shots a round

Bow $10, dmg: +4, 1

Crossbow $15, dmg +4, 1

Pre - burn Tech:

Cost, dmg, shots per round, capacity, notes

Pistol: $100. +5. 2. 15

Shotgun: $200. +6. 1. 7

Rifle: $300. +6. 2. 20.

Autorifle: $450. +6. 2. 20. Burst option: 5 bullets each burst.

Life in the big ol' world:

Boy, it's tough out there. Burnin wastes, radiation, killer plagues, scavengers, wild animals. Best get up with a few other folks and watch each other's backs as you can.

Critters and folks:

Damage note: Remember you roll that 1d6 and add the damage modifier to get total damage.

UrDog.

Feral, mean, wolf-like predators

They run in packs of 3d6.

Armor: 0. Attacks: 1/bite (9). Dmg: +4

Plague Rats.

Encountered in swarms of 100 or more.

Armor: 0. Attacks: 1/bite (5). Dmg: +2

Roll a Constitution check at -1 to avoid catching plague from them suckers. If you succeed, you're all right. If you fail, you'll be down for 1d6 days, and gotta roll an additional check each day. Every time you fail, you lose a point of constitution that won't come back for a full month of recovery.

Crazy.

Lunatics. Barely human anymore. They roam the wastes searchin out folks to kill and sometimes eat.

Sometimes alone, sometimes in packs. Your call.

Armor: usually Skins.

Weapons: Spears or swords, if you're lucky. Guns, if'n you aint.

Strength: 8 Constitution: 9 Agility: 9 Intelligence: 4

Hit Points: 9

Skills:

Weapon: 4 (13)

Track: 3 (7)

Stealth: 3 (12)

Survive: 5 (14)

Copyright: Matt Staggs, 2006.

Looks really interesting for such a succinct game.

RPGPundit

Thanks, Pundit.
It's an ongoing project - both an experiment in communicating the setting through the rules themselves - and as a howl of protest against what I've perceived as some of the artsy-fartsy stuff that's been so popular.

I want the rules to be "basic," easy to pick, and very simple to house-rule...'cause there just aren't that many rules to begin with.

I'm going to come up with some character progression rules, come up with a few more monsters and what-have-you and let 'er rip.

Looks pretty good as a minimalistic approach to the subject matter.  Is it safe to assume that Primitives only know of life after The Burn?

Absolutely. With this in mind, most of them are younger folks, depending on your campaign.

Good stuff. I'd play it! But then I love postapocalyptic stuff with a more or less realistic flavour to it...

Well, hell, come on over to the Play by Post page!

Here's a link to the ongoing game.
Come on by and drop in to play as you like. Write yourself in and out if necessary. Otherwise, you've just "wandered up".

Just posted in the PBP thread.  Hope others join in.

What, no one else wants to join in on a little PBP post-apocalyptic love...?

PBP fills me with cold dread.  I've never done it, and the prospect of starting just plain scares me.

Give me a day or two to stew it over and I might sign up.

Quote from: fonkaygarryPBP fills me with cold dread.  I've never done it, and the prospect of starting just plain scares me.

Give me a day or two to stew it over and I might sign up.[/QUOTE

If it makes you feel any better, I've never done it before either.