If you want to do something, you use the tried and true d20 approach of rolling a d20 and adding all your modifiers and hope to beat the Target. Along with index cards, one of the new-old things in ICRPG is the idea of the Target. It’s basically the DC you need to meet or beat. The difference here is that it is universal, either for a card or even for the whole adventure. It’s publicly visible and the GM can adjust it — for reasons. […] You can write your own epic narrative on how each [character] uses the thing they are good at to overcome the obstacle. You can have all the detail you want without lots of exception-based rules. And your Effort is applied to the Encounter’s Hearts. Hearts are used to judge the amount of Effort, and therefore time, you’ll need to get through the Encounter. While one Heart equates to 10 points of Effort and therefore 10 traditional hit points, it’s also a judge of how long it will take you or your party to get past it. […] Altered State: I think without a doubt the most important aspect of this cyberpunk supplement is the smattering of cool game mechanics that it comes with. Those were heavily playtested and stood the test of time.

Note:I'm going to start by saying that Hankerin Ferinale delivered on his promises. When he released the new edition of ICRPGthis year, one of the first things he did is release a PDF with the updated version of the rules and added it to the library of anyone who has bought Index Card RPG Core 2E from DrivethruRPG. My first look at his new Master Edition was through this updated product. He has followed through on his promise to future-proof every edition of his game when I saw that he had made a contract with Mödiphius and that they would be responsible for releasing the next iteration of ICRPG, I was concerned that wasn't going to happen. Hats off to you, Hankerin.

Deathtrap Lite

Index Card RPG vol. 3 – https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/214622/INDEX-CARD-RPG-Vol-3?manufacturers_id=10923 Miniatures!!! 48 heroes and all 23 monsters, all compiled on 'army sheets' so you can print and cut hordes in minutes. The perfect addition to your massive ICRPG collection!

Major Disclaimer: I wrote a couple of the things in this list (at the bottom), so hell yeah I’m biased. But I’ll try to be objective. Nevertheless, this post is tagged as promotional because that’s what it is. The Turnip Knights: Here’s my promo video of this book. This is the other one that I wrote. It was not illustrated by Mr. Gilhelm. It’s an all-halfling one-shot that contains three “rooms” or scenes with encounters. I am very fond of halflings, so all extra player tags, culture notes and town descriptions were a joy to create. Index Card RPG vol. 2 – https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/204385/INDEX-CARD-RPG-Vol-2?manufacturers_id=10923 So, that begs that I had the caveat to this review that I have been gifted a copy of this manual from someone I have a positive relationship with. I don't think that will bias this review, as it very much repeats many of the points of the previous review, which was written long before I ever personally interacted with Hankerin Ferinale. The ReviewAge of Snakes: Adventures in a Fallen Alfheim: Here’s my promo video of this book. This is one of the ones I wrote myself. Brandish Gilhelm (ICRPG creator) illustrated all of it. The book has a variety of plothooks, players tags and region descriptions that riff off of the WORLDS supplement. And it also contains three full one-shots. Everything is focused on the fall of the fantasy realm of Alfheim to so-called the Snake Men. Four complete campaign settings: Vigilante City (superheroes), Xeno Dead Zone ("Game over, man!"), Blood and Snow (Ice Age adventures), and Bearcats (teens fighting invaders) More recent additions of D&D such as 4th and 5th edition can be used by granting a creature number of Hearts equal to its challenge rating divided by 2, then rounded up. Characters are pretty close to 1st or 2nd level D&D 5e characters. Mechanical Differences Changes Bearcats: Here’s my video review of this supplement. This is a pretty wildly imaginative one. You play a member of an ‘80s-style high school, like a student or a teacher, but you’re on a domed settlement on an asteroid or alien planet, and very deadly aliens have begun to invade your sleepy town. It’s inspired by the movie Red Dawn. Again, it leaves you wishing so hard for more of the awesome illustrations and unique world. One of the things I absolutely loved about index card RPG was the fact that if you stripped a character of all their gear, all they might be left with are possibly a couple of wisdom-based divine magic powers, and those are randomly gained. You can effectively hit the reset button on a character simply by taking away gear. And class was nothing but a gear list as well. This made an effectively classless and levelless role-playing game.

A secondary optional character advancement system that was adapted from 2e's ICRPG Magic is also included in the Master Edition. With this system, you choose a specific path your characters on, which lists a number of achievements the character must accomplish. When they have made those achievements, they may select one special character ability unrelated to their class. Once they have gained one of those abilities, they may attempt to gain another from that tier or work on a goal from the next year in the path, which includes more difficult goals, but offers more potent rewards.The material written for second edition remains fully compatible with Master addition, with perhaps the exception of pre-generated characters. Overall, gear for the master Edition has a slightly different numerical character than the loot in second edition, but it will not make a significant difference to actual gameplay.. Characters advance a little more notably then they did in icrpg core to e, but character advancement is highly randomized and still mostly based on loot. Characters rarely become invulnerable feeling the way that can in third Edition and later of D&D. Characters never become superheroes. Because characters are also limited to 10 pieces of gear at a time and have a roof of plus 10 to any role, as they do reach the Pinnacle of their ability, they have to literally make trade offs to optimize the roles their character takes in the party. If you are spellcaster, you're going to need to carry magical crystals to fuel your spells, and spell books to contain them all, plus something to enhance your end bonus and your magic effort. That leaves very little room for armor and weapons, for example. And while you might be slightly better towards the end at casting spells then you were in the beginning, the difference is not so great that a one heart monster is not a threat to you.

I am currently running a Warp Shell campaign for Index Card RPG Master Edition. This game runs fast. Combat encounters, even complex ones, tend to resolve themselves in just a few minutes. You can get a lot of gaming done in a very compact space of time. Simplicity Magic is slightly more powerful in Master Edition, using a d10, and guns are granted the d8 position to make them more effective then swords or bows. Tools now Grant a d6 of effort to make using tools better than trying to accomplish a task with one's bare hands, which still does a d4 worth of effort. TLDR: Bundle of Holding is offering virtually everything that has been officially published for Index Card RPG at a fraction of the normal price until March 22, and you should get it if you’re into flexible, fast, action-oriented d20 action. Blood & Snow: Here’s my video review of this supplement. This was the first review I ever did on my channel.). I got to play in an extensive, multi-partied parallel campaign using this supplement as part of the basis, so it’s near and dear to my heart. Basically it’s Caveman ICRPG with some fantastical Neolithic elements. Like a lot of the smaller ICRPG supplements, it’s written very concisely and leaves you thirsting for more. That’s both good and bad, of course. Much of icrpg core, whatever edition, is designed with modularity in mind. A few of these ideas could easily be pulled out and inserted into other ttrgs.

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In blood and snow it specifically describes prehistoric women, so you just get a buff if you choose a woman instead of a man? I started running a science fiction campaign in warp shell rather than designing my own setting, and found it a very difficult setting to use for a space opera more along the lines of traveler. Teleportation, regeneration, self-duplication, and return from Death are all far too readily available in this setting for the kind of stories I was hoping to tell. This game is a surprise in part because the warp show of second edition was not quite the same design. It had a farm more conventional Star warsesque feel to it. This setting has evolved significantly from the second edition. Two adventures by YouTube video reviewer and ICRPG fan Dave Thaumavore: Age of Snakes and The Turnip Knights Hankering kept up his promise to keep icrpg future proof offering free updates to existing additions. Andy kept his word. I'm willing to believe he would do the same if he developed a 4th edition of icrpg in the future. The Index Card RPG is an innovative take old school Dungeons and Dragons. Simple rules, easy character creation, and more set this role-playing game apart from others.