If that’s the case, I’d make the the defender roll his attack +3 against the other character who is trying to push through. Now it’s a gamble for that player. Does he risk getting punished by pushing through and out maneuver his opponent?
Danger danger. That’s not really an AoO, more of a delayed action.
Ok, so you’re saying make it opposed rolls, but someone gets an advantage (like the one standing over the prone guy, or defending the hallway). I can do that pretty easily, and it makes logical sense–hes trying to STR through, and you’re trying to Atk him.
That’s a great way of handling it. It’s a gamble, because if I’m trying to push through you and you are actively defending, and I roll a 2 + 2 and you rolled a 4 +1 + 3, you still defended with a bad roll and I get smacked hard and pushed back! Narration is key to make this all bad ass!
A piece of loot you could create can have a skill of attack of opportunity if you really want it. close range only. still have them roll room target of course. let it remain as loot so it is possible to lose it or even buy it. I.e helm of opportunity, sword with “you shall not pass” etched into it etc. for fun I like to make up loot atleast once per session by listening to the players. whether they be cursed or awesome.
I only use attack of opportunity if someone is trying to go straight through someone else. I figured if they try and walk right through the person’s space that’s not tactical but if they skirt around the person no AoO because you used your movement tacticaly to not get attacked. I also do not use AoO when the players disengage from a fight.
How do you deal with characters that have specific professions and skills? Like if a character is specifically good at cooking and speaks Chinese? My players would like to feel that specific skill as more than a “Dex” number.
EDIT: Also I’m curious with how you deal with Stealth and Flanking.
I don’t know if mundane skills like cooking and speaking Chinese are something I even slow down for. Generally, I’d let players add these traits as part of their “story” or background or even apply them as tags that describe their character. Then, if a situation arose where the player needed to speak Chinese, maybe to get past a guard or something, I wouldn’t even require a roll. That character would just be able to do that thing. In ICRPG, those tags or traits are similar to racial bonuses. Reptoids can walk on walls. That’s just something they can do. I don’t require a roll for it. Another way is to apply the easy modifier for professionals with certain traits. Reptoids on the Red Sword have easy checks at all of the terminals because it’s a Reptoid ship, as all of the symbols intuitively make sense for that character.
However, I might make a character with various traits roll against the room target IF at that moment in the story, the player wanted to do something at the upper end of his or her abilities. For example, if the cook wanted to make a meal that would disguise poison or fool the royal food taster, I might require a Dex or Int check (or even a hard one depending on the task) to see if the character can pull it off.
Generally, I feel if characters are professionals, they should just be able to do stuff. A professional acrobat should be able to run across a tightrope with no roll (a task that would require other characters to make a Dex check). However, if that same character wanted to run across a tightrope in Hurricane force winds, I’d definitely require a check.
For stealth, I generally require a Dex check to hide. It’s certainly Hard or even impossible if the character is trying to do so in plain sight. It might be easy if the character is trained or has a piece of loot that give him or her the edge. If a character gets the drop on a bad guy while in stealth and tries a stealth attack, I might allow an easy roll or even apply a coup de grace or maybe even allow the character to add an ultimate damage roll to the weapon attack. Again, I have options depending on what the story suggests should happen in the moment.
As for flanking, you should probably know enough about me by now that I don’t fool with that nonsense, generally. 
. I don’t even use specific mechanics for it in other systems where it’s part of the rules. BUT, see my example about a stealth attack above. If a character maneuvers into an advantage over an enemy, I’m going to adjudicate some advantage.
I think the issue you are having is that a lot of games have specific mechanics for specific scenarios, and those rules always apply whenever that scenario arises. In a rules-lite game like ICRPG, it throws out the idea that certain scenarios require an “always” rule. Instead, it gives DMs flexibility and options to give characters advantages and disadvantages in the moment that make sense depending on the story. In this way, ICRPG allows the rules to get out of the way so that players can simply focus on the story. I never have to pull out a rule book at the table anymore (and neither do the
Players) to figure out whether or not a flanking or other rule applies. I just adjudicate an easy or hard modifier, or come up with some other advantage or disadvantage, and we keep the game moving. This is the biggest strength of the system IMHO because it keeps the games fast, fun, and flexible, and everyone can stay immersed in the fiction without having the immersion broken by a rules question.
Thank you very much for your advice, I appreciate it.
Making professions “EASY” is what I was considering, and just limiting my players’ options so they can’t go “my guy is a soldier so all attacks are EASY?” I was pretty much work you on stealth and Flanking too. Shouldn’t be that complicated.
I agree with you 100% that the beauty of ICRPG is the simplicity. It’s totally the system I’ve dreampt of and I totally believe in it. I’m just trying to impress some semi-skeptical D&D/ Pathfinder players, and I’m worried I’ll be too inconsistent with my rulings (“is he just making everything up? Then I’ll argue with him to get a good ruling!”)
This weekend I think I’m all ready for the Train Heist we’re doing, and it’s gonna be fun. Thanks!