From publisher blurb:
Spears & Spells is a streamlined tabletop roleplaying game designed to get you telling fantastic stories with your friends in no time. It's easy to play, easy to run, and suitable for any fantasy setting, from heroic to gritty. It's designed with the OSR (Old School Revival) in mind, evoking traits of the classic RPGs we grew up with.
Heroic Yet SimpleWe wanted a game that was fast, simple, and transparent. Spears & Spells is designed to help the characters be heroes without needing a half-dozen rulebooks containing hundreds of pages of confusing rules. The math is balanced to be slightly in the characters’ favor, though it’s still pretty easy for them to die if they’re not careful.
Every Die is a d6From initial stat generation to damage dice, nothing in Spears & Spells uses any die but a d6. Having a half dozen d6s handy is a good idea.
TasksTo determine outcomes players roll dice based on their character stats. These rolls are called Tasks. The Ref works together with the player to determine which stat governs the Task, though the Ref makes the final decision. You roll some six-sided dice, hoping the total is under that stat. If it is, you succeed!
Customized CharactersSpears & Spells is classless, and it uses levels. Characters choose Talents at creation and level-up. How you choose Talents lets you custom-tailor your character so they can do precisely what you want them to do.
Fail-ForwardSpears & Spells uses "fail-forward" techniques when a Task roll doesn't come up a success. Rather than failure stopping the game in its tracks, it complicates matters and makes the session more interesting!