Index Card RPG: Better D&D Than D&D (Ep.
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- čas přidán 6. 12. 2021
- Professor Dungeonmaster reviews Index Card RPG from Runerhammer/Modiphius Entertainment. Is it BETTER than 5E? Yep. Watch to see why.
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this dood gets it ! :D That said, the barbarian will never NOT fall off the bridge
"This dude gets it!"
I said this out loud reading the second edition rulebook for the first time! Love it!!!
Strength, honor, and beer!
Great book, you rock! Fingers crossed for more content from ya, would love to see a thick tome of monsters and vehicles for each of the settings to help me run more of it.
Art teacher here. New to everything that comes to DnD and 41 years young. I like the aspects of RPGs and want to get my little boys into it. I teach elementary art, and I have three sons of 1, 5 and 7 years old. This looks like a great way of introducing kids to these type of imaginative games. I'm also trying to create terrain for their action figures. Thank you for the introduction.
I play with littles as well. I do all the math for them, and we play with lego men, toys, blocks, etc...I also jump right into playing, no dinking around with character sheets and such. Just let them tell you what they have in their hands, what are they wearing, and give them something cool in their backback. Sword, helmet, and jar of spiders? Fire wand, purple hat, and magic candle? That's enough to go bash some skeletons, for sure. :-)
Just build with cardboard at first, it's enough.
@@hadeseye2297 basic fantasy and blue Holme? I’ll look those up. Thank you!
I had been watching Runehammer for a long time (at least 5 years), since his early crafting videos as "Drunkens & Dragons" and really loved his content. For him it's all about the fun, which means streamlining.
He inspired me to make my first chunky stone block terrain and I use his d4 timer concept to this day.
Same here man
Also same! He’s influenced a lot of gamers for the better. Love the no compromise style of ALWAYS prioritizing fun and ease, that’s what it’s all about!
Yep! In fact, I've discovered this very channel through Hank!
Everyone plays for fun. A lot of people have fun with less streamlined rules. The fun is in the drama that only crunch can provide.
@wichhouse yeah, I like a little calculus and resource management in my games too. In general I like realism so that often necessitates some detailed processes.
Basically, crunch is good, but there's still a lot of places where you can make a concious decision to have simple mechanics to facilitate a feeling of urgency, danger, and speed (like rolling a d4 to see how many rounds before reinforcements arrive or having a set room DC based on how hard you want the encounter to be)
As a system Index Card rpg is a most innovative OSR game. It has a lot of the trappings of D&D but does it in a very seemless way. Very cool game.
It's funny to hear your call it OSR when the creator hates that term, haha
What I love most is how creative you can be with the system. I ask my kids what spell do you want and they'll describe a spell and then I find a way to fit it into a d10. Fireball d10 damage, heal d10 hit points, light d10 rounds, summon creature d10 rounds. Same with weapons. It's all a d6. I can let their imagination run wild and it doesn't break the game.
I did something very similar when our kids were little (~10yo). I gave them just 3 stats - Life/Heal, Think, Fight/Defend. I also told them that their chars lived in that world so may know things & have abilities they the players didn’t (so if my kids didn’t know what to do, I could give them hints &/or by rolling on one of their stats). We played for maybe a year, w a grizzled old dwarven guard as their guide & protector (who they very frequently ditched so they could explore on their own), magical beings they wanted to meet, weapons & potions available. They each would give me some ideas for adventures (the same way I used to tell them stories too) - think session zero - and then we’d weave them in together.
So they saved a mermaid from an evil warlord & his kobolds, and saved a unicorn from hungry orcs & a warg, and helped a young lost giant w a broken leg get healed and get home.
Now almost 30yo, they want to figure out how we can play again, even if just once a year around the holidays.
This, this is the spirit of the game right here.
I love how you have the balls to make the title of your video a statement and not s question for click bait. Having an opinion and arguments that back it is what a review is really about. It speaks of your integrity and the love for he hobby!
Sergio, I completely agree. However, you are up against it, most people only want to have their opinions validated. I dropped a content creator b/c he deleted several of my comments that were critical of his opinion (I was not being a troll, I just had a different perspective, and I was respectful.)
