First post, first character, first questions!

[samuraibob]

Hello everyone, greetings from Italy!

Last night I finally managed to convince my party moving from Dungeon World to ICRPG, made our first test chars and made the first trial as explained on the book and has been a blast!

Everyone is now in and I just modded/translated/adapted to an A4 format paper the char sheet and we are all ready to play! Some kind guys on reddit told me to post here and so here I am!

And I just have some questions:

1. How do you manage ammo? Do you count every single shot? How much arrows in one slot?
2. Does a dying character get to recover health with the CON roll or it’s just for “the living”?
3. I’d like to play some brutal, big, ignorant bio-form… which stats should I put - let’s say - to an orc/ogre? I know it’s up to the GM but we have no experience at all and maybe you have already been here
4. Same as above but for the class: I have to port an engineer/inventor class in this new system, is there some loot that you know I can start with as starter reward? And maybe some milestone?

Thank you so much, I’m so excited to (re)start in this new system!

[skippy]

How do you manage ammo? Do you count every single shot?

I don’t track every shot. I generally let the players operate on the basis that they have some reasonable amount of ammo. Unless they were caught unprepared for adventure, they loaded up with what they needed before they set out.

After some period of time, they may run low on ammo. They usually have the opportunity to replenish along the way. Tracking number of shots taken, and number of available shots left, is boring to all of us.

But running out of ammo can be a good story hook, or complication, to use as needed. You’ve been on the road for a couple days, fighting, and you realize you only have 5 arrows / bullets / power cells / whatever left! Plan accordingly, player!

[KaneDriscol]

Same as above but for the class: I have to port an engineer/inventor class in this new system, is there some loot that you know I can start with as starter reward? And maybe some milestone?

Check out this post on page 4 there is a Gadgeteer class that could be a great spring board.

[samuraibob]

I’m sorry but I cannot see a page number anywhere (I’m on my phone). I even searched the term “Gadgeteer” but found nothing. Have you got a link? Thank you!

[samuraibob]

This is definitely a good idea! I’ll copy this to our gm. Thank you!

[KaneDriscol]

No worries. I see in my original comment I completely forgot to add the link I was telling you check out. Silly me haha! Sorry about that!.

Anyway, @Ezzerharden just released this huge repository of community content and on the literal fourth page is a Gadgeteer Class that might help.

Community Annual 2019

ICRPG Annual & Az Shield Gathering 2019 Feliz Dia De Los Muertos, Damas y Caballeros! The LHW: Arizona Chapter will be holding the first annual Shield Gathering from Nov 30th-Dec 2nd. In honor of such a momentous event, I made a thing… I compiled the work of the community into one big pdf for easy reference and printing. I thought a community annual, or yearbook (sort of), would be a great idea… so here it is! 461 pages of ICRPG gaming goodness. All made by the community! TABLE OF CONTENTS: …

Here is a screenshot:

[JDStirling]

How do you manage ammo? Do you count every single shot? How much arrows in one slot?

You can have the players count their ammo. Or you can treat a prepared character as having enough ammo to last the whole adventure and not worry about tracking it at all, but rolling a 1 to hit could mean they need to spend an action to reload before firing again.
Or you could use the Usage Die approach: give the player a d6 Ammo Die, after combat have them roll it and on a 1 or 2 the die drops to a d4, any other number does not change the Die. If they’re already at a d4 then rolling a 1 or 2 means they’re out of ammo.
Just a few ideas.

Does a dying character get to recover health with the CON roll or it’s just for “the living”?

A Recovery Roll is only for standing characters. If a character is dying they roll a d6 Death Timer and will be totally dead in that many Rounds, which count down on their turn. Also on their turn the roll a d20 and will “pop up” with 1 hp if they roll a Nat 20.
Now any other character can use an action to Stabilize a downed character with an INT or WIS roll against the Room Target. Success removes the Death Timer but the character is still unconscious until healed by some other means, whether magical or medical.
Some of us have allowed a stabilized but unconscious character to make a Recovery check with CON against the Room Target to get back 1+CON hp (minimum 1) and rejoin the fight.

I’d like to play some brutal, big, ignorant bio-form… which stats should I put - let’s say - to an orc/ogre? I know it’s up to the GM but we have no experience at all and maybe you have already been here

Monster design is way easier than you think. As an NPC/Monster give it +STR, +CON, +Weapon Effort and 1-3 hearts. For a Player character most bio-forms get 2 bonus points. Make that a +2 STR or +1 STR +1 CON. You could even apply a -1 INT to give an additional Bio-form bonus. Afterwards create your character as normal with the usual 6 points like the book says.

