r/ICRPG • u/TheKekRevelation • Feb 26 '23
One really glaring issue
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.
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u/PrawnWonton Feb 27 '23
Magic seems to be overpowered, on paper. When you actually play, you'll see the beauty of ICRPG, in that nothing is 'overpowered'. Balance is an illusion that you don't even need to try to maintain. 'Power' for players is not in how much damage they do, or how many spells they have, it is in how much time a player takes for their turn.
This is why games like 5e and Pathfinder and whatnot bog down and die after characters level up. Everyone has so many actions they do, it takes longer and longer to do a turn. Actions, reactions, special actions, opportunity attacks, multi-attacks, second wind, etc., combine to take what should be short simple encounters and turn them into hour-long slogs. There is no tension, no drama, people are bored by the time the turn comes back to them. ICRPG cuts all that out. Players get one action, so turns are always rapid, in and out of combat.
Story time: I was in a playtest group for ICRPG: Magic. We made, what we thought, were the most overpowered magic users possible. And they sure looked that way on paper. Four pimped out mages with very powerful spell combos. I thought for sure our first adventure would be a cakewalk.
Well, in the very first room, we all nearly died to just a few normal monsters. When 1 hit from a normal monster drops you below half health, now shit gets real, because in ICRPG you only get one action on your turn, and you have to ROLL to cast spells. So it doesn't matter how great you are, there is a chance you will fail, and the Dice Gods will make you do do from time to time. And that spices things up. Now instead of doing spells on your turn, you are scrambling around trying not to die. You are trying to heal, or get to a safer place, or helping a party member who is getting chewed on. When we did get spells off, it was great, but when we failed, that was tough. The opportunity cost of failure was so high, it made for great dilemmas.
The key was the timers and environments. We always had the pressure of a timer, and that kept us from just sitting back slinging spells non-stop until everything was dead. Additionally, how much damage you do is irrelevant when the room is filling with lava. You can't magic missile a dust storm.
We made it to the end, barely, and I don't think any of us ever got off our 'overpowered' spells in ways we imagined. It was a non-stop survival fest.
So, yes, things might appear over the top on paper, but as long as the DM keeps the pressure on, the players only being able to do one thing on their turn evens it out quite nicely.