Not to add too much to it, though I will, but ICRPG is a toolset, you can play anything with it. Nothing says you can’t add your favorite elements of anything. In fact it is encouraging you to do so. Loot, is not loot, damage is not damage. Loot is a progression damage aka effort is effectiveness.
Personally I am looking at running it with dice pools. But have not zeroed in on the method.
That said, published material is a guide or marker. Role playing comes from the players, the GM gives interesting moments.
If players don’t like the randomness of “loot” give them build points or cash that they can trade in for what they want. 5+attribute=cost 5=level 1 spell 10= level 2…to increase role playing, the points paid give them the chance to acquire said loot/spell/artifact/boon/skill/implant/power in the next adventure/session. Make it straight forward but not easy.
ICRPG takes RPG systems to its base, gives it raw and uncluttered, you get to add all the clutter you want to make it feel like home. It is a framework that is playable. It even has heart and tempo. You want to add distinctions between gun types, go for it. It’s not hard just don’t make items over powered.
Effort is the mechanism for everything, Your party is at a gala trying to persuade the patrons to give $2500000 to their charity as opposed to the 2 other charities.
This is where I go off the rails in the traditional had too much to drink to be posting.
Timers is how long each character has to persuade each board members of the trust to give to your charity. Each character can only engage each trusty once before the trustee is bored.
Your opposing charities use 2 simple Ai systems, all on one trustee per timer cycle and the other opponent is one of their members per trust board member at a time. It takes 50 points of effort to lock a trustee to vote for a charity. Players don’t know who is locked in, and they can interrupt the opposing charities with effort on a one to one scale. “Oh, Charles, are you still beating your children when they don’t bring home an A on their report card” 1d8 against Charles effort or 1d12 if it’s true or the rumor say it is.
At the end of the gala the trustees vote, awarding the money.
Locked in trustees are locked those that never got locked goes to whomever got the most points with them in a single timer cycle.
That is 100% ICRPG and almost all role playing. Clever tactics can keep trust board members from being locked by opponents, but your team needs to lock some or the opponents will win specially the AI that group attacks.
Spending time talking to assistants or learning about the trustees might make rolls easy, not knowing something about them might make rolls hard. Some might be intimidated, some bribed with a show of skin, others put off by begging for money and just want an interesting conversation.
This system is the system I wish I had 20 years ago. It took a mad genius to come up with it. Since a corporate group could not, it just lacks the polish a corporate group can add. So we as GMs need to think a bit outside the box, but not add too much work to planning, we just go with the flow the players give us and where the muses take us.
Also, trying to figure out a good way to get some type of level progression for him in ICRPG (which it looks like MAGIC might have), but still not sure his exact reasoning. Maybe after we play awhile with D&D, I can get him to switch after pointing out issues (privately to him) as we play.