Dnd 5e and Icrpg

#21

Great advice. Can’t Wait to get time to start preparing design. I miss room design and the fun it was.

Thank you everyone. Great advice all around!!

Converting an old module and a new player
#22

I’ll say this, though. If the group seemed receptive, I would totally introduce the Easy/Hard mechanic instead of advantage/disadvantage. And the piece that would seal the deal, I think, would be the easy after a failure. No one gets advantage that often, ever, in 5e, and so I think you could safely add that piece and be playing ICRPG.

For the record, I successfully converted one of those groups fully to ICRPG. Once I had all of the above, I firmly established effort. Then, tied to effort, I made all weapons do D6. Then, I added Easy/Hard. After that, I removed skills and just had players roll their stat bonuses. Then I re-tooled hit points to an even number and introduced hearts. The final piece was converting magic to a list of simple spells and a roll-to-cast system with spellburn and a D8 magic die. That final hurdle was the hardest, as casters get particular. But once I showed them that they could basically perform a ton of cool effects and spellburn was the only limiter, then I had them. The total conversion to ICRPG took probably 10 weeks, adding a small new piece at a time. Towards the end, I collected their character sheets and returned new ones to them with everything written out, and it made all the difference. But, if you are going to go down this road, make sure your group is ready for it. My other group told me flatly: I don’t want to play ICRPG; I want to play 5e. Fair enough. You’ll be playing that. I’ll be playing ICRPG on my end.

Interesting: a conversion guide
#23

Hell yeah. But I think I will have to stick to the later sady. They all really like 5e so much and I have mentioned things and the 2 players who have been playing longest, Nessie’s myself, are firm no. So group follows.

No worries though. I will follow your lead and Give them dnd 5e on there end. And me Icrpg on the DMside.

As far as the went. How did you do initiative for the 5e/Icrpg group?

And

What did you do besides timers to make time move a little faster? 5e feels like it lends way more roleplay then Icrpg? Did you change anything there? Or let them roleplay away? (I know my group loves to ponder ideas and ways to tackle/so things to every situation.)

Thanks again!!!

#24

I kept initiative rolls and order, though that piece of keeping track is my least favorite thing to do. But once I had the order for the night, that became my “turn order” for the session, generally (occasionally I had them roll a couple times a session). Then I just ran it like ICRPG.

It’s kind of a myth that one set of rules creates more RP, as you can RP more or less in any system. What I did, though, was keep up the time pressure and made it where the players couldn’t rest often. I like my players ragged as much as possible, as that’s where the meaningful RP comes out. That being said, once I had turn order, if I had a “talker” in the group, I just used a friendly check-in with the next player to keep the spotlight equal for everyone. “Okay, thanks Tim. Joe, what’s Boltar’s reaction?” Or, “Hey, Mary, what is Tenelil up to while that’s playing out?” And just that easy, you move to the next person in the turn/initiative order.

#25

Fair enough. The 5e players enjoy the way you track initiative?

#26

They didn’t notice that I only asked for an initiative roll only a few times per session. At the most, it was once per room, so maybe three times a night, at most. If we only got through two, then it was only two, but I largely only asked for it once and kept it that way. 5e players are sometimes used to a single combat taking up a whole three hours, so your typical 5e player won’t notice that you only ask for it once or twice, though we chewed through much more in a session. It helped that I propelled them from one event to the next, threw a ton at them, and kept the revelations coming, so they stayed hooked. Beyond that, they were largely used to the DM being in charge, so I established that process early and no one challenged it — it’s just how I ran my table. I think if you asked them now, they would say they appreciated it.

#27

Haha very cool. Yeah the long drawn out fights is what I stirring me, as a player in my friends game. 2-3 hours just turns from hectic, to oh shit what we gonna do, to idc anymore we don’t yet.

Just trying to get myself back into writing one shots and adventure for when I go back and dm them in Eberron.

I been in a funk and I’m just trying to get out of it. And it’s ruff for sure.

Thanks Alex!

#28

Hang in there, my brotha! :shield: