Irth: The RPG
A game in progress by Daniel Carpenter
So, while I was writing the comic book, Irth, I started to wonder if playing a character on Irth in an RPG would be fun…or even work? Irth takes place on our planet in our current year, if we had evolved with the world of D&D. These are some of the basic rules I came up with so far (building on the rules of D&D):
First, create your character. You can choose or roll randomly for things like: your race, living situation, skills, hobbies, quirks, health/mental issues, and magic items.
Race: You can roleplay one of many different sentient races who are citizens of our world (human, elf, dwarf, ogre, orc, goblin, centaur, vampire, lycanthrope, doppelganger, satyr, fairy, minotaur, cyclops, pixie, troll, ettin, et al). Each sentient being has different strengths and weaknesses. (note: ALL of these sentient beings are capable of high or low Intellect Levels as they have evolved!)
Living situations can be anywhere from a homeless shelter to a mansion, single bachelor pad to married with children in a 3 bedroom house, to divorced dad who has his kids on the weekends, to living with a roommate, parents, grandparents, kids in college, etc. Some of these situations will be affected by your age (see below).
Sex could be male, female, or any other if you so choose.
Income level: You can be rich, poor, or middle class. You can roll for your income level and level of debt.
Profession: You can choose a profession based on characteristics you roll 3d6 for: Toughness, Intellect, Street Smarts, Reflexes, Magnetism, and Breaking Point. There are too many professions to have an exhaustive list of them, but, for example:
With a high Toughness score, you could be a: Fireman, Construction Worker, Personal Trainer, Athlete (football/wrestling/rugby, etc.), Garbageman, Truck Driver (big rig/towtruck, etc.), Military/Ex-military, et al.
With a high Intellect score, you could be a: Detective, Doctor, Nurse, Professor/Teacher, Scientist, Architect, Tech/Computer whiz, et al
With a high Street Smarts score, you could be a: Businessman, Accountant/Finance Expert, Stockbroker, Reporter, News Anchor, Prison Warden, et al
With a high Reflexes score, you could be an: Athlete (gymnast/tennis player, etc.), Circus performer, Roadie, Roofer, Dancer, et al
With a high Magnetism score, you could be a: Politician, Lawyer/Paralegal, Salesperson/Clerk, Insurance or Car Salesperson, Singer, Musician, Actor, Model, Stripper, et al. Conversely, with a low Magnetism score, you could be Mortician, Medical Examiner, et al.
The higher your Breaking Point score, the harder it is to wear/break you down under pressure.
Some professions don’t necessarily need to have any one particularly high characteristic, like: Student, Artist, Writer, Criminal, Cop, Jailer, Mechanic, Bus Driver, Retired Person, et al.
And, sometimes you might just be bad at whatever profession you’re in, or you can be unemployed at the moment.
Hobbies/quirks: Roll 1d4 to find out how many hobbies/quirks your character has. Then roll 1d100 on the hobbies and quirks table that many times to see what they are.
Skills could be things like being good at swimming, juggling, gaming, an amazing lover, pole dancing, typing, et al. They might be good or bad. Some “bad at” skills could be being a bad swimmer, dancer, or just a klutz. Roll 1d4 to find out how many skills you have, then roll 1d100 on the skills table that many times to see what your character’s skills are.
Health issues, if you choose to include them, could be anything from having acne to diabetes to being a cancer survivor, etc.
Mental issues, if you choose to include them, could be anything from OCD to PTSD to Paranoia, etc.
Age is basically what level you are, as it your age that determines how many spells you have (see below).
SPELLS ON IRTH
In the Irth RPG, you have the innate ability to learn spells starting at age 14, as long as your Intellect score is 15 or above. Everyone with an Intellect score of 15 or more learns the same amount of spells as everyone else with Intellect of 15 or above, usually one spell per birthday. Parents and Guidance Counselors guide the kids in their spell choices in high school, and, in college, if they go to college, they start to choose spells that will help them in whichever field/major they choose. I constructed a chart of how many cantrips and spells you can learn at each age, and as of now, you start with a total of one cantrip at age 14, two cantrips at age 15, two cantrips and one 1st level spell at age 16, etc. until a total of 5 cantrips and 17 spells at age 50. I’m still in the process of coming up with age appropriate spells that could be lawfully learned. Everyone is required to register which spells they learn within 30 days of their birthday, or a Warrant of arrest is issued. There are those who try to fool the spell-checkers OR stay off the grid as long as possible. There are also black markets that offer “dark spells” for a high price.
LAWS OF SPELL AND MAGIC USE
For the most part, the general law is not to hurt or kill anyone, or use magic items/spells to commit crimes (burglary, robbery, larceny, sex crimes, et al).
Cops carry handcuffs that, when put on someone, render them unable to cast spells. Jails and prisons are also “sealed” against spell use…of course, this means jailers can’t use spells either…but, they can use magic items! (see below) If you are convicted of using spells to commit crimes and do your time, you may be outfitted with an anti-magic ankle bracelet.
You are allowed to use spells in public if they help in the course of your profession, or as good deeds (or at least done in good faith). You can also only use each spell once per day, or until you have 6-8 hours of sleep.
Magic Items are not allowed to be possessed AT ALL by convicted felons, or they could be charged with Criminal Possession of a Magic Item. Some Magic Items are not to be possessed by ANYONE in public, or they could be arrested for Criminal Possession of a Controlled Magic Item. Some are just downright illegal to have at all. These are extremely rare and dangerous, but they do exist, like a deck of many things, or a sphere of annihilation. Often, these items are secretly owned and can sometimes be sold on the black market or dark web. A lot of magic items are legal, some rarer than others, some more expensive than others. Companies exist that create and sell magic items, like the magic furniture store, Paymore and Shenanigans, where you can purchase a nightstand of holding, for instance.