@@mrgunn2726 I agree, it's just that I'm tired of CZcams reviews that conclude "both are great, it depends on your preference, I recommend both, etc"
PDM seems good about that kind of thing. I can't think of any content creator that I like/follow/subscribe to that I don't disagree with sometimes. I hope that we are getting back to the idea that two people who like and respect each other can disagree sometimes and that's totally OK. If you think about things and come to a conclusion, come out and say it! More useful to me than conciliatory hedging.
@@aaronsomerville2124 ha yes the good old days .. when you could still be friends with folks you wernt in lockstep political alignment with .. what has happened to us? hopefully its just a trump era phase and sanity and reasonableness will return .. in fact I feel its inevitable
@@markhill3858 Glad someone is hopeful, we'll see.
I ran it for a year, my players liked it. A good note might be you don't need to use the cards if you don't want to. They can be helpful, but I never used them .
Yep, Runehammers work is amazing. To me, this is how DnD should be like. Fast, easy, focused on fun and story, not mechanics and rules.
But mechanics and rules!
:(
@@Nubbletech Everybody may play what pleases him or her most. (= I'm not into rule heavy games but I can understand why people like it.
I personally love extensive mechanics for character customization and such, but I definitely feel like if you limit it as much as 5e has, you really might as well go with this or Dungeon World.
D&D is baby mode when it comes to mechanics and rules. I have hard time imagining how a game can be playable and be simpler, might as well not waste money on a rules and just make stuff up on the fly.
@@TheRyujinLP I recommend checking out Runehammer or Professor DM's video on Dungeon World. They explain that kind of simplistic game really well.
I got cards with my KS of the dark eye 5e. They became my most used rpg tool. Monsters? Cards. Spells/abilities? Cards character sheet? Cards. The entire hobby fits in a 3 inch section of my glove box
It was fascinating to see how somebody else would pitch ICRPG. The index cards seem very secondary to me, and it's interesting that you pointed them out first thing. In actual use, the idea is the just sketch some stick figures on paper and run with it - no need for Official Deck™. I've never done it, as even that is too much Effort for me - haha. _(Theater of the mind 4 lyf!)_ For me, the major highlights of ICRPG, which set it apart:
-It's not a system you have to run. It is foremost a tome of brilliant tools to add to your belt, and the other stuff is a nice bonus.
-The monsters are fine, but the genius part is How to make your own, just like the rest of the book! How to make your own encounters, etc.
-I can't believe you didn't mention Charisma Effort. Effort can be any stat, which is the cool part.
Yeah--I wish I could have mentioned effort more, but the algorithm would punish the video. As for the cards, yeah, I knew everyone else would review the game first, but I started with them because to me, they way they are used is very innovative.
@@hadeseye2297 The CZcams algorithm pushes videos that retain viewer interest. Most viewed stop watching my video at the 7:15 mark. That’s why my videos rarely go over 12 minutes. If viewers stop watching after 7 minutes of a 16 minute video, the algorithm thinks people don’t like it & won’t send it out to as many people. That means I have to edit videos so they are as short as possible .
Definitely better than DND imo. It distills the feel of playing DND while cutting through a lot of the chaff of later systems by using some easy and unique dice mechanics. It's also been play tested to death, so the core system feels sturdy and purposefully designed once you understand it.
This is the stuff that got me back to the gaming table, after years of playing boring, tensionless games.
I know, right? When people say they don't like this game, their comments always focus on mechanics, never on the GM section. Interesting.
So many great ideas in this system. One of the best is the idea of effort to do a task, rather than just a pass/fail roll. The other is everything is turns, you just change the timeframe of the turns based on what is going on at the moment. Abstract distances close/near/far. Single difficulty for a room, with easy/hard modifiers. Timers. The art is great too, and I have come to the conclusion that I prefer Hankerin's B&W drawings to the hyper-realistic art in D&D books. The GM's guide section is fantastic.
But, I also think there are a few things that could be improved upon. I have the first three "2nd Edition" ICRPG books (Core, Magic, Worlds) as well as the newer Master Edition. It's expected that content would be cut-and-pasted from the previous editions into the Master Edition, but the editing left some gaping holes. For example, certain races and character classes have been dropped between 2E and Master Edition. However, some of the tables still reference them. If you are a player who picked up ICRPG beginning at the Master Edition, this is very confusing. Also, between the Core rules, Magic expansion book, and now the Master Edition, there are three different magic systems that have been used in the game. I assume the ME magic rules supercede the "Magic" book rules, but not much effort was made to try to reconcile the two for players who may have an existing character created using the older rules. The system is simple and elegant enough that this isn't that big of a challenge to work around, but little gaps like these are what keeps the system as a whole from feeling as polished and complete as it could.
