Three years ago, under my old account (which I couldn’t get to open any more, hence the new one), I reported about a mediocre rpg session with my buddies. I had converted an OSR adventure to ICRPG, but my players and I, having played freeform for almost 30 years, had problems adjusting to the new system (which, to be honest, was our first real system in three decades ).
The main challenge for us was that my players had to look on their sheets to see what mechanical advantages/bonuses their loot had. This disrupted the flow somehow. Maybe the reason was we were not familiar AT ALL with loot, or simply that we were not used to that kind of structure.
It doesn’t really matter because I have just gotten the Master’s Edition in the mail, and BOY, that’s such a nice book!
Back to the matter at hand… one of the things I’d like to try when I referee ICRPG again for the first time in three years (and I’ll have to wait till we have FINALLY arrived in the new country in South America we chose as the place to raise our children), one of the things I’d like to try is either converting LOOT to TAGS, or to interpret its effects, based on its name alone, only if it’s really used for the first time at the table.
A lot of LOOT already consists of TAGS, like for instance the ASTRO CHIP: piloting/navigation is EASY.
Others require a bit more interpretation, like the good old MOLDY BUNS: taste aweful, heal hp, or KING’S MUG, which is described as “+1 CON”, but using the free-wheeling interpretation method, might also become: KING’S MUG: be recognized as royalty for x rounds, for instance.
Do you have any experience with this approach? How did it go?