Magic Weapons are out there too. Cops carry +3 Glock Handguns, Tasers, and Asps (Nightsticks). Some weapons, magic or not, are legal to possess in public, like a folding knife or boxcutter. Some are legal to own, but not to have on you in public, like guns (unless you have a carry permit), most knives, swords, machetes, axes, bows, etc. Some are illegal period (these are usually weapons with no other use than to hurt people, like these deadly weapons listed in the New York State Penal Law for example: “Deadly weapon” means any loaded weapon from which a shot, readily capable of producing death or other serious physical injury, may be discharged, or a switchblade knife, gravity knife, pilum ballistic knife, metal knuckle knife, dagger, billy, blackjack, plastic knuckles, or metal knuckles.
Magic Potions also exist, and some, like potions of healing, are used in ambulances and hospitals. Some are illegal, like performance enhancing potions (speed, vitality, etc.). Some potions are basically just illegal drugs sold by criminals, like invulnerability and invisibility for example)
ONE SHOT SCENARIO EXAMPLES
I was trying to come up with some possible one-shot scenarios where a random group of people would have to band together for some reason. You could use randomly generated characters, or pre-made characters, or keep using a character you like for different one-shots. You can even keep your character and join in with other groups one-shots. These are some of the modules I’m working on:
THE BANK MODULE
You are a 32 year old Ogre who works as an accountant on the 27th floor of a building in NYC. On your lunch break, you run across the street to the bank to get some cash for your Minotaur co-worker, whose daughter is selling Girl Scout cookies. The outside ATM is out of order, so you go into the bank and wait on line behind 4 other people. The line gets down to 2 people (an elf nurse and an ogre construction worker in a magic hardhat and wearing a toolbelt full of special tools) and you’re thinking about leaving because you’re running out of time to actually EAT lunch, which is back at the office. All of the sudden a troll, human, and fairy enter the bank and announce a robbery. All you have on you are your cell phone, wallet, work ID, pack of Tic Tacs (which you are addicted to), and a magic tie clip. At 32 years old, you know 4 Cantrips and 12 spells. You’re a pretty good bowler (you have great aim in general), and are amazing with numbers (like “A Beautiful Mind” or Sheldon Cooper) The robbers obviously get initiative, but they are more focused on the security guard and getting the money and splitting. The teller and the other 2 people in line are the other players (they are given their brief backstory, stats, items, and spells ahead of time). Your brain calculates the odds, and you decide to try to stop them. The other players could join in. The teller presses the silent alarm as per company policy, and, when the robbers get the upper hand, the teller ends up handing them a holding bag of money…with a surprise in it. They are about to leave when the cops show up and surround the bank. Now it becomes a hostage situation. They take you all to the basement to get away from the windows, and they see the VAULT! Only the teller knows what lurks in the vault. Also, the bank manager, a beholder, is watching this unfold from his office via the video surveillance system. He will only show up if the creature in the vault is defeated and the robbers get the gold. ALTERNATE GAMEPLAY: You are the team of robbers who decide to rob the bank. Or, two groups of players play both sides against each other.
THE WARRANT SQUAD MODULE
You are a special team of police officers who are tasked with tracking down and arresting people for non-registration of their spells. Whenever someone with high enough intelligence has a birthday, they can learn a new spell within 30 days. Whether or not they choose to learn a spell, they have to register within 45 days of their birthday and get spell checked (a flumph reads their minds and knows if they learned a new spell or not). If they do not register within that 45 days, they are sent a notice to register. If they do not answer that notice, a warrant is issued for their arrest, and the Spell Warrant Squad is advised. The most dangerous offenders are the ones who can learn the higher level spells and already have a criminal history.
IRTH LIFE MODULES
Irth Life Modules can be played in order with the same characters as they grow older, or played as one shots with pre-created characters. You can randomly roll for your birth month and day, or just use your own.
AGE 14-15: CAMP EETCHEEWAWA: You all go to the same high school, but Camp Eetcheewawa is where you all really meet each other for the first time. Depending on your birthday, you are either 14 or 15 years old. You all go away to a co-ed sleepaway summer camp called Camp Eetcheewawa. After a few days, some kids and counselors go missing. You start to investigate and discover there is more than meets the eye at this camp!
AGE 16-17: SENIOR TRIP: You’re all seniors in the same High School now. You go on a class trip to the Museum of Natural History where there are displays of all kinds of creatures of Irth there. You get “accidentally” locked inside overnight, where there are dangerous experiments being committed. Can you survive long enough to escape?
AGE 18-19: SPRING BREAK: You have since all gone off to different colleges and have chosen different majors. You decide to go to Spring Break together in Cancun. When you go to some Mayan ruins on an excursion, you are sold a treasure map to a treasure that no one else has been able to find. As a goof, you look for the hidden opening in an ancient Mayan structure…and find it!
AGE 20-21: FAMILY CRUISE: Your parents are all friends with each other, and they planned a summer cruise for you all. You explore the ship for the first few days, meet some interesting characters, and then the ship gets attacked and boarded by pirates who take some people, including your parents, prisoner. Can you save your parents?
AGE 22-23: THE WEDDING: You all have jobs/careers now, and one of you is getting married! You all go to a huge Chateau in France for the week, for the wedding celebration. One of your plus one’s finds a strange ring one night in the pool, and puts it on. That night, she is taken by an unseen creature. Can you find her before the wedding day?
AGE 24-25: MAINE: Some of you are married, and some of you have kids now. You plan a ski vacation at a hotel in Maine. When you wake up the morning after you get there, you find out that everyone except your party has disappeared. You must explore and figure out the riddles of the King Hotel, including the outdoor labyrinth, before it’s too late to save your loved ones!
If you are interested in collaborating with me on this, email through the contact page!