Index Card RPG Core: Second Edition

If you are an RPG Game Master, get this book. Your players will thank you.I bought this book because I have been a fan of the author's YouTube channel for a few years. On it, he teaches us "how to play D and D like a big ole badass" with recurring "shows" such as Lair of Knowledge, Key Mechanics, Room Design, and so on. I have taken notes on some of the concepts that he's given and it has helped me -- a veteran D&D player since 1982 -- to improve my dungeon mastering. What I sought from this purchase was first to get some of the ways this guy thinks in written form, and second to support his efforts because I think he has done a lot for RPGing by being intelligent, artistic, informative, entertaining (without seeming to display contrived enthusiasm) and encouraging.This is a first impression review so, in short, it gave me what I was looking for in it! He covers several of his key mechanics (described on his YouTube channel) applicable for DMs/GMs in any RPG; e.g., "Timers, Threats, Treats" and "Targets" and so on. The art (both the images and the maps, rendered by the author himself) has a retro feel, but with thicker markers than the days early AD&D, lending it a sort of grizzly or gritty feel that creates a sense of primal-ness or dangerous mystery, probably because they resemble a "rough-hewn tunnel" (to use a classic D&D descriptor) which inspires me to draw too because I am not a trained or practiced artist. Just looking at the maps can be enough to show a DM how to start designing an adventure! He then adds in details not found in most published adventures, such as a table of catch-phrases for NPCs (something I am always collecting and assign to each important NPC I deploy so I can actually play that character with some consistency when I DM). Lastly, with his over-the-top commitment to the game (which absolutely kicks ass), he provides is an "Oath" for DMs which reminds us of what we are supposed to be doing when running a game.Although I do not intend to play the ICRPG itself at this time, I find it an incredible source of inspiration for any DM, presented in a simple and fun fashion. Using the concepts I learned on his YouTube channel and are now found in this book has enabled me to create encounters that have inspired fear in my players, even when facing something as mundane as giant rats. (Overconfident at first, one charged into the rat room and found himself cut off and surrounded. He exclaimed in a high-pitched voice, "I don't want to die in these rats!" Don't worry, they got him out of there.) Study of this book might help you to transform yourself from mere mortal struggling to pay the bills into a sublime goddess, revered and feared by landlords and moguls everywhere in your world. WOOOOOH!

In addition to being an amazing, simple to learn and run game, it is an amazing resource for DM's, judges, game masters, referees, or anyone who runs a game! Worth the price for that section alone. Fun, fun, and more fun! Very quick paced, clever features and streamlining. I've been playing RPGs for over 30 years and this is a must buy.

Index Card RPG perfectly encapsulates the spirit and the experience of old-school tabletop roleplaying games, delivered with consistent, intuitive, modern mechanics that are easy to learn and teach to others. It’s a game that is built for gamemasters from the ground up, providing all the tools and the inspiration one ever needs for unique, personalized, original worldbuilding and DIY adventure settings in any time, place, or genre. ICRPG always provides a way forward, and with its universality and hack-friendly, plug-in game mechanics, it provides the most tabletop fun you’re going to find in 400 pages. The art throughout the book is evocative and inspiring. No matter what your level of experience is with RPGs, this book has something valuable to offer to you. Read it and see for yourself.

This system looks quick and easy to run. I'm looking forward to running a game for my friends

Buy this book... nope stop reading... just buy this book now....Brandish is without question one of the best RPG writers of our age. This is a master work, it's worth double what he is asking. This is an incredibly easy to read, well designed RPG system, you can use it to run any setting. There's a great saying, don't write the parts that people skip, not only does Brandish do this here, but the system it's self is like an RPG system that skips the stuff that your probably already home brewing out of your games. If this is your first RPG Book or your 100th, you could do no better then buy this one. He has been called the Bob Ross of RPG's, he's like a professor of Table Top, the chapter on dungeon/game mastering is probably one of the best written and most practical guide to encounter and adventure design ever written. I hope you get this book and have magnificent games with it. ICRPG for life and thank you Brandon for writing this.