Looking to run ICRPG at my school

#1

Hi all! This is my first foray into Runehammer and I gotta say, this community seems awesome!

I work at a middle school and the librarian and I have been working on starting up a TTRPG club to introduce kids to the hobby and give them a space to play regularly.

At first, I was all-in on going for Pathfinder 2e because of the easy access to resources and a general respect for Paizo, but then I came across this video by Dungeon Masterpiece on YouTube and I got really interested.

I’ve been drowning myself in index cards for spells and items in my games already, so upon seeing a lightweight setting-agnostic system dedicated to them, I got over to drivethrurpg and ordered the book and PDF. Now that I’ve seen how amazingly accessible the game is, I’m sure this is going to be a massive success with the students!

Does anyone here have experience running ICRPG with students? Perhaps advice for keeping everything running, training brand new GMs, or added structure so the kids aren’t totally lost with such a broad possibility space?

#2

I don’t run ICRPG at a school, but I do run a monthly game for a youth group consisting of kids 8 to 17. I recommend running sessions using quests based around the popular “five-room dungeon” concept, which is a structured, linear adventure in which PCs face guardian/gateway, puzzle/RP, setback, boss fight, and resolution/reward encounters in series. In truth, I actually “cheat” and make “seven-room dungeons” that branch after the gateway entrance to two separate puzzle-and-setback tracks before regrouping for the boss fight; this gives the dungeon more of an exploratory dimension, a little bit of recursion, and a chance for the party to “fail forward” if one path becomes too tough and they need to double back and attempt the alternate route. Hope this helps…

#3

Great idea; I would just advise that you change the results of the loot tables, as “gar” shows up as loot items with fair regularity, and that might be against the school’s policy.

#4

I have worked extensively with students and I will do my best to give you some tips! I’m at work now (running a game today ironically) but I will get back to you as soon as I can!

#5

Hello !
I’m a middle school teacher, and I led a few games with the students (11 to 16 years old) during special activities days.
First, even if I never used ICRPG (it wasn’t released in French at the time) for that, I can tell by experience that it’s a very good move comparing to more “crunchy” rpgs.
Students LOVE throwing different dice and use props (cards, maps, tokens…) around so ICRPG is perfect for that, they also love drawing their characters and personalize them, so ic and loot is perfect too.
A few advice: make sure the students are eager or at least curious to play. Do not take more than 6 players per table. Make sure you have enough time to set up and play the game, especially during the first sessions. Make regular 5-10 minutes break every hour, unless your players ask for more (beyond this, focusing is sometimes hard for some students). Go straight into action and explain rules as you go. Find a place where there are not too much people coming and going around… These are some tips, not written in stones, but I made some mistakes that cost me what could have been good times :wink:
Anyway, it’s an amazing project ! Go ahead and tell us what ! :slight_smile:
(one time, We were playing in a class room at ground floor. Other students passing by shout “Hey look ! They are playing the Stranger Things game !” :smiley: )

#6

Always build in time at the end of a session to review the real-world translation of what they did at the table. You can review team building (how each different character used their special skill-set to make the overall mission a success). When setting up your games, make sure to allow for different skill checks that cover most, if not all, of the core Stats (Strength, Dexterity, etc.).
Probability and Statistics are two topics that obviously carry the mechanical foundation of the game.
Problem-solving and Critical Thinking can be highlighted (have a session where some of their most used loot gets destroyed, lost or stolen).
Collaboration and communication (remember, you don’t always have to kill the “monster”, sometimes you just have to find out what they want and work out a compromise or mutually beneficial solution).
The system is set up to allow ease of blending settings. The Warp Shell setting (sci-fi) can be used to move characters from one setting/era to another (think TARDIS from Doctor Who or the phone booth from Bill and Ted movies).
You can also incorporate After Action Reviews. Have them go over what happened, what things were successful and what things could have been executed better.
Before starting any game, make sure to have a zero session where you discuss expectations and set clear guidelines on what is and isn’t acceptable behavior for characters. Ask about things that could be triggers. Using Vigilante City Stun points you could avoid actually killing anyone (think A-Team, G.I. Joe cartoon, etc.).
Hope this helps.

#7

Maybe replace it with Rouge Bovine potion. :sunglasses:

#8

Oh ! and don’t forget to remind them about respect, goodwill, fair-play (most of the time it’s fine but can’t be bad to say it once again :slight_smile: )

#9

Thank you all for pitching in!

@chrisbynum that is quite a range of kids! I’m impressed. We’ll definitely have to play around with the 5-room dungeon design; it sounds like an easy tool to teach the kids too.

@The_Merlitron this reminds me, one of the other schools in the district has a “taverns serve root beer” rule

@Troll_Mechanik we definitely learned a few of those lessons in our early test run with a small group of kids. The breaks are a good idea I hadn’t considered yet.

@Sweenie_McGuffin I love the use of the game as a teaching opportunity for the kids. I really appreciate the ideas you give here. It’ll help give me a starting direction for weekly lessons.

I’ll be sure to keep you all posted when the club gets off the ground! Who knows, the kids might even give us some ideas we can all use at our tables