I'm going to go through it section by section in a fair amount of detail, so let me give you the summary at the beginning to help you decide whether it's worth continuing. Mythweaver is a free, homegrown game available from www.tbpress.cjb.net that basically tries to emulate D&D using a simpler system. If D&D-style fantasy bores you to tears, then you probably won't have any interest in Mythweaver as written, though the system is flexible enough that it could probably be converted to a different genre quite easily. The rules are straightforward and elegant, except for a few odd quirks and a few missing pieces. There's no setting detail at all; even the races and monsters are just names and stats, although any D&D veteran should be able to fill in the details with little difficulty.

The System: Like Fighting Fantasy, Mythweaver is a 2d6 system. There are four different "dice options" presented: roll everything, roll only for actions against a static resistance value, roll only for PCs and use static values for NPCs, or switch from one method to another depending on the situation. The variety is nice, but I found it odd that the static values were calculated by adding modifiers to a base of 6. Since the average roll on 2d6 is a 7, you have a higher chance of success if you roll than if you use static values.

Classes in Mythweaver are Hunter, Mystic, Rogue and Warrior. Each gives you a number of points per level to spend on arms talents, skill talents and magic talents (explained momentarily), as well as multipliers for health (hit points) and magic resistance. Each class also has a special ability, which increases in efficacy every 3 levels: hunters gain a favored enemy bonus, rogues can backstab, mystics can scribe scrolls, and warriors have an improved critical strike range. Multiclassing works similarly to the d20 system, though you're limited to two classes; when you take a level in a new class, you gain talent points, health and magic resistance per that class.

Races are "chosen human", dwarf, gnome, goblyn, fay and troll. Each race gets attribute bonuses adding up to a total of 6; humans can put their bonus points wherever they want. Each non-human race gets a +1 bonus to a particular skill or arms talent, and night vision. Humans get an additional character point (explained momentarily) per level, which I suspect will tip the balance towards humans at higher levels. Unfortunately, beyond the basic stats, each race only gets a single-line description; I have no idea whether fay are supposed to be human-sized or pixie-sized.

Traits are equal to 1d6 plus racial modifiers. There are five of them: Dexterity, Might, Persona ("strength of personality, perception, and intuition"), Reason and Stamina. Your trait level is your maximum level for skill and arms talents related to that trait. The traits are also halved to give a "trait modifier" which adds to derived stats, damage rolls, and trait rolls (e.g. Might to break down a door).

Talents come in three types: arms talents, skill talents, and magic talents (which only mystics get). Arms talents determine your proficiency with various weapon groups, and with armor. Skills are fairly broad: there are 16 in all, most of which are equivalent to two or three skills in the d20 system. Balancing this is the fact that you only get a few points per level, and the cost of talents increases with rank.

Character points are used to raise your trait scores and to purchase gifts. Gifts are basically advantages, except that they have a rank just like talents. Some gifts increase your derived stats, the speed of your attacks or spellcasting, your damage rolls, or the range of your missile attacks, while others give you special perks such as berzerker rage, followers, inspiration (think bardic music), or two-weapon fighting.

Equipment is next, starting with armor and weapons. Each category follows a simple progression: more expensive armor and weapons do more damage (or give more protection) and require a higher level in the appropriate arms talent to use them. There's no apparent drawback to wearing heavier armor beyond the price. I thought the same was true of weapons at first, which I didn't care for, but on reading the combat rules I realized that the weapon speed is equal to its damage bonus. So with a lighter weapon you have a better chance of getting multiple attacks in a round, which is a nice trade-off.

On the other hand, at any given level, blunt weapons are cheaper than blades, and thrusting weapons are cheaper still. For example, a long sword costs 10 gp, while a mace costs 4 gp and a short spear 3 gp, yet all three have the same damage bonus. Now, a spear requires two hands, but I can't see any reason why you'd choose a sword over a mace other than style preferences.

Incidentally, the cost escalates pretty rapidly, so starting characters are going to be very limited in their choices. Starting gold is 2d6+8 gp, and chain mail costs 100 gp. So unless you have an extremely generous GM, don't expect to be playing a knight in shining armor right out of the gate. Peasant militia is more likely.

The rest of the gear is bog-standard dungeoneering equipment (no 10-foot poles, thankfully, though iron spikes are included). There's no price listed for horses or other mounts.

Derived characteristics are listed after equipment, when quite frankly they should have come after gifts. They include avoid (i.e. defense), endurance (resistance to poison, disease, etc.), health, initiative, magic resistance and willpower (resistance to controlling magic). Magic resistance reduces the effects of damaging magic, while endurance or willpower is used to resist all-or-nothing effects. I had to read through the spell descriptions to figure this out, however, since there's no clear explanation anywhere else of how magic resistance is used.

Demeanor is Mythweaver's attempt at an alignment system, combining two components. Ethos is your allegiance to Light, Darkness, Balance, Order, Chaos or Instinct (the last being only for animals). Outlook describes how zealously you pursue your chosen ethos; there are six choices, but three of them (passive, neutral and hostile) are exclusive to creatures of instinct. This might seem more flexible than D&D alignment since there are more possible combinations, but it's limited by the fact that you can't combine ethoses (i.e. there's no such thing as "lawful good"; you're either one or the other). Also, the difference between the Servant and Watcher outlooks is poorly-defined. I think whether you'll find this system better or worse than D&D alignments is a matter of taste.

