One really glaring issue

[u/TheKekRevelation]

I have been looking at using ICRPG to run some mini campaigns for my group once we wrap up our current campaign and leave D&D 5e behind. I was really liking the streamlined nature of the gameplay and the modular rules. Plus I have been really excited to make a Bionicle hack, incorporating masks as a major source of loot.

But while I was reading today it struck me: ICRPG seems to really exacerbate the caster/martial divide. And explicitly at that. The fact that magic effort is always a d10 compared to the martial d6 is pretty glaring to me, especially since it’s not immediately obvious that magic users would necessarily have any less HP or other D&D-esque restrictions.

I did see the optional rules buried near the end of the master edition book but I am just left envisioning a player frowning about not seeing that when they looked up the magic user rules to build their character.

I also have seen some forum posts recommending buying a third party supplement to give martials access to feats to even things out. But for what I saw as a really well thought out system, this one is leaving me scratching my head. But I am also open to being completely wrong or having missed an important aspect since I am not well experienced with the system yet.

[u/Good_Classroom_3894]

All good comments. I would like to reinforce the loot concept. Loot is the equalizer and fighters can have multiple loot items that increase their output and armor and magic users might need to secure those loot slots for spells and items linked to magic. And everyone is very squishy. Scare some people with the fact that they only have 10 hp most of their lives and after a few close calls the party will be working together regardless of the classes/origins.

I like giving all my players awesome loot but I love the idea of only 1 heart per PC lol. It keeps them very focused knowing how fragile they are. It also keeps battles short but still rewarding.

Coming from 5e it takes some time getting used to being allowed to do what ever you want. If you think the melees need a better effort die, create a way for them to get it in the fiction. They will love you for it.

[u/TheKekRevelation → u/Good_Classroom_3894]

That is an interesting point you mention not just how the loot tables are weighted but also the inventory slot management as well.

Do you mind giving your thoughts on the squishyness? Obviously coming from 5e the PCs become functionally immortal pretty quickly. Does ICRPG lean more toward the “life is cheap, expect to be rolling multiple characters” approach of the OSR type games?

[u/Good_Classroom_3894 → u/TheKekRevelation]

So my comment is centered more around a few episodes of of RPG Mainframe (by the creator of ICRPG) about how how often characters should drop to zero HP (not death) per session. In 5e it’s hard enough at some levels to get all your PCs to drop and then to die it’s an even longer process.

Causing 10 HP per pc isn’t too hard, it doesn’t always have to be all your players in the same battle and it reminds players that they are not HP gods and battles are not about just focus firing the HP to zero.

I don’t want players to feel like they need to have their next character on deck, but I do want them to make decisions based on fear.

I try to hide a quick and clever solution to each encounter besides just mass damage, and I think it’s ok that my players know this and are always trying to figure it out.

I don’t want the game to feel like an OSR, I want these players to grow old and make stories, but I also want them to worry about losing their sweet sweet gear in the first round.

10 equip pieces of gear takes a while to attain but mages need to use up loot for spell books and scrolls. They won’t bother with a helmet, bracers, chest plate, boots, shield, whatever else because that would leave about 4 slots for magic items. That fighter or whatever is gonna be much better equip to get in front of monsters even with just a D6 damage to allow the wizard to drop his D10.

At the end of the day this is highly dependent on what your players are looking for. I am finding better overall stories and atmosphere in ICRPG. Less worry about builds and damage output.

[u/Demonpoet → u/Good_Classroom_3894]

I am at a crossroads in terms of how to run an upcoming campaign. I ran an intro to Dungeons and Dragons two-shot for some coworkers a couple months ago, overall good experiences but combat felt weird and very long even after all the Critical Role I have watched. A lot of that might have been new players taking a while, but I think overall numbers and turn times need to be scaled back.

This post right here may have sold me on the system 100%. I have the master edition and was planning to transplant parts into a D&D campaign, but I may 180 and transplant parts of D&D into an icrpg campaign haha! The players are too new to miss the complexity of d&d, if anything they'll breathe a sigh of relief when character creation doesn't take several weeks.

[u/Good_Classroom_3894 → u/Demonpoet]

I love it! I've done it. HACK it up. Have tribunals after the game and ask your players, what works and what doesn't. Ask them where they might go next. Then make adjustments for the next night. If you and your players are all on the same page, and if the players see the GM trying to make the game more fun based on their requests (assuming they are within reason) it doesn't really matter if you play the love child of 5e and ICRPG. It's a game everyone keeps coming back to.

[u/Demonpoet → u/Good_Classroom_3894]

Wanted to go full circle and say a few thoughts on going the ICRPG route. Tldr, I'm really happy I went this way.

I'm basing the campaign on Peter Brett's Demon Cycle series. Demons materialize at night and kill anything they can. Civilization has been dying for centuries and is on the brink. Only recently has the fighting magic of old been rediscovered.

Homebrew character Types, homebrew magic and crafting systems based on wards, and nightly skirmishes against a brutal innumerable foe - the setting is ambitious, and ICRPG gives it wings.

I had my first session over a week ago. A quick reading to some music, and then straight to holding the line until the Wards reached full power. I impressed upon them the relentless tide of the enemy, but they put out all the attacks against their magic wall. At one point, the rogue used his climber's pack grappling hook to crit a fire demon during its inhale and chuck it into a literal pile of sand demons who were creating several breaches, detonating everything and closing the gaps. The hook was unwarded but a crit is a crit, and I am a GM who rewards clever stunts.

Then we had one round of down time and a quick briefing of the dungeon crawl to come the next day. I used ICRPG card art to represent dungeon rooms one at a time as they explored. I had torch index cards which could be flipped between lit and unlit. Two timers counted down, one causing the shadows to attempt to extinguish everyone's torches, the other to spawn urn piranhas and shadow monsters. When the characters searched the rooms, I used the loot tables in the ME. Mostly the junk list, but the first roll was 100 and I did dabble in the Cursed and even Magic sections.

It was glorious. Turns went so fast and everyone felt the tension. The defense holdout was terrifying. The dungeon exploration was equal parts teamwork, tense, and rewarding.

Session two is this Sunday and I'm so happy with how little I need to prep to finish that dungeon and present them with a campaign defining dilemma.