Will it work for middle schoolers hooked on 5e?

#1

So here’s the backstory. I’m a relatively newish DM, back from 3.5. Teacher with an after-school ttrpg club. As I dove into DnD again, I was more drawn to OSR vibes than 5e (don’t like the OP-ness of characters in 5e). I tried Shadowdark with the club, and it was ok, but they begged me to do 5e. So I did. They went crazy with character creation, skills, feats, spells, etc. I think they were doing what they liked, and I gave it an honest try, but I really didn’t enjoy it.

So we’re doing it again next year, and I’ve been researching all summer trying to find something that will work – Shadowdark (again), White Box, DCC, OSRIC, Cairn, Dragonbane… then I happened upon ICRPG, and I think this might really work. Fast combat, simple math, but characters can still do cool stuff only limited by their imagination (and the target number).

My question – how to introduce it? I’m thinking of saying we’re doing 5e “but hacked and homebrewed like crazy”. Not sure if that will work. I don’t think my kid that wants to be a death sorcerer who can deal 9 points of necrotic damage at level 1 will be happy.

Thoughts, suggestions? Thanks!

#2

Here’s how.

“Y’all wanna play some D&D?”

“Cool, here are the six stats. Assign these six points as your bonuses …. Assign these four point as your damage bonuses. Choose your lifeform, class, and then starting ability.”

“Choose 3 pieces of gear…”

“Off we go….”

#3

I’ve been playing primarily with my son (8) and nephews (12) lately and one of them only knew D&D from school. I simply said “ sure I can run D&d for you, I just use a slightly different system for simplicity. It’s easier for me to run it this way which allows me to give u guys a better experience.” And after just one session, they were all hooked and the D&d player had absolutely no qualms about the switch.

#4

Really great. The key is to just get people rolling dice as soon as possible. They don’t even notice the absence of other rules when they are actually playing. So, instead of making a big disclaimer at the start, just get them going. “We playin’ some D&D y’all!”

#5

Awesome replies, everyone, thank you! Very encouraging.

Now I need to pick a beginning adventure. Looking for recos. I’m ok with riffing off published adventures, and though I really want to get great at homebrewing adventures and campaigns, I’m not there yet.

#6

Messaged you some free adventures for ICRPG. Hope they help! :shield:

#7

Also head over to the Runehammer Community Content for a ton of goodies from ol’ Hankerin.

-Character sheets
-Index Card Volumes 1-4 (print and cut index card art)
-VTT token collection
-And definitely check out the ICRPG Adventure Collection for a bunch of adventures across the Runiverse.

#8

STRONGLY recommend Orvald’s Tower from the icrpg adventures. It’s great for introducing players to icrpg, great first adventure for the first time icrpg GM.

#9

I love the instant danger and action. So cool.

So I’m assuming this has the sf setting?

#10

No, not explicitly. Though it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to make it sci-fi… when I ran it for my kids (11 and 13) and my wife, the characters had just defeated the mad mage Orvald at the top of his mage tower. The moment he dies, literally the beginning of the scenario, a great storm of evil magic power begins wrecking the tower and it becomes a mad dash to get to the bottom and leave the tower before it collapses. You get timers galore to keep them moving, the final boss takes a bit of creative thinking to defeat, it’s just an all around great adventure to introduce icrpg to a group. I’ve ran this adventure as the first icrpg adventure for all the groups I’ve GMed for at this point and it has been a hit every time.

#11

Cool, thanks! I can see why it’s always a hit.

#12

Do not use the term “Effort” it’s weird and awkward, damage just works better, especially if they’ve played D&D. In fact, stick with D&D lingo across the board, Ability Scores instead of “Stats”, Feats/Features instead of “Abilities”, etc. Have them apply 7 points along their 6 Ability Scores, this is what most D&D 5e PCs have. Keep 5e weapon damage, do not use Basic/Weapon/Magic, etc. Let them convert 5e spells, Feats, Features to ICRPG style writing and simplicity. Spells are 10+ their level to cast. It’s SUPER easy to run 5e with ICRPG simplicity.

#13

Thanks for the suggestions. I agree that “Effort” is a tricky concept, and I see that Hank was trying to get away from straight “Damage”, since opening a lock, for instance, isn’t really inflicting damage. But to avoid confusion…

I might be not understanding, but are you suggesting ways to run 5e with an ICRPG flavor, or the other way around?

#14

If you want to put effort into 5e it can be really simple without making too far of a departure for 5e fans. It’s just a matter of putting story into the skill check instead of the 5e one-and-done mentality.

Johnny’s turn. ‘my rogue picks the lock’. Rolls high with his skill bonus.

‘nice roll! You feel several of the tumblers inside click and turn. Roll me a d4 and add your Dex bonus. 8! Max roll nice. You still feel some friction in the lock. It’s not quite there! Oh man the zombies are closing in! You know next turn this thing will pop if everyone can keep you safe!’

Adds pressure. Brings in the rest of the table to accomplish the task. Uses 5e lingo for the die-hard fans. Player feels accomplished and knows next turn it’ll be a success.

When I run 5e I run a lot of the simplicity of ICRPG in the background. Monster blocks are shortened and spells/abilities are simplified. I find it makes my job easier as a DM.

On the players side they run 5e with all their skills, spells, etc. as normal. They get all the things that makes them interested in the rules and I do all the things on th DM side to lighten the load.

#15

Thanks for the suggestions! I will def think on these if it comes to that. I do think one of my issues with 5e is the “cognitive load” required to be a GM, which is probably one reason I’m drawn more to rules-lighter systems.

#16

So cool. Thanks for the suggestions!

#17

First, thanks for all the great suggestions and encouragement! Update – it was down to ICRPG or Shadowdark. I wrestled with the choice as I love them both, but finally chose SD as it’s the one that I had some experience with. Not a lot, but some. I just wasn’t confident in running a brand-new system for a new group. However, I still am a big fan of the index card, and I’m sure parts of that mindset will get ported over. And who knows, maybe next time!

Thanks again.