Do You Know How ICRPG's Magic System Works?

Let's take a deep dive into the arcane and look at how spellcasting works in 2e and Master Edition ICRPG, along with the differences between the Basic and Advanced versions. If you have more questions about spellcasting or anything about ICRPG, you should check out the Runehammer Forums (forums.runehammer.online/)
**CREDITS**
Index Card RPG Master Edition by Runehammer Games (PDF)
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Index Card RPG CORE by Runehammer Games
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FREE ICRPG Quickstart
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[@vigilantgamesllc]

Beautifully laid out. I love the choice of index cards for explaining your talking points. Your market here on KZbin is likely very niche, but you've nailed it, and I wish you loads of success!

[@KanesKiln]

Thanks! I thought it was the most appropriate way to go considering the subject ;) And yeah it definitely is compared to other more mainstream systems, but I love ICRPG. Just want to spread the word and help out :D

[@lilcwa]

Very comprehensive and easy to understand. This covers everything. Excellent job.

[@christiandworschak2749]

Thanks for the ELI5 :) Love the low-tech, highly-effective presentation style - I will pass this video on to my players

[@KanesKiln]

Happy to help! Hopefully it works for you players 😄

[@colerape]

This is very well done! Use the index card method from now on! Makes things so clear.

[@KanesKiln]

Thank you! Will do!

[@jcraigwilliams70]

Great video, as always. The idea of intelligence spells taking inventory slots always kind of bugged me. Essentially it means that a wizard can't actually learn spells, only cast them from an item such as a scroll, book, or whatever. It's not knowledge. Or if it is, then somehow knowledge is stored in a backpack. Something that I wonder about with magic (Master, Advanced) is how a character can create spells (page 321). This means that for level-one spells, the character can pretty much make them on the fly and it seems to suggest (to me) that these spells don't really need to become part of inventory. Just make them up as you need them, without the need of learning them as milestones, loot, or anything else.

[@micahgreen409]

I always assumed the inventory space just means notes, arcane focuses/keys, and material components. I take it for granted that the wizard has his supplies on hand, but the supplies are definitely needed, thus the inventory slots.

[@KanesKiln]

Hmmm I could see that. I’ll have to look more into the spell creation rules because that does seem like an interesting idea.

[@MemphiStig]

Love the way this is laid out and explained.

[@gregdavidson1293]

Good info. Thanks for this!

[@mitchellsink2584]

This was insanely informative. great video. ICRPG is shaping up to be one of my favorite TRPG's and I might start writing my own stuff. I'd like to play it a little while first though. lol.

[@KanesKiln]

Oh sweet! Well I’m glad you’re enjoying it and if you’re ever looking for a game I’m sure we could find you one

[@Slydeish]

Good presentation, it takes a lot of work to plan out a video like this. Awesome work.

[@tomcook4444]

Thank you, very helpful!

[@nikolasviaja]

Great content, thanks for uploading this!

[@KanesKiln]

My pleasure! Hope it helps get some more ICRPG magic into your games :D

[@MrHoleinthevoid]

Straight forward and helpful as always! Hopefully I can get time to play in a game of yours again sometime soon and play a spell caster;)

[@KanesKiln]

Most definitely! You’re always welcome at my table and I’ll look forward to some more community game coming up.

[@markkreitler519]

Great rundown and nice to see it presented on Index Cards...however, it didn't answer my primary question about ICRPG magic: if you have enemies that use spells, what do they use for a target? Room target doesn't make sense (since a higher room target for players should mean a lower room target for enemies). Rolling vs player DEF doesn't make sense for area spells like Fireball (besides, players should be using their DEF as a saving throw in some cases). At a loss -- haven't found this addressed in the rules. Anyone?

[@KanesKiln]

That’s a really good question, that unfortunately doesn’t have one straight answer. My go to default is that the spell just goes off. No roll. If it makes sense, the players might get a saving roll like DEF or Dex or Wis or whatever to resist the spell or reduce the damage. Other times, I roll against a generic target like 12 for the enemy casters but it’s kind of a let down when the enemy dice go cold and they don’t get to do their thing. You could roll against their defense too. If it’s an area spell, just look at what the enemy spellcaster rolled (say a 15) and anyone’s defense who is lower than that gets hit by the spell.

[@markkreitler519]

@@KanesKiln Thanks for the response. I have tried variations on most of those suggestions, too. I'm still not happy with any of them as they either make identical characters behave differently when controlled by the GM vs players, OR they add complexity. I appreciate you confirming that I haven't missed something in the rules, though!

