In recent months I have been gravitating toward more rules lite RPGs. Partially because of how hard it is to get new players to understand the complexities of RPGs, and partly because I have found them too limiting. Then I discovered RUNEHAMMER. I suggest you go check him out.
Hankerin has stepped away from the crunch talk of D&D to talk about the philosophy behind it all. It was all stuff I understood in the early days of the hobby but lost as new RPG systems wrote rules for everything under the sun.
The truth is, you don't need that many rules. Here's what you need -
- Who is the Character?
- What is the Character good at?
- How do we resolves tasks?
- What happens when the heroes do something that makes the task harder or easier?
- How long should the encounter last? (See my post about Hit Points are Timers)
RPG's are actually about time: Can you do X before Y? Can you defeat the Dragon before it defeats you? Suspense is also about time as well, and ICRPG introduces the idea of TIMERS to put the pressure on. Now it's "Can you pick the lock before the Boulder smashes into the party". And fact that the timer is visible to all players? No, it isn't realistic but it does generate suspense! In the Story-verse, suspense is worth more than realism. In fact, anything cool is worth more than realism, right CSI? Zoom and enhance!
This blog is now going to extol ICRPG. It's a fantastic rules-lite system that has enough depth to play a campaign and enough freedom to do anything you want. ICRPG is a system of simple suggestions. Yes, you may have to do a little work to get ICRPG to do what you want but believe me when I say it will only be a little.
Stay tuned as I gush over ICRPG the way Kami-Kun gushes over her Senpai. I don't know what that means. My daughter said it would help me connect with a broader audience.