I agree with most of your points. You do have to remember that Hankerin really encourages dms and players to create things on their own. My example, I love the "Hill Folk" from early editions. +2 str and +2 basic effort! Just make stuff up when it is missing. I do wonder about the magic rules though...
I'm glad I got Core, Magic and Worlds now. I believe they were delivered on the *day they announced the Master edition. Like, I had literally just brought in the mail and got a notification on CZcams about Hankerin's announcement. I was like "well, shit"
@@scotchtowerbibletractsocie8083 Me too, I got them a bit before ME came out, and there is lots of good stuff in all of them. Personally, I slightly prefer the 2E over ME. But the system is open enough to easily cherry-pick what you like and leave out what you don't. That said, "Magic" is my least favorite. Can't say why exactly, it just doesn't resonate with me.
There are many, many games better than D&D (5e) and this is definitely one of them. You both do amazing work for the ttrpg community!
ICRPG is awesome and worth “Every Damn Cent” if only for reward “Runehammer” for his awesome concepts and an AWESOME collection of house-rules (I mean c’mon!!! Keeping track of how many times you roll Nat20??? That’s just genius!)
Feels like the halfway house between theatre of the mind and an across the board minis + grid approach to TTRPG.
Especially useful if you have embraced or run a game that uses a zone system.
You put me onto ICRPG a while back... great stuff. I still prefer OD&D (I'm talking 3 LBBs here) but ICRPG is so much better than 5E it's not even funny... no wait, it is pretty funny.
I call it Bubble Up. Because every time there is something tasty in the kitchen it comes from knowledge. The magic happens after the simmer when all the bubbles rise and dissipate. This reduction is exactly what Hank does with D&D. Overland, Town, Dungeon. You want some Reggiano with that? So easy to do because the entire world is already internalized. Sprinkle in some sensory perception like Thunder (sound) ,Musty (smell), Misty (Sight), Sticky (feel), or try a potion (looks like gold flecks in a red solution). One bubbles up thru the experience of playing D&D to the point where YOU can run D&D. Thank you Ingrid, Hank, Feranail. The cauldron of D&D is still roiling because of creators like you. I can smell a new breed of D&Ders concocting content as it Bubbles Up.
There's a whole bunch of dungeon crawler videogames that use decks, it's quite odd how there's more of those than physical media.
Cards can be used as modular building blocks, as actions, items, creatures, characters... all is in-hand, and with a proper management of draw, hand and discard piles you can add more strategy to builds and some healthy randomness to what players can do in a turn with the hands they're dealt.
This sytem isn't truly like it, but it does use cards to some measure and with effect. Everything else sounds really solid, easy to manage and providing good guidance to build on.
*Best D&D
I do find that there are times when I enjoy a simple version of a game, and this kind of fits that, there are really times when a lot of my playgroup likes the part of the game where they have to figure out every detail, and thus the problem of "if I could just move one more square" comes in. That added complexity is something they would miss. I do see times where games like Fate are fun though and I kind of put this in the same category. I just find that my play group says they want "simple" but then when they get in to the system they want a lot of depth and thus complexity.
There's a lot more depth than Fate. I like details, but broad ones.
Sounds interesting
Would be good for camping when you don’t want to lug books around
I have two daughters 5 and 7. This is perfect for them to understand and I could also use this for my older group as well! It seems like it keeps the game moving at a decent pace while containing the pieces for a strong rpg narrative.
Thank you for the great content as usual Professor, really love the straight forward simplicity of your game style, I always fall into the complexity trap and need to just keep it 'dumb' and have a great time.
Even if you never run ICRPG, it is worth it for the GM section alone. It is sublime.
But do yourself a favor and run some ICRPG games, they are a blast. Perfect for one-shots and new players, as you can go from zero to play in no time. Good way to introduce curmudeonly-minded 5e groups to try a different system if you do a fun one-shot with it.
Yeeeeeeah ICRPG rocks! Hank's a talented guy and I also use his idea of the 3 T's and relative distances. Streamlined > crunchiness
This may be exactly what I needed. I'm gonna ignore the sytem however, and just use D&D5E rules for familiarity, just using the cards for the map.
So jealous you already have the book! I am waiting for mine to deliver!
Thank you for the review Professor!
