RuneJammer 2023

For the last couple of years, I’ve been playing a role playing game called Index Card RPG. This is a D20 roll-over system, much like Dungeons and Dragons, but with a very different vibe. It’s quick to learn, and easy to play. In September 2021, I found and joined the Runehammer Forums to ask questions about ICRPG and engage with the broader community. From there, I joined the Runehammer Patreon, where the game’s author shares all manner of new content, ideas, and more. From there, I joined the Runehammer Discord server, and met an absolute ton of new people, all eager to play this game and support one another.

For several years the Runehammer Discord server was only available to Patreon supporters. It was a small community, mostly drama free, with like-minded folks supoprting one another in gaming brainstorming, how to be a better player, how to be a better game master, and more. I have significantly improved my role playing chops by being a casual participant in this little community, and I’ve made a number of important new friendships.

Because the official Discord server was members-only, an ICRPG community Discord server was created, open to any and all. This was a larger group of people, but with a significant representation from all the Patreon supporters, which created some neat feedback loops between curious first-timers and die-hard fans. One such feedback loop was the idea for a “game jam” for ICRPG: an online convention of sorts where experience GMs could run games for people who had yet to play. Almost immediately a handful of community members got excited and set about planning this thing.

The result was RuneJammer 2023. We had games scheduled online for an entire week, covering fantasy and sci-fi and cosmic horror and weird west and super hero genres. Dozens of people who had never played signed up and got to experience the ICRPG system with a supportive GM. The feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive: players enjoyed the games, enjoyed learning the system, and enjoyed making connections with new folks.

The name RuneJammer is a riff on the Runehammer name, obviously, and a game jam. While this year’s event was focused on Index Card RPG, with a special appearance by EZD6 and its author DM Scotty himself, future events will open to the entire Runehammer catalog: Viking Death Squad, War|Maker, 5E Hardcore Mode, and the forthcoming Crown and Skull.

It was a very rag-tag operation, with a handful of GMs bickering together about what to do or not to do, how much organizational overhead was useful and how much was stifling, and trying to guess what people actually wanted in advance. I think we did a bang-up job, overall! It wasn’t just the new players that had fun: all of us organizers had fun running our games, meeting new people, and working together to create something awesome.

We’re taking a small breather, and will be soon starting to loosely plan RuneJammer 2024. Join the Discord server, and get involved!