It just came out today, it looks like, and is at the top of the charts as a silver seller on DTRPG. Available here (http://drivethrurpg.com/product/212262/INDEX-CARD-RPG-Core-Set?affiliate_id=319435), if you're curious. The preview is too small to make out much about it. Looks kinda cool, but I wanna know more.
Are you talking about the playing aid (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27vYSQrhxR4)? Or is this an actual system now?
Quote from: cranebump;964090Are you talking about the playing aid (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27vYSQrhxR4)? Or is this an actual system now?
I believe there was a contest or discussion over on BGG about it. Simmilar to the "one page board game" and one page RPG module" contests.
Last year the folks from Gumshoe/Trail of Cthulhu had a contest where you had to make an adventure that fit on just one sheet of paper, front and back. Effectively a 2-page module. And a few years ago I participated in a contest where you had to create a game that fit on a postcard. And yearly there the "in a tin" contest.
This was part of the discussion.
(https://www.boardgamegeek.com/camo/7a6a5d2c9814aa57717dc6ca1857c2f5bed00b61/687474703a2f2f36382e6d656469612e74756d626c722e636f6d2f63383937656631663031623064303464383835383263343734353966333937312f74756d626c725f6f703278663261436c3231717a396978686f315f313238302e6a7067)
Its essentially FU condensed. Someone else compared it to Apocalypse World condensed.
Love this comment from an observer.
QuoteThere will someday be a kickstarter to produce a single d6 of typical casino size that has an entire RPG printed onto the six faces.
This isn't that (I think). It's a full game system. Apparently it used to be game aids and is now a system.
"Quick review: Index Card RPG is brilliant. I've thought D&D 5e was as clean and streamlined a tabletop system as you could get, but I was wrong. Some highlights: -Truly self-contained. No marketing BS here: everything you need is in this product; settings, monsters, encounter design. What took WotC ~5-600+ pages Runehammer Games gets done in less than 150.
No derivative maths.
Banana-scale movement. Instead of watching hours of Master Ferinale on his YouTube channel just get this ruleset. Everything he has ever suggested, discussed, or shown in his videos is distilled into this pocket-size wonder. But still go watch his videos at Drunkens & Dragons. They're amazing."
150 pages is still not what I would call streamlined, and 5e is a far cry from as "clean and streamlined" as an RPG can get. This guy likes it, but it doesn't sound like anything I'm interested in shelling out $16.50 for in pdf.
The designer runs a pretty cool youtube channel, Drunkens and Dragons:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCh5vto8JFstb9Sma9zV25g
He's not strictly OSR, but his philosophy has a lot of parallels. He's got a lot of good GMing advice on his channel.
Quote from: DiscoSoup;964136This isn't that (I think). It's a full game system. Apparently it used to be game aids and is now a system.
Yup, he put out the index card aids a couple months ago, but he always had plans to develop it into a full system.
I picked it up yesterday and read through it. It's a very simple and abstract system. There's a lot of things that remind me of some of the better aspects of Dungeon World. The magic system might be a little TOO simple for me, but it's always easy to make things more complicated (too easy). The rest of it is very amenable to on-the-spot rulings. I think it's a great system if you want to game NOW with a varied group of people who may not have any RPG experience.
For what it's worth, I think the author (he calls himself "Hankerin Ferinale") did all the art. I'm not sure I'm a fan of his heading font, though, which looks like the bastard child of comic sans. Actually, it reminds me of the default style for Balsamiq mock-ups, for you developers out there.
Quote from: DavetheLost;964140150 pages is still not what I would call streamlined, and 5e is a far cry from as "clean and streamlined" as an RPG can get. This guy likes it, but it doesn't sound like anything I'm interested in shelling out $16.50 for in pdf.
The vast majority of the text is GM advice and details of two different settings, one fantasy and one sci-fi. The rules to actually play are only 32 pages long.
Quote from: DiscoSoup;964136This isn't that (I think). It's a full game system. Apparently it used to be game aids and is now a system.
Think you are right. Both though are on Drive-Thru.
Quote from: Edgewise;964143The vast majority of the text is GM advice and details of two different settings, one fantasy and one sci-fi. The rules to actually play are only 32 pages long.
32 pages reminds me of the early days of RPGs. That is a pretty streamlined space. And if it includes two settings that ups the value, assuming they are decent.
Is this an actual RPG? Or some kind of quasi-board-game?
Quote from: RPGPundit;964434Is this an actual RPG? Or some kind of quasi-board-game?
Heres a link where he explains the RPG.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzKxWoADJfs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzKxWoADJfs)
Seems like a sort of hybrid like Cardmaster was for D&D. You use the cards as a sort of combination map and even layout and this flows into the RPG part.
For what it's worth, I wrote a review of this game on my own blog a couple days ago:
http://artifactsandrelics.blogspot.com/2017/05/review-index-card-rpg-core-set.html
tl;dr It's a very good simple RPG but I have some reservations about a core mechanic.
Seems too gimmicky for my taste.
I think that's a totally reasonable reaction. It's not my particular cup of tea for similar reasons, but I think it could work very well at certain tables in certain roles.
Its not a new idea. Dragon Storm and RuinsWorld did it way back in the early 90s in a more structured way. And theres been quite a few different tries at things like that both before and after. Just in rather different manners or without the actual RPG rules to back it up. Arcadia: The Wyld Hunt from White Wolf also comes to mind for that sort of locale+event based challenge.