Same as above but for the class: I have to port an engineer/inventor class

Like has already been said, the INT Spell: Create Device is a perfect fit. For other gear you can add specific Tools which give a +3 attempt to whatever task that fits AND allows use of the d6 Weapon/ Tool Effort instead of the Basic d4.
Also check out the Class Rewards and Loot Tables for items that fit for Milestones. Things like the Repair Spider that repairs 1 hp per round to objects, or the Drone Kit (Ronin Starter reward) which lets a Weapon be used remotely (this can easily be modified to operate tools or simply have a camera for scouting).

Ultimately you can really let your imagination run absolutely wild. The spirit of DIY firmly puts the ball in your court to really have fun with creating. Plus the easy rule set gives an open framework to add all kinds of things.

Welcome, my dude! May your dice roll high!

P.S. hope my long ramble helps. I got a little carried away.

[BigGrump]

For #3 look at the Hillman // Wildling combo for the race and class in the book. I see brutish types being less STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS, CHA and more BASIC, WEAPON, and ULTIMATE effort types. I would see them benefiting from worn armor but not so much as a base stat bonus due to their big size.

In this system your ‘to hit’ doesn’t carry over to ‘damage’ like in other systems. It makes STR more like how good you are at swinging a weapon while your effort is then how hard you hit them. I see a big brute being slow maybe and having more difficulty landing a shot but when they do it wrecks the target.

Hope that makes sense. It can be applied universally to any build.

And remember – it is a DIY (do it yourself) system where you can come up with all kinds of stuff to fit however you think your character should behave. When you level up and get a new ‘milestone’ option, it is fun to let players pick from any class. So if you start as a wildling for the belt but don’t think the rest fits what you are trying to make your character into, grab something from a different class.

It makes for limitless options.

[Ardon]

Welcome samuraibob!

1. AMMO. I would add the most important thing is that your system suits your PCs, some prefer realism and don’t mind counting, others would find it to be irritating.
If your PCs fall in the latter category, I would do reload on 1 (or 1-2/1-3 depending on weapon), reload on weapon ability use (Spray n Pray!) AND Skippy’s point about running out of ammo as a story hook/complication.

2. CON & Dying Recover is an action of the living. But if a dying character rolls 20, why not give them 1+Con hp? Love rewarding my players for picking Con/Cha

3. Orcs Assuming you mean Orcs as monsters, not player race? In either case: Experiment!
Here’s an example. When I think of Orcs I think RECKLESS, MESSY, FORCEFULL, BERSERKER WARRIORS RAWWWRRRR

+3 STR, +3 DMG
FORCEFUL: Attack rolls of Nat 15+, PCs must make STR/DEX check or be knocked back/prone.
WAARRRGH: “Orc see, ORC KILL” Orcs attack directly and recklessly. They are Easy to taunt, Hard to intimidate/distract, tend to smash objects around them up.
MESSY: Crits cause seriously gross wound: loose a limb, bleeding deep wound, disfiguring face gash. Get creative with descriptions… (or more simply: 8+ damage cause ugly wound and 1HP/round bleeding)
MIGHT IS RIGHT: Orcs follow the Biggest Baddest Orc, if he is defeated it may throw them.

Try to keep it simple so you can remember it easily. You can always add more interesting abilities to the ORC CHAMPION or BERSERKER or whatever.

4. Engineer/Inventor Being able to make totally unique classes for particular players is one of the best things about ICRPG (in my opinion). Engineer/Inventor could have pets, use guns, bombs, Gadget man stuff, etc .
Ask your player what they imagine that character being able to do. Remember you only need to begin with 2-3 heirloom items, then can evolve the class as you play.

[samuraibob]

Thank you so much, guys, for all these good advices!

I’ll try to answer to each point:

1. Ammo: understood. It’s up to us and I’ll think the GM will use the “don’t count until you fumble”.

2. I didn’t explained myself, my fault. I meant: does an UNCONSCIOUS character get to recover health with the “Recovery move” (test CON to get 1+CON HPs)? I.e.: an ally comes to me while I’m dying, passes the check to stop my doom clock, I’m now stable but unconscious… can I recover HPs by myself?

3. The orc bio-form is for my PC indeed. I guess the advices from JDStirling or BigGrump are perfect! Thank you!

4. For the engineer class I really can’t understand the Create Device spell (deliver effort for hearts? What does that mean? ) so I guess I’ll use a combination of the Ronin’s drone kit and the Gadgeteer’s milestones (and of course all that my GM will throw to me )

Thanks again to everyone!