Loved the system since it’s inception.
Always love your content. Particularly interested in this video as I'm in the process of designing a card game RPG. This looks like quite the guidepost for that process!
I think I first learned about ICRPG and Runehammer on your channel, Professor, and even though my own campaigns aren't coming straight out of the book, his ideas certainly are woven throughout, and his approach and aesthetic are pure inspiration. Thanks (to both of you) for doing "whatever it is you do"! ;)
These cards really helped set the scene in Frankenstein game at PAX! It was awesome playing with you!
Awesome review! I am a patron, so I got the ICRPG review a few days early including the 15 minutes of extra PDM content. Become a patron to get access to all the PDM extras. I got my ICRPG Collectors copy a few days ago, the quality is very high, the rules have tons of things you can use in your 5e games, really any RPG. ICRPG is great, a must have for all GMs book shelves.
Thanks for your patronage!
I've 3:45 into the video, and I like what I'm seeing, at lest in principle: as much fun as the terrain could be over the last couple decades since the HeroQuest board game and Warhammer war game, I feel like D&D as a game and as a hobby ran off the rails somewhere along the lines into gigantic heaps of miniatures, terrain bits, maps, tiles, buildings, and so on - it's gotten heavy, expensive, and fiddly, and I began to realize over the years that I was really missing the old theater-of-the-mind game of exploration, imagination, and improv that I grew up with in the '80s and early '90s.
The card deck seems like a fun, light, low-budget, streamlined compromise between pure theater-of-the-mind gaming, and the unwieldy tactical miniatures hoarding simulator the modern game can sometimes turn into.
If the RPG book can do the same thing for the mountain of fiddly rules and endless rulebooks, too, then I might be sold on this. EDIT: Yes, it looks like they are trying to hit that sweet spot between absolute minimalist rules, and more rules than necessary to entertain your friends and family for an afternoon of back-to-basics old-school gaming. I like the allowances for different genres, without tying to be too many things at once!
That's exactly it. My wife jokes that D&D terrain building is just fantasy doll houses and you need a dedicated closet or even a full room to store it all. I've built UDT and used flat drawings and cabochon miniatures. Everything I need fits in a regular board game box. Games like risk take up more space in my closet. I'll be adding the cards to my set up. They will fit into my system perfectly.
Great perspective Pietr. You don't even need the deck, the author, Hankerin, just recommends a pile of index cards and you write on them, you can even do your own art, get it from the internet, paste it to an index card, boom, done! The ICRPG terrain approach is really cheap, he even has paper tokens for monsters etc. As to going off the rails, I used a grid wet erase mat and minis even in the 80's, so I don't think that changed all that much. I think it went it went off the rails when D&D could not decided it wanted to go back to being a tactical minis combat game, rather than a theater of the mind game. I agree with PDM too much terrain stifles creativity, but a little bit helps the players better visualize play.
I love this response. If I could write it again, I would say THIS.
i love this channel so much, youve inspired me to design my own ttrpg and embrace the amazing side of game mastering
Can you please update the product links to include the American Modiphius store? You have linked the UK store.
The US store uses domestic shipping. (Also, better rates to Canada) *It makes a pretty huge difference.*
Will do!
This is bloody brilliant. I have been trying to simplify the rules of d&d for my kids but this seems to be perfect.
Dose the deck come with the book or are they separate?
Thank you so much
I always enjoy your videos, because they always make me go "hmmm". Even if you don't play with the full rulebook, I think there's a lot to unpack to it, and it does some really great things to benefit a dungeon master as a whole.
Fantastic system.
I have ICRPG CORE 2E as a HC book and I quite like it. It is well written. A rulebook worth having for any DM, GM,
Referee et cetera. The newest edition of Index Card RPG from Runerhammer/Modiphius Entertainment looks fantastic.
Yep, ICRPG rocks! Great assessment!
Was getting together a new group for D&D 5e, but I’m now thinking that with them all being new to TTRPG’s, Index Card RPG would be the better option. Easier to learn, easier to run.
I like how easily terrain can also work with this honestly. Especially if it has multiple layers.
My essential books shelf would have Knave, Mazerats, ICRPG, and OSE. I might find room for Into the Odd, Warhammer, and 5 Torches Deep.
EDIT: Oh, and Sly Flourish's Return of the Lazy DM, and a big stack of index cards. :-)
And cairn! It’s a small booklet that’s less than $4!
