Silly idea: A LEGO-themed TTRPG

[Karalora]

(That's "tabletop roleplaying game," for those who don't know.)

So this is an idea that popped into my head the other day. I'd already heard about people using minifigures as gaming miniatures, because of how easy they are to acquire and customize with the parts you need to illustrate your character--if you don't mind your character being a plastic trapezoid, that is!--and I thought, why not cut out the middleman and make a game where you play as a minifigure in a LEGO world? I haven't developed it much (yet), but here are a few salient points:

• Your character has only three base stats--Head (mental faculties), Torso (physical prowess), and Legs (movement.) There are numerous ways to modify these stats, including skills, bonuses from equipment, etc.
• Most minifigures will also add some sort of Headgear, which can take two forms. A Hat imparts a bonus to one of your skills depending on the job or role it represents--a construction hardhat boosts your Building skill (very important!), a knight's helmet improves your melee fighting, etc. Alternately, you might have a Hairstyle, which provides boosts in certain social situations--a mohawk helps you fit in with the punk community, a crisp business 'do impresses business-y folk, etc. You can change your Headgear freely as you acquire pieces representing different Hats and Hairstyles.
• Another important character trait is your Theme, which determines the skills and equipment you can start with (though others can be acquired through play in different "sets"). Sample themes include City, Space, Castle, Pirates, and Ninjago, though these are far from the only possibilities. You can even be from a licensed theme, technically...but there's no particular advantage vs. being from the closest equivalent non-IP theme.
• The gameplay loop revolves around exploring "sets," fighting brick-built monsters that show up, and scavenging for useful Parts so you can build things to empower your character. This isn't too nitty-gritty--pieces for items are considered either Basic Parts or Specialty Parts, and each item costs a certain number of both. You can also obtain Personal Parts, which include Hats and Hairstyles and other items a minifigure "wears" such as capes and swim fins. And finally, there are Accessories: handheld items that can be used as-is, no assembly required.
• In order to build a particular item, besides having enough Parts in your inventory, you either need to succeed on a roll with your Building skill (to understand how to put them together), or have Model Instructions for the thing you want to make. Model Instructions are rare treasure, much like scrolls of magic, and each can only be used once (though successfully building anything, via a Building roll or Model Instructions, gives you a bonus to building the same thing in the future). Commonly built items include vehicles and fancy weapons, but even something like a creature can be put together and brought to life. And of course, anything built can be disassembled after use, and the parts returned to your inventory.

That's about all I have for now, but I had to share it here!

[Mylenium]

It's probably a bit more complicated than that. I'm not into that scene, but from a few encounters in the digital gaming world and YouTube occasionally sending some gaming videos my way it seems the real trick to a good game is all about balance. You have to make it challenging enough, yet not too difficult to cause extreme frustration to keep players engaged, there are different skill levels to begin with and so on. And your "not too nitty-gritty" could fall apart even at the basics. Is a red torso worth more than a blue one? Is a red torso with yellow legs less than one with black legs? Out of the thousands of weapons and headgear accessories which ones have which powers/ magic? This could quickly escalate exponentially. I'm not saying it wouldn't be possible, but considering how long  D & D or Warhammer took to evolve this could be a life's work of writing rule books. Again, just saying this as a mostly ignorant outsider and maybe I'm already overthinking this. It just strikes me as a massive task to establish a universal system outside of what you can agree on in a circle of like-minded friends, which of course would have to be one of the criteria. Everything would need to be universally applicable so scenarios can be replicated and the outcomes make sense in the established world/ lore.

Mylenium

[Karalora]

If you're not into "that scene," you're probably unaware that TTRPGs come in all different complexity scales. This would not be a DnD or Warhammer-sized venture--it would be simple, whimsical, and--appropriately for LEGO--customizable. I wouldn't have to lay out individual stats for every single possible molded piece--just 20 or so examples of each category, along with guidelines for adding others to your game.

I don't figure many people would sit down to play plastic trapezoid adventures and expect the ruleset to be tight and perfectly balanced.