[Ardon]

2. Unconscious Recover: The rules state it is an Action (as in something you CONSCIOUSLY do). However, I favour rules that make the game more fun and less frustrating for my players. So I would let them make a HARD CON roll.
If this makes PCs stronger, now the GM can make the encounter harder

4. Engineer Create device: so if I want to create a 1 HEART mechanical dog (as in a mechanical dog with 1 heart of health), it will take me 1 HEART of BASIC EFFORT.

eg. I want to use Create Device Action to create a mechanical guard dog!
I roll INT ATTEMPT and beat TARGET! Now I roll BASIC EFFORT (d4), doing 3 EFFORT. I’ll need to do 7 more EFFORT to complete the mechanical dog.

Hope that helps!

[samuraibob]

Yes, I got it now!

But I have a last question, concerning the mechanical guard dog (or familiars in general): how do you manage these? Do they go in your turn? Do they take one (of your) action to act? It’s all up to the GM and good sense?

Thank you so much!

[Ardon]

Great question. I don’t think there is any existing rules on that kind of thing. So it will be up to you and your GM. Also interested to see how other’s have handled this.

My 2 Cent:
What to be aware of is not being unfair with Actions per player or a pet feeling too much like a PC (which means your playing 2 PCs in effect). Could try the following:
Limited: Make sure pets are weak or limited in scope of abilities (maybe they are very good at specific things, but not much else).
Pet Fail!: Give pets a d4 backfire dice (like for spells), so if they roll 1, its not good! (eg. 1. Explodes! 2. breaks down! 3. attacks ally! 4. shut down- needs winding up!)
Clockwork: Maybe at the end of every encounter, they need to be “wound up” (like ammo in guns).

Here is one idea of how to handle actions:

DIRECTIVES:
The Dog is used by the GM following the Engineer’s DIRECTIVES. DIRECTIVES are like simple orders the Dog will automatically follow. This means the Dog’s default ACTIONS are very quick and require no real decisions.
Eg. Protect Engineer: if foe attacks/comes close to Engineer, Dog engages them.

So by default, the Engineer does their own ACTION, then the GM does the Dog’s ACTION (if the situation calls for it to act - like the Engineer is being attacked)

The Engineer can also use his action to attempt to create a new DIRECTIVE (eg. Search and Destroy!) OR give an ORDER (get the wand that the cultist is holding!).

In terms of HOW and WHAT the pet can do things, I would use common sense with the GM. You could also give pets TAGS to help.
Eg. MECHANICAL DOG: FAST, LOUD, GRAPPLE, BITE

PS: Whatever you decide, just test it at the table and then edit. I never get it completely right on paper

[Ardon]

Haha such a good question, got me thinking more about it!

"ONE ACTION PER PLAYER" LIMIT AND PETS?
SO if I was in a group where we have many players, or just want rounds as fast as possible, what would I do? hmmm…

QUESTION:
What is the advantage of pets if you take away the extra “action”?

1. They can be specialised. (eg. DOG MECH = Fast + Bite-Strong grapple / BIG BOT MECH = Super strong + Tanky / NANO BUG SWARM = Debuff+control / GATTLING BOT = AOE ranged pew pew)
2. They grant extra , “tanking” for your group.
3. They can be in different places from you.

That leads me to…

REVISED ENGINEER:
Engineer can MOVE himself or pet. Engineer have himself do ACTION or pet do ACTION.
If pet is next to you, it follows you by default, unless ordered otherwise.
Thats it.

OTHER IDEAS…

Pet Actions:
With this design, it would make sense for pets to have specific ACTIONS.
Eg. MECH DOG: FAST (move FAR as normal), BITE (15+ attack roll = grapple)

Pet Stats:
1 pet = +1 all rolls. 2 pet = +2 all rolls. etc.
When creating pet, choose 1 attribute. Use your INT for that stat’s rolls.

Upgrades:
Upgrade pet to increase bonuses. Eg. salvaged fangs from raptor and upgrade dog mech’s teeth: grapple HARD, +3 WPN DMG
Item or “Engineering Mastery” could give better bonuses. Eg. Double roll bonuses of creations. Now 1 pet = +2 all rolls

Pet Passive Buffs:
Have pets give you passive bonuses when CLOSE to you Eg. TANK MECH = half damage taken goes to mech

[JDStirling]

concerning the mechanical guard dog (or familiars in general): how do you manage these? Do they go in your turn? Do they take one (of your) action to act?

We’ve handled pets/mounts using the standard 1 Move 1 Action per player. So basically the character can use their actions to “command” the pet to move and/ or act.
So the Mechanical Dog can be tasked to move and act. Or the Character can move and act. Or the Character can move and the dog can act, etc.
It helps the game flow if you stick to the 1 Move 1 Action per player. With a pet/ mount you just split your stuff between the two. It works great at the table. If you’d like to see an example of this in game check out this video from RFE where Kelsey plays a Goblin Knight named Tark with a Raptor Mount named Julieta. Hope this helps.