I am patiently waiting for my ICRPG Master Edition book AND Viking Death Squad book from Runehammer to arrive at my FLGS. Excellent review! More people need to play this game or at least use ideas from it!
Great review and great video as always. Do you intend to be using these rules in your home game?
Your reviews are always thorough and engaging, [meaning, that I want to play a game just watching your enthusiasm]. You are a great advertiser even if that isn't your point. Sometimes, [probably all the time], simpler is better, especially with complex games. Thanks for another great video. Toodles!
Thanks. I only review games I like. Not that bad reviews are not necessary. They're just not my style.
I think this system will be fantastic for anyone starting out in RPGs! As for myself I've been playing D&D too long to change. But I'm definitely interested in implementing that card deck!
Yep! It really is fantastic. I have purchased and studied every edition and I feel it really hit the sweet spot for me when the magic and character progression changes were put in. Can't wait for my book to arrive! The only house rule I add is to give SOME monsters a defense stat. I do enjoy the clarity of a single room target number, but to me it HAS to be harder to hit some monsters than others.
Hey PDM, how similar is Index Card RPG vs. Old-School Essentials?
I've heard your tout both on your channel and i'm looking for something a little faster than 5e.
OSE is old, classic, slow. The game is deadly at early levels, and player character also feel weak and incompetent. However with great risk come great rewards and once you get over to higher levels, players feel great sense of accomplishment. + there is metric ton of pre written content
ICRPG is more streamlined and consistent. Although I love Moldvay D&D, I like CRPG more.
Well damn. I run games every week and have some long-running campaign worlds (3 years for a post-apocalyptic campaign and two years now for a cyberpunk style game). As I've gotten older I've steered away from complicated RPGs to easier, streamlined indie-style games from some independent publishers and have really enjoyed them. I haven't purchased an RPG in years, but I'll have to pick this one up. I'm really digging the system and the cards look great. I could set up a town quickly and even take a pic with my phone to make sure all the cards are set up in the same position for the next time the PCs come to visit. Hell, you could run a completely off-the-cuff adventure and just throw down cards, interpret the scene, and just wing it. Seriously going to get this.
I improv'd an adventure by having a buddy choose 5 cards at random one night and it worked great!
He drew a graveyard, a steep path over a pit, and a cave, and a giant mantis spider along with an altar.
I arranged the cards in a way that made sense to me and thought up how they'd be connected while he rolled up a character. Got a solid 2 sessions out of it and we kept playing after!
The whole ICRPG lightweight mindset is just brilliant.
I want to run icrpg for a sci-fi campaign
I prefer a lot of the rules from second edition, but the master edition is a treasure trove of ideas to make every night the BEST GAME EVER.
What are the differences you've picked up on?
Also curious as to which rules ought to have carried over.
@@Kurufinwe_Fayanaro Addition of abilities, (positive or negative depending on your game style) Use of Con stat to decide on AC (big positive), changing magic to a d10 (I think I preferred the d8) adding a mastery system for leveling (way more fun than milestones, now level ups can happen MID FIGHT, very epic)
@@RowmanSailor I liked that all weapons used to use a D6, so there was no numbers benefit to using a gun vs using a dagger: It only carried narrative benefit. I also preferred the limited character abilities (spells taking up carry slots) since it would force the characters to not have every item imaginable and every ability, but rather as they grew as characters they depended less and less on equipment. Felt more heroic. Luke puts down the blaster as he has mastered the lightsaber sort of thing.
@@dmlark6059 Now that's a quality analysis!
Ya! The Master Edition took me for a loop - guns (and no distinction here)? d10 for something other than loot?
And the limiting of inventory to a manageable amount is definitely something I've taken notes on as being the 'simpler' and more 'accessible' option - something the original ICRPG set out to accomplish.
I have been using a 5e/ICRPG hybrid for a while now. Slowly I am movinh more to the ICRPG. I gotta get me some cards!
Great video! I play savage worlds mostly, because I can adapt fun stories and campaign settings to quickly learnable play system. A lot of the house rulles i see you, xp to lvl3 and a good bit of others do, is almost identical to savage worlds. This however looks VERY cool and my only question I may have missed is cost. Anyway apologies for the rant, have a great day Professor!
Thanks. I didn't mention the cost because I have the collector's edition.
All your content is tops but I must give huge propers for reference to Primal. I've recommended it to everyone and described it as proto-Conan with an allosaurus mount and survivor's guilt.
