ICRPG Dungeon Crawl rules and ideas

[Ezzerharden]

Dungeon Crawl Ideas and Rules

With all of this talk of Barrowmaze (and an upcoming game with @Shadymutha this weekend) it has me thinking if there are any ICRPG dungeon crawl rules or things anyone has used that are specific to dungeon crawls…

What I am wanting to do is a HARDCORE style rule set of ideas to make the dungeon crawl as good as it can be using ICRPG rules.

I don’t want a Torchbearer grind, but I am sure there are some house rules for torches, ammo, food, wandering monsters and other ideas we have used in our own games that could apply.

Leave your ideas or comments below so everyone can use them.

If you have not already, Runehammer has posted his Barrowmaze maps and tokens on Discord!

Game On!

[Shadymutha]

Resources, including time.

Most activities take roughly 10 minutes (or 1 turn). Searching an area, breaking down a door, combat and recovery, etc.

Every 3rd turn, roll for random encounters.

Every 6th turn, the torch burns out.

I like gold for XP as it presents logistical challenges of getting the gold out. This, in my opinion, is part of what makes up a crawl. For ICRPG you could do similar with gold (or soul coins) for milestones.

Consumption of resources is one of the logistical challenges. Use torches, lock picks break, healing kits get used, etc. I really like the Five Torches Deep approach to Supply to re-up consumed items.

[Ezzerharden]

LFM Barrowmaze game Saturday 4/4/2020

• Correct expectations, its a crawl! It’s about the journey not the destination. The game could be very RP heavy, very combat heavy, let the players run it, which means keeping it TOTM as much as you can. Moving tokens one by one around the massive map is too slow and kills the tention.
• Resources need to matter, running out of oil, fire or light the dark in a maze is next to death. Personally I think the supply rules in 5 torches deep are second to none in this regard.
• Time matters, track it, make players roll that wondering monster check every 20 min of in game time and every travel hex on the big map.
• The town is a massive RP hub that can wonder anywhere you’d like, it’s worth familiarizing yourself with the towns folk.
• Let the dice run the game, let players die. If they go into a room with 7 skeletons, it has 7 skeletons, don’t pull punches to keep them going. After they die repeatedly, which they will because it’ll be unlike most games they are use to with ICRPG or 5e, they will start running the game in interesting ways to hunt for survival.

@Shadymutha Sounds like you are @Jason_Scranton have similiar tastes in House Rules for Dungeon Crawls!

[Runehammer]

I think the BArrowmaze mechanics work as written, regardless of system…