Character advancement is by level, and the experience chart is pretty similar to the d20 system; the cost to gain a level increases arithmetically, and you max out at level 20. Gaining a level raises your health and magic resistance and gives you more talent points and character points to spend.

Magic comes in several flavors: Arcane, Black, Elemental, Light and Mind Magic. These aren't mutually exclusive; you can learn more than one, though magic opposed to your ethos is off-limits. Magic talent points are used to purchase access to these different types of magical energy. Your rank in an energy type determines the highest level of spells you can cast, while your proficiency at actually casting spells is determined by your level in the corresponding skill talent (one for each type of magic). Magic effects are divided into spells and disciplines, which are described as follows:

Disciplines are magical effects that the caster may amplify based upon his or her proficiency in the spell category. Most attack, healing and resistant magic effects are disciplines. Spells are specific magic effects that have a particular use or application. Spells do not get more powerful as the caster gets more powerful, although their duration may improve.

However, this is a bit misleading since caster level can affect the range or area of effect of a spell, not just its duration, and some spells do damage based on your rank in the casting skill. A more accurate description is that disciplines can be cast at different power levels depending on how many magic points (MP) you put into them (like spells in Shadowrun), whereas spells have a fixed power level; the effects may increase with caster level or skill, but you can't "pump them up" by spending more MP. The level of a spell or discipline also determines the casting difficulty and the casting time.

The default casting time is one turn (minute) per level, but you gain a number of "prepared" spells and disciplines according to your mystic level, which can be cast in the space of a combat round. I think this is a brilliant idea; it allows you to have a customized selection of combat-ready spells without sacrificing the ability to cast other spells as the situation calls for it. Unfortunately, it doesn't say whether you can change your prepared spells, nor whether you can cast a prepared spell repeatedly without having to prepare it each time. Since there are no rules for preparing spells, I'm guessing the answers are "no" and "yes" respectively, but it should've been spelled out. There are also no rules for learning spells beyond the statement that "Spells must be recorded in spellbooks, and must be purchased or found on scrolls," and it's not exactly clear how MP are calculated. They appear to be equal to your magic talent points, but it's never spelled out.

The spell lists will be very familiar to anyone who's ever played D&D. I only skimmed them, so I can't guarantee that I detected any glaring problems that might exist.

Combat is pretty straightforward. Your attack roll (using the appropriate arms talent) is opposed by the defender's avoid roll (or static avoid value); armor subtracts from damage. There are no rules for unarmed combat. A double-6 is a critical strike, which doubles damage (warriors have a better critical strike range, while rogues have a higher critical multiplier on surprise attacks). A double-1 is a fumble, which amounts to losing an action. Time is divided into turns (1 minute), rounds (3 seconds) and segments (1/10 second); non-combat actions have a base time of 1 turn. Distance is measured in 10-foot increments, inexplicably called "areas".

The Gamemaster is next, with half a page of generic GM tips, followed by rules for specific situations (falling, poison, picking locks, etc.). There's a table listing the cost of hirelings, scrolls and potions by level, a half-dozen examples (each) of traps and curses, and a table for calculating "relative level" (encounter level in d20 parlance) of multiple opponents. It also works for PCs (the bigger the party, the higher their RL), but it doesn't account for mixed monster groups. Experience awards are explained next; the RL of the encounter compared to the RL of the party gives the XP award per character. In other words, it's just like the d20 system, only easier.

Treasure takes up a single page. One-third of the page explains how to determine treasure for an encounter and gives a table for generating monetary treasure values. One-third of the page defines the categories of special treasures, and the final third gives an assortment of sample treasures.

Beasts occupy four pages. Two pages are spent defining the different types of beasts, describing how special abilities work, and explaining the headings on the "Massive Monster Matrix", which fills up the next two pages. As I mentioned before, there's no description of any of the beasts, though in most cases this doesn't matter. Each creature has a effective class that's used to determine talents, health and magic resistance. Each creature also has a range of possible power level, which means that they're not ready-to-use. At the very least, you have to pick a level and calculate its traits, health, magic resistance and attack bonus. If you want it to have non-combat skills, you have to build it like a character; there are no guidelines for what skills a creature is likely to have.

The final page is a character sheet.

Style: The writing is generally clear, engaging, and mostly free of typos, though there are several places where words got squished together. The illustrations consist of a few simple, cartoonish line drawings, but they're not unattractive. The layout is clean and functional. What drags the score down, however, is the fact that the rules repeatedly use terminology before it's been explained. For example, the abbreviation "CD" is used no less than 15 times in 7 separate locations before it's finally explained on page 15. This alone drags the style rating down at least half a point. If this were a professional job, I'd round it down to a 2, but because it's a free, amateur production, I've rounded it up instead.

Substance: The lack of setting detail may not matter to some people, given the nature of the product; the absence of important details in some aspects of the rules is less excusable. However, the rules that are there are mostly solid. For quantity, I'd give it a rating of 2; for quality, I think it merits a high 3. Since it's a free product, there's no question that you get your money's worth, so I think it's reasonable to weight quality more heavily. I'd like to give it a 4, but I can't quite justify it. However, if functionality is more important to you than originality, then Mythweaver is definitely worth a look.