ICRPG Quick n' Custom session ideas

homebrew
inspiration
question
#1

So I was inspired by a recent Runehammer RPG Talks, about discussing trusting the hobbyist and allowing the GM some creative freedom and integrate it into their own narrative when creating GM material.

Therefore, I want to create something to help form the framework for a session really quick, by just rolling a d6 and putting together the ideas from a roll table, then the GM could use this framework and develop deeper and meaningful stories for a quest or session(s). This can be adjusted for multiple settings and used in your own game world, it doesn’t have to be specific.

So I wanted to ask if anyone has any ideas for any roll tables or any feedback on if this is a good idea or not, I already had ideas for roll tables such as; villains & their motives, helpful NPCs, Locations (In town, landmarks and countries/regions), quest hooks and LOOT! Was also thinking of coming up with some room/encounter designs…

It would be very helpful! :slight_smile:

#2

Heck yeah! This is all over the place in ICRPG as idea generators in the creating monsters section, fueling whole treks in Blood and Snow, and many more places. It’s a great way to get ideas, but I find I don’t use them as often because our table is playing an ongoing episodic kind of game. But when it wraps I’ll likely do something like this to fuel a long-form series of unrelated short arcs because our table just likes to get together, haha.

Get the idea from the random tables, even if you create them yourself, then flesh them out! Making your own random tables for your particular situation, location, or whatever else will really help with world building too. :slight_smile:

Another resource might be Tiny Dungeon and any of the Tiny d6 methods. I find those plug in to ICRPG really well. Best of luck!

#3

One of my new favorite games is Ironsworn - what I’d call a third gen PbtA game - and it makes great use of Oracles (aka random tables) so I would suggest looking at it for inspiration.

It has Oracles for action, theme, location, character description, character motivation, and many more

#4

Its on my reading list… Is there anything we can use for ICRPG. I am sure there is, but any advance insight you have on it would be appreciated! … Game On!

#5

On mobile so forgove the short reply

Ironsworn uses Challenge ranks (troublesome,
dangerous, formidable, extreme, or epic) for everything which easily convert to Effort/Hearts.

The Oracles are these

Screenshot_20200311-192900
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I think all could be used in some way for ICRPG but the “character” ones make for quick NPC generation, while the mystic backlash chart is just fun.

Another thing easily ported is the “Your Truths” section as it’s just 3 prompts about various world aspects which make each instance of the world unique

#6

I wonder if I’m misunderstanding what you’re looking for, but here’s what came to my mind.

For session design, I use LOGS. This is Runehammer’s LOG, plus I add Stakes to the end. Runehammer has Stakes under encounter design, but in my brain it belongs under session design.

So I made this little mad lib:
Starting at ___,
Despite ___,
The PCs must ___,
Or else ___.

Personally, I use the index cards, Deck of 52, or story cubes to help fill in those blanks. There are 1d20 LOG roller tables in Core. @DarkTempest777, are you wanting a slimmer set of 1d6 tables?

#7

@Andreas I had forgotten those LOG roller tables, I’ll be sure to use them if I get stuck and I do like the idea of the stakes as well. Basically what I would like this creation to be is a handful of ideas that say a GM wants to create a session on the fly, that they could use this to randomly get an idea for their villain, a location the players start in or come across, any helpful NPCs they encounter, or a hook to get started and get players engaged.

I was thinking of a bunch of 1d6 tables for each type of thing yes, though if I have more ideas for the most of them, I could try doing some larger tables too, just to get more variations.

#8

@s5photog I’ll be sure to check out Ironsworn, there seems to be a lot there that could be useful, particularly character description and motivation, as well as the plot twist maybe.

#9

@Chaologic Thanks for the suggestions, I thought that it might be particularly useful in creating some side adventures/quests for players or even just one or two ideas from some tables might inspire something in someone’s campaign.

I’ve been making some notes on ideas for the tables and been trying to flesh them out with questions on the end for the GM to come up with. Also I’ll check out Tiny Dungeon as well (It was also mentioned on that RPG Mainframe episode).

#10

I been really into ironsworn this week. But it’s the combat and travel loops that I don’t like. I have printed off all the oracle’s though. Brilliant they are

#11

Dungeon world supplement Perilous Wilds and Ironsworns Oracle charts. You want inspiration? Look no further. I run an entire solo campaign using these 2 things and write many encounters/ adventures using them. Also dndspeak.com has great d100 lists.

#12

Ironsworn Delve helps with the travel loops for sure - as you can inject an interesting location (dungeon, haunted wood, etc) into the journey on a weak hit or a miss as you feel like. I think the combat is well done because with only having 5hp going into combat is the LAST think probably want to do - but I can see how either “loop” can be frustrating.

#13

I’m dying to see Adam koebels first play of delve. Something about that game just excites me. The only rpg book I own is icrpg (I do have a few other pdfs) but I’m so tempted to get ironsworn and delve in hardback. I just started messing about with roll20 aswel, makes it so much easier, all the tables and stuff so easy to access. It’s got a great character sheet.