My significant other has an issue with TTRPGs. They often get all the way through character creation and backstory setup just to get bored and not want to play the actual game. I understand where their limit for attention span is and that it just happens to be roughly normal set up time. Is there a ttrpg that might initially overcome this issue such that I might be able to invite them into the wonders of the genre? Honestly I don't think the trimmings will matter just the TTRGP element.
That’s a tough one to answer for two reasons:
1. I could list any number of games with light or no character creation phases, but you haven’t mentioned what sorts of games you’ve already tried, so I don’t know what our starting point is. If your baseline is, say, Pathfinder, “tabletop RPGs with lighter character creation than Pathfinder” is practically all of them!
2. The bigger issue, however, is that you’ve gotta consider that it may not be an attention span issue. Most tabletop RPGs consist of collections of discrete minigames, of which character creation is frequently one of the most well-developed; it’s my experience that when people are keen on creating characters, only to “get bored” just as the time comes to actually play those characters, it’s often less that their attention span is coincidentally exactly as long as character creation takes in your game of choice, and more that the character creation minigame is the only part that interests them.
I’ll defer to your judgment on point #2, but it’s something that’s worth opening lines of communication on, because if it is the case that your SO is only into the character creation minigame, games with no character creation phase are the exact opposite of what’s going to interest them; you may be better served to look into games that dial the gamification of character creation all the way up, like Ars Magica or Traveller. Games of this sort employ narrative “lifepaths” whereby the process of character creation produces a character’s full life history, and often feature random and rules-mediated elements that call for collaboration between the player and the GM, making it a sort of one-on-one storytelling exercise. Indeed, in Traveller it’s even possible to die during character creation if you flub a few rolls badly enough!
All that said – and again, bearing in mind that I have no idea what sorts of games you’ve already tried, so some of these may not be any lighter on the character creation end than your current options – here are a few personal favourites that feature light or no character creation phases.
Dungeon World - If tactical fantasy dungeon crawls are your thing, Dungeon World is on the lighter end in terms of character creation; it uses a streamlined playbook-based approach where you basically just pick a class, tick off a couple of boxes, and you’re ready to go. It’s one of those new-school games where dice rolls are more about narrative agency than deciding whether you succeed at stuff, though; if you’d prefer a more traditional roll-the-dice-to-do-the-thing experience, Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures pairs a similar playbook-based approach with a simple lifepath system – though party creation is specifically a group activity in this one, so it’s not suitable for players who prefer to come up with characters on their own.
Fate Accelerated Edition - Fate is a funny little system in terms of character creation. The lighter variants can be very light indeed, while the heavier variants have some of the most baroque chargen options I’ve ever seen. (Hey, Mindjammer!) In spite of the name, Fate Accelerated Edition isn’t the absolute lightest iteration of the system I’ve encountered, but it’s pretty close, and includes the option to defer certain portions of character creation and retroactively fill them in during play. Note that the core book doesn’t include any baked-in setting, so if you need one for character inspiration you’ll also need to grab a setting book or three – just make sure to check the fine print and confirm that it supports FAE specifically. Personally, I really enjoy Eagle Eyes.
Risus - One of the earliest really successful games that can reasonably be described as rules-light, Risus breaks characters down to their bare essentials. Each character consists of 3--5 numerically ranked traits called “clichés”, each of which boils a whole facet of your character down to a single pithy phrase -- for example, “Kleptomaniac Dwarven Battle-Poet“ or “Romance-Obsessed Minotaur Accountant“. As you’ve no doubt gathered from those examples, it’s positioned as a comedy game, though I’ve occasionally seen it used for more serious games, to admittedly mixed success. If all that sounds a little too light, the Risus Companion offers some slightly (but only slightly) more complex chargen options.
I’m trying to keep things as broadly flexible as possible here, since I don’t have any guidance on what sort of content you’re looking for. Most games with very light character creation also tend to have extremely specific premises!
(Obligatory cost breakdown: of the linked games, Fate Accelerated Edition is pay-what-you-want, as are most of its supplements, and Risus is free, though the Risus Companion is not.)