An RPG with great character gear: Index Card RPG.

This is a great opportunity to talk about gear as experience in fantasy TTRPGs. I was first introduced to this concept by Index Card RPG where the character’s gear is their experience in the form of improvements to them. The +1 To Hit and Damage sword is the same as gaining a warrior level in some other d20 system games.

Casters can grow by finding scrolls and tomes with various new spells to add to their repertoire. A martials arts monk finds, or is maybe rewarded a black belt, after years of diligent training. A master swordsman is given a headband as a symbol of his status amongst swordsmen.

Different items mean special things to specific characters. The kicker is what happens when they lose the item, or it is destroyed in some adventuring mishap. Then the character is in a tough spot until they find, repair, or replace the loot in question. A character’s entire mission in life might revolve around trying to get their beloved sword back.

There are a few other ways to “level up” in ICRPG (with Milestone Abilities and Mastery, etc,) but Loot is by far the best method for most characters. It’s a huge boon to the Game Master, too. If somebody gets a little too powerful, they might lose an item or two. It works so well that the author of ICRPG, Berin Kinsman aka Hankerin Ferinale, wrote Crown and Skull around an equipment based damage/health system.

Back when I first learned about using gear as experience, I seriously questioned how well it would work outside of a fantasy world. It turns out magic is just technology we don’t understand yet in ICRPG. Warp Shell (sci-fi setting) characters advance quite smoothly through gear. The gear they are rewarded gets more advanced as time goes on. Instead of a +1 sword, the character receives a helmet with a +2 targeting system in it. The system is quite elegant.

Thank you for being here today with me. I appreciate you. Please embrace the things that bring you the most joy.