I just bought the ICRPG Master Edition. This book is an absolute must. An RPG masterpiece. It may not gain as much popularity as more mainstream games; however, for those of us who appreciate and promote independent companies and rules, I 100% recommend this rule set. It is even great for implementing your own homebrew rules to your own games. Thank you so much professor for introducing this one. Hands-down, one of the coolest supplements I have ever bought.
How GREAT is it that monsters have ONE number for everything! Just "+3" or "+6." Brilliant. I am reading his Crown & Skull now and it's great. It is currently under embargo so I can't do a video yet but WAIT until you see it.
Awesome. Thanks prof! Looking forward to it.@@DUNGEONCRAFT1
I kinda use the Dungeoncraft Tiles from 1985 games that way.
Basically when I prep the game, I think where my party could fight, prepare a few bacs of Pieces for possible encounters and when anything starts that needs a map, i just put the Map on the table, throw the pieces on and we are good to go in like 1 minute.
Wow, this is great. Might steal the Effort dice and death timer
David, I agree; you don't have to play ICRPG as written, lots of the mechanics can simply be integrated into most RPGs.
It took forever thanks to the post office, but I FINALLY got my box of cards from this video. While I don't think I'll go into ICRPG itself, those cards are GREAT for when D&D doesn't need exact positioning.
This system actually looks awesome. Going on the wish list. (I’d nab it right now but I have the Talisman RPG and the Mazes Fantasy RPG on the way and I don’t wanna overload my brain with what I should or should use for our upcoming campaign)
the fun part about this setup too is u could make custom cards to add too it
ICRPG is amazing and Hankerin Ferinale deserves all the praise and love in the world. Love both of your work!
Hi, a few months ago I bought a second hand copy of ICRPG core second edition. Does anybody know the differences between this and the modiphius edition?
Yes. There is more in the Modiphius edition--about 2/5 more.
Is this the one only available for pre-order? It looks fantastic.
Awesome video!
Did the professor ever stream or vod his games?
I’m curious to see how hes DMing. 😁
On Patreon. Also running at PAX Unplugged this weekend.
I wish they had a Pulp version. I'm running a Pulp campaign. This what Basic D&D should have been.
Easy enough. Guns do d8. Average people 1/2 a heart (5hp). Done.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Thank you. The Pulp iconic types do align fairly well with Fantasy types. Rogue = grifter, Wizard= Mystic. Etc.
Thank you for your content. I truly love and appreciate it. I like versatility and you always deliver in making this gaming medium truly accessible and enjoyable to new GMs! Thank you, again! Also really love your UDT, I've been saving up to make my own with your videos as a reference!
Thanks for watching!
Is okay to use index cards as battle maps. Also my index cards are size 5x8 and it's erasable that way I can draw and create new thing.
A late winter-gift wish-list add because of this vid!
(Wouldn't mind a future vid of "Professor Dungeonmaster's Top Shelf Tools" 😁)
I was thinking about that--just quirky tools that make life easier. I got lots of those.
Will be running this on Soon. Looking forward to it!
I clicked on thr Modiphius link. The version of the book on sale there has a different cover. Is there a way to buy the version with the black cover exactly like you have in the video? Thanks.
Glad you mentioned Primal PDM a great watch I was wondering do you have any Christmas themed adventures available?
Not an adventure--but an encounter using the ICRPG "3Ts" is coming before Christmas. Stay tuned.
You sold me on Index card RPG. He was one of the first people on youtube i found when first started to learn about D&D.
Second post... Those cards could easily be used for any fantasy game really. Very cool idea that I may add to my Adventurer Conqueror King system campaign.
man... this really makes me want to do a video on my "Madnopoluno" game. It's a monopoly board, an uno deck, and fill in the blank style Madlib for 4 categories of events: 1. spiritual 2. natural 3. arcane 4. combat. it's so fun and random. i think i might flesh it out to share one day.
I'm going to have to check this out, then...I highly value your recommendations! :)
@Dungeon Craft Doyou prefer Index Card RPG or EZ D6? What game do you run these days?
Well that was an awesome review... annnnnd bought the deck and standard book (as special ed was out of stock).
Once again fantastic review of a fantastic game!
Hi Ron!!
"Move near + take action" does that mean you can't take an action then move? does it only go one way?
Yes. You can take an action, then move.
