Index Card RPG — Fast d20 with one Target per scene

"One Target on the table, and everyone knows what to roll."

Diced20 + effort dice (d4–d12)

Players3–6

Prep~20 min

Foundry VTTCommunity

Complexity

What is this system

Index Card RPG (ICRPG) from Runehammer Games is Hankerin Ferinale's light d20 system that grew out of Sharpie drawings on index cards. Master Edition gathers every piece into one book: revised rules, five worlds and one of the best GM guides in the hobby. No skills, feats or formulas — six stats, effort dice and timers that keep the pressure on.

Is it for your table?

Pick it if

you want a light d20 game with one visible Target per scene
your GM wants strong advice on timers, pacing and improvisation
you want to hop between fantasy, space and weird west on one engine

Skip it if

you want skill lists, feats and detailed character builds
your group dislikes clockwise turns and countdown timers in every fight
you want a game tied to one deep, detailed setting

Setting

Five worlds on one engine: the fantasy of Alfheim, Warp Shell's space opera of sentient ships, Ghost Mountain's weird west where Heaven and Hell fight over the frontier, the street-level supers of Vigilante City and the Ice Age of Blood and Snow. Mix them freely, or lift the ideas into your favourite game.

What it looks like at the table

An index card sits in the middle of the table: Target 14. The GM sets a d4 beside it showing 3 — in three turns the cave comes down. Turns go clockwise. The warrior rolls d20 + STR: 13, a miss. Next, the rogue aims for the crack in the golem's chest — hard, so her Target is 17. Natural 20! A hit with Ultimate effort: weapon d6 plus a d12 on top, 4 + 9 = 13 damage. The golem has two Hearts — 20 points — and 7 remain. The timer clicks down to 2.

Playstyle

Combat Exploration Tactical Fantasy Space Weird

Key mechanics

One Target per scene

The GM sets a single number for the whole room, usually 10 to 18, and leaves it in plain sight. Picking the lock, hitting the dragon, jumping the pit — all roll against it. Easy or hard actions shift it by 3, and clever play (lighting torches in a pitch-black cave) can bring it down.

Effort dice and Hearts

Success means you hit; how much you get done is the effort die: bare hands d4, weapons and tools d6, guns d8, magic and energy d10. A natural 20 adds Ultimate effort, a d12. Health and big tasks are measured in Hearts of 10 points each.

Timers and clockwise turns

Players act in clockwise order, like a board game. The GM puts a timer die on the table and ticks it down every round: "in three turns, the cave collapses." The pressure keeps fights from becoming white-room slugfests.

Five worlds and the GM's Oath

A character is a life form, a type, a one-line story and six points spread across six stats; loot does the rest. A big share of the book is practical GM advice: session structure, encounter design, timers and improvisation.

What people say

ICRPG: Master Edition is crammed with genuinely useful advice on how to run a better session, and I learned more from these pages than in a half-dozen competitors.— Benjamin Abbott, GamesRadar+

The d20 + effort dice system is surprisingly robust.— Rob Wieland, EN World

Art & materials