[@raimondomancinelli2654]

Great explanation as always. What is the difference with Hard suit magic system?

[@KanesKiln]

That's a good question. I didn't cover it in the video obviously but it lines up fairly closely with the other settings. The big difference is that SORCERY is cast with CON. Then you can gain more sorcery abilities when you trade in 3 MASTERY and the Sorcery Power isn't considered loot so you can't lose them once you gain them.

[@isaacwilliams9041]

Just as a clarification question. Do the spells in the advanced magic section of Master Edition still count as Loot, and therefore take up inventory space? Or are they just known spells?

[@KanesKiln]

That's a good question. And I think it depends and could go either way. For example Glyph of Fire could have been found from ancient scroll and you use INT. The GM could rule that it is connected to that item and takes up inventory. OR perhaps you studied under a great wizard and he taught this glyph, burning it into your mind. GM says you roll WIS and now it's a WIS power that doesn't take inventory. It's not a clear cut answer, but it could go either way :D Just however you and your GM want to play it.

[@GoblinLord]

Question: in Core, do spells have dedicated mechanics, or is it just a thematic description of them effectively replacing a normal roll with a spell (like the idea of using a magic effort roll to cross a pit vs just jumping because they flew as opposed to saying "you get x fly speed for y time so on and so forth) it felt like they were basically saying "you're giving up hp to roll with magic which you're better at than this stat"

[@KanesKiln]

In CORE, magic is roll to cast. Roll INT or WIS against the TARGET and on a success, the spell goes into affect. The advanced MAGIC system, introduces HP or SP to track the cost of the spell after you roll to cast it

[@GoblinLord]

@@KanesKiln I mostly meant the effect portion, the advanced version has a listed "This is what the spell does" while core just has the name of the spell

[@KanesKiln]

Pages 46-49 have the list of INT and WIS spell with their mechanics effects. Was there a spell you were seeing that only had the name?

[@GoblinLord]

@@KanesKiln nevermind, my one brain cell broke and must've dyslexia'd (rpgs are hard lol) thanks for your help anyways, I just misread it, quite badly I might add! my friend was talking about the system being "argumentative" and I was trying to find more info on the system but my eyes didn't work while reading it

[@GoblinLord]

while I'm at it though, are the rules surrounding the idea of battle worlds only in Bearcats? I'm wondering cause I've heard of someone using the idea for a Legend of Zelda campaign and wanted to see if there was an easy way to learn more

[@williamgrandov8688]

Awesome video with a great breakdown. I can be wrong but I though magic was a d10?

[@KanesKiln]

Thanks! And in Master Edition, you are correct. Magic Effort is typically a d10. In CORE 2e, Magic Effort is a d8. For Glyph of Fire, you actually roll a d12. So it really depends, but it can totally be adjusted to be consistent across the board, or tweaked to fit the situation. Fun stuff! :D

[@vigilantgamesllc]

Kane pretty much gave you all you needed to know, but I'll add on that Magic was raised to a d10 in ME because guns was added as it's own category at the d8 tier. In 2e, guns counted as weapons at the d6 tier.

[@shepherd3716]

How do you know Astral Flight is either INT or WIS? The rule book doesn't tell you this. Is it because the spell doesn't tell you specifically which stat to use that you can use either?

[@KanesKiln]

On page 319 of Master Edition, it talks about rolling INT or WIS to cast spells like standard ICRPG magic casting, but for Astral Flight which is a Holy spell, most players roll WIS for all Holy Spells because the core WIS spells are include. There are many things like this in ICRPG where they aren’t explicitly written and you learn to interpret or make rulings along with your GM.

[@Smittumi]

Off topic: will you ever run another Xeno Dead Zone game? The last one was great!

[@KanesKiln]

I certainly plan too. Once Alfmarches wraps up, I’m hoping to switch things up and get back to all these fun settings like Xeno Dead Zone.

[@DM-CW]

Damn i thought I was pretty original creating my magic system to require HP as the cost

[@dayminkaynin]

What do you mean poise ultimate near the end? I thought magic was d8 and ultimate was d12.

[@KanesKiln]

Are you referring to the Glyph of Fire spell? Magic does do D8 in 2e (D10 in ME), but for that particular spell, it does ULTIMATE damage which is why you'd multiply by d12 instead of the standard MAGIC effort die.

[@yuvalgabay1023]

Whait is the advanced magic icrpg comes whit icrpg ultimate?

[@KanesKiln]

ICRPG Master Edition includes a refined CORE, the WORLDS book, the updates advanced MAGIC book, Vigilante City, and Blood and Snow in one volume