The Grizzly Rant

NPCs. Companions. The dreaded "GM-PC." We've all seen them. Most of us have been them. But no more! Rid thyself, O Game Master, of the shackles binding thee to eternal NPC bookkeeping! Fret not, O Player, of a new burden of which thou wilt never remember to do nor use! BEHOLD! Grizzly Encounter FORCES!  An ICRPG Supplement on Character Creation, NPCs, Companions, Villains, Kingly LOOT, and more! Estimated 2019. NOTE: TL;DR in CONCLUSION FORCES: Companions as LOOT "Companions" here mean NPCs (Non-Player Characters) that specifically follow the party for some reason. A Companion LOOT "Item" is more a conceptual thing than anything, for truly it stands for the NPC's Friendship. And Friendship is Earned, through hard work, Attempts at communication and interaction, and Effort.  In short, Companions are LOOT Chests, opened with CHA (or other STATs, depending on how they Attempt to win over the NPC). Once a PC has opened the proverbial...

So many ideas, so little time. Seriously. I was hit with life like a truck hits a moose. Neither comes out too well, and everything grinds to a halt. There are a myriad of projects I have in the works here at The Grizzly Rant and the Grizzly Encounter series, but these will be postponed for a bit longer. For some bizarre reason I have yet to figure out, folks appear to enjoy my ideas and products. For that, I am blown away, humbled, and grateful. I fully intend to keep working on all of it for a simple reason: I love Game Mastering at my table. These ideas, projects and products are things I create for my players. And with a little cleanup, they enhance our hobby and my favorite game system, Index Card RPG. That being said, I know a scant few of y'all actually follow me (can't fathom why), so here are a few brief updates on what I am slowly  working on between moving and prepping for a new classroom: The Grizzly Rant: Idea Factory The blog will continue fas...

I was drafting the "starter session" for a city quest the other day I call "The Whispers of Madness." It's a mystery adventure. ICRPG is an inherently fast-paced game, and mystery-type adventures are notorious for grinding parties to a halt for HOURS as they attempt to solve what the Game Master thought a relatively simple mystery, what is wrong  with you idiots, make a damn Perception check already! This is mostly because mysteries tend to rely on the wits of the players, and not the player characters. And GM's are not always flawless story or mystery writers. This was something I sought to remedy. BEHOLD: GM Grizzly's Story CHUNKS I love CHUNKS . They are so versatile, and I wonder just how much so Runehammer thought they might be when he first devised them. Initially, I applied a modified version to travel , then applied the concept to buildings and towns . Through the course of developing this adventure and its story , however, I realized s...

Storage. The bane of craft GMs everywhere. I make 3D terrain for my table and all my kits are modular and reversible whenever possible to help alleviate this problem. ICRPG saved my proverbial bacon in a lot of ways when it came to miniatures, providing papercraft minis of heroes and monsters in a consistent style that can be fitted to removable bases. My storage problems for miniatures did not end quite here, however. In fact, I found myself with a new problem: I now had 100+ paper minis, each with a craft stick glued inside for stability and basing, and sorting and storing them was becoming a problem. I needed to come up with a system that was as simple as ICRPG itself and in the process, revolutionized the way I thought about monsters in game design entirely. Behold: GM Grizzly's Jars of EVIL. The Jars Of Evil What  is  a Jar of EVIL? Fundamentally, it is a jar, container, or in my case, an old Greek Yogurt or Cottage Cheese tub that keeps a specific "class...

I have a mage at my table. Her name is Sabina, the Pyromage. She has a spell that can either: Clear a Room of up to three, small (2 Heart) Enemies in one hit, or; One-shot a non-fire-resistant boss monster.  Sabina is awesome. Provided the spell doesn't explode in her face, miss... or accidentally hit her sister. Because there is another adventurer in the party. Her name is Agnes, the Twin Blade. She's pretty cool too, and her regular attack can one-shot 1-2 Heart creatures. Add the Kettish Chains' ability to re-roll on high Attempts and she easily does similar damage at close range. I love both these characters. But sometimes Agnes feels like Sabina takes the spotlight a little too much. That's on me as the GM, because Sabina has almost zero ability in STR or DEX tasks, things Agnes excels in. I need to design more STR and DEX based Effort challenges to give Agnes more screentime. Sabina can lay down some heavy covering fire. On the subject of "...