Great review! Another fun game for DMs to add to their library- lots of good ideas for playing!
Where was the link to how you use timers? Nothing appeared where you pointed. I'm sure I've seen it before, but would love a refresher.
Will add.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Thanks!
Here ya go: czcams.com/video/eG7hZUAu8xM/video.html
That sounds really cool I almost wish I would have bought this instead of tiny dungeon but I saw your tiny dungeon video first
Mad props to Hankerin. Runehammer. There are lots of good ideas in his game but the items as growth requires lot of prep work if you want to do your own thing or add to what is in the book.
Do you have any recommendations for rpgs with more character creation crunch while still having combat not too much more complex than 5e
Depends what you mean by character creation crunch. If you mean lots of background tables, Conan is good. However, I think there are plenty of random tables on the internet that could add background material.
My playgroup enjoys Zweihander quite a lot. It looks daunting at first but the combat is really simple im comparison to 5E. You use action points rather than numerous immediate, swift and bonus actions. Much more streamlined.
I advice against Conan 2d20. We tried so hard to make it work, but it really feels like too many people worked on a first draft and nobody proof read the whole mess. The Book of Skelos (magic) is the most unfinished and confusing piece of writing in regards to RPGs that I have ever seen.
Haven't tried it yet but Symbaroum is said to be nice.
Shadows of the Demon Lord is great. A super streamlined version of 5E with far more intresting advancement and easy to use rules. I'd suggest that.
Such a great game and creator 👊 ❤️
I ran a short Index Card campaign when the first version/edition of the book came out. We had a lot of fun - we were playing an urban fantasy adventure, with machine guns, magic, trolls attacking the local metro lines and engineers with self-crafted magical flamethrowers.
The official Index Card deck didn't exist back then (I think?), but it looks like a great tool to quickly set up a game. I know a lot of people in the comments are "theatre of mind" fans, but using the titular index cards makes the game much more enjoyable for the players. I used those standard, but non-adhesive index papers from my office, and I noted down every place in the city and possible actions the players explored and found (like crafting an armor from wyvern scales + how much effort is needed). This way, not only the game world kept expanding in front of the players eyes, but they also had a clear vision of what they found, what they can still do, and what they left - no need to read notes on the character sheet, and no lenghty session introductions needed.
I bought the new release in print. Still waiting for my copy. No idea what I will run this time though.
ICRPG is great, and the book was awesome! Great size, feel, art, and layout to this work. I particularly love the DMs oath!
WHen I started DMing early 2020 I was using effort in a way. High d20 roll and high weapon dmg roll = good job. I didn't know anything about DMing (or I should say my mind wasn't tainted yet) so DC's were very dependent on the situation.
Yes! ICRPG is a great game and a clear labor of love by someone who knows what they're doing and has a great passion for it.
It's solidly ranked among my Top 3 Games-
Monster of the Week
Index Card RPG
Savage Worlds
Looks great - and readily adaptable for solo play.
I love it as a toolkit.
It feels like Hanks' Magnum Opus.
I never thought of my gaming table as sophisticated until I saw this. If you're running a game that is entirely imagination based (totally possible and can be lots of fun especially while in the car on a road trip, camping, or performing repetitive tasks that don't require much attention like knitting) the cards would be a great way for the DM to keep track of things. But even a simple battle mat with some pop cans and a house plant, or some plastic aquarium foliage hot glued to washers to make them stand up add SO much to the game that a lame card flop set-up just can't compare. If I only had the cards I would just go 100% imagination and let my descriptions set the stage.
As for the rule book: I do like The Stat = The Bonus instead of the rolling for stats which I feel is just a throw back to the classic and is exactly what I did when my 7 & 5 year old nieces wanted me to run a game for them. Info on how other people set up a story, run an encounter, or give loot is never a waste of time even if it's more of a "what not to do". The rest of the rules are ok just like switching between RPG systems is ok but I definitely prefer the D&D 5E or 3E rules to these. Though I do like these better than D&D 4E.
Maybe the index card concept might work for my solo games. I'm stealing this 💡 idea💡.
Thanks for the review. Sounds like it's insanely good value for money.
I’ll check it out, but Dungeon World still has my heart right now.
Just waiting for my delivery from Modiphius!
Next time I play, I'm going to say "I'm gonna visit this den of iniquity!" with exactly that intonation. That was perfect.
Glad you got your vest of protection on for this one Prof.