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Post by mao on Dec 4, 2018 16:32:00 GMT -5
One of the strangest from my early days(1977) was double movement. Not sure why someone would look at the game and say"Hey, 12" w mini's wasn't enuf" So what made you scratch your head?
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Post by ripx187 on Dec 4, 2018 19:28:11 GMT -5
Taking away an undead's ability to drain levels. This is their #1 attack. Even a 15th level Fighter pays attention when there is a level drainer in the room, and you are going to take that away? I hear people whine about it for years afterward, Cowboy up! Drain Level scares even the most jaded of players, no matter how Cleave 'em & Leave 'em they are. Turn me into a beast man, change my alignment to Chaotic Evil, give my character giant boobs and orcish venereal disease, I don't care, I'm still going to attack normally; but drop me a level or two with one hit, they'll be more careful . . . at least in cemeteries.
Another one is Dwarven Wizards, why?
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Post by fearghus on Dec 6, 2018 21:39:38 GMT -5
Another one is Dwarven Wizards, why? I have never had anyone ask to play one, though I can't say I'd care enough to not allow it. Out of curiosity, why not?
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Post by ripx187 on Dec 10, 2018 15:07:12 GMT -5
Another one is Dwarven Wizards, why? I have never had anyone ask to play one, though I can't say I'd care enough to not allow it. Out of curiosity, why not? Dwarves have magic resistance, and have to roll a saving throw against friendly spells cast upon them. I think that they have their own magic but it is all related to mining, stoneworking, and forging. The default game takes place during the decline of Dwarves and Elves, in the time of men. Men should be stronger, but also, the reason to play a dwarf is the flavor of it, including the restrictions. I'm good with restrictions!
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Post by simrion on Dec 11, 2018 5:42:00 GMT -5
Taking away an undead's ability to drain levels. This is their #1 attack. Even a 15th level Fighter pays attention when there is a level drainer in the room, and you are going to take that away? I hear people whine about it for years afterward, Cowboy up! Drain Level scares even the most jaded of players, no matter how Cleave 'em & Leave 'em they are. Turn me into a beast man, change my alignment to Chaotic Evil, give my character giant boobs and orcish venereal disease, I don't care, I'm still going to attack normally; but drop me a level or two with one hit, they'll be more careful . . . at least in cemeteries. Cleave 'em and Leave 'em...I love that! Have an exalt for the nerfing of level drain in the later editions! Characters (and their players) with experience with past level drainers should be modifying their battle tactics NOT whining about going toe to toe with the monsters. OD&D was about exploration and avoidance if at all possible, combat as a last resort!
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Post by mao on Dec 14, 2018 9:10:05 GMT -5
Honest, PCs do double damage on a 19-20, NPCs and monsters do double damage on an 18-20
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Post by Mr Darke on Mar 28, 2019 12:38:22 GMT -5
Here's one from my High School days: Females take a -2 penalty on Strength due to the gender specific ability to bear children.
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Post by mao on Jul 9, 2019 12:54:58 GMT -5
Here's one from my High School days: Females take a -2 penalty on Strength due to the gender specific ability to bear children. I had a rule for years that there could be no female human fighters, non human females yes, also yes to rangers and paladins
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Post by El Borak on Jul 12, 2019 15:38:21 GMT -5
I've never had any gender specific house rules.
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Post by mao on Jul 12, 2019 16:45:38 GMT -5
I've never had any gender specific house rules. In my youth I was a misogynist .
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Post by Malcadon on Jul 13, 2019 2:34:17 GMT -5
Body-location Injury Chart: A means to add more "realism" to the game; failed miserably due to the added time and effort to use in a fight, and the inevitability of unplayable crippled player characters. It only makes sense in a cyberpunk or magic-heavy "dungeonpunk" setting where damaged/missing limbs and organs can be replaced with magical or technological devices and medicine.
Random Mishap Table: Much like a having to roll a random wandering monster, but more tied to doing stupid, clumsy, forgetful, etc. Unfinished due to the sudden realization that it would force players to play characters prone to abrupt and random bouts of stupidity, arbitrarily removing any agency from their characters -- such things should only happen from the players own carelessness.
Attempts to Improve the To-Hit System: In hindsight that would have been easy — use the D20 AC/BAB system — but in the '90s, my effort to "improve" things only replaced one convoluted system with an other equally convoluted system.
SIDEBAR:
While I remember first seeing gender-based rules in a RPG book called "Fantasy Wargame", it never jived with me. Even as a kid, the "physically weak woman" thing felt like a trope form film and TV, as I grew-up around a lot of tough-ass women. On top of that, it was mostely penalty, with few benefits to off-set the punishments (save for CHA, as socially-awkward teenage nerds assume women in general are naturally attractive and gregarious, and/or DEX, as they assume woman are lighter and more flexible). Years ago, once I entertained such an idea:
• Penalty to STR due to "bony-ass damsel-in-distressed" trope • Bonus to WIS due to "women's intuition"
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Post by El Borak on Jul 16, 2019 15:10:24 GMT -5
I've never had any gender specific house rules. In my youth I was a misogynist . Glad to see you grew up!
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Post by mao on Jul 16, 2019 15:42:47 GMT -5
In my youth I was a misogynist . Glad to see you grew up! it took me till like, the age of 25
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Post by El Borak on Jul 16, 2019 16:05:11 GMT -5
it took me till like, the age of 25 The important thing is that you did.
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Post by Mr Darke on Nov 11, 2019 13:48:43 GMT -5
Here's one from my High School days: Females take a -2 penalty on Strength due to the gender specific ability to bear children. I want to clarify that this was someone else's houserule, not mine.
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Nov 14, 2019 11:46:42 GMT -5
Here's one from my High School days: Females take a -2 penalty on Strength due to the gender specific ability to bear children. I want to clarify that this was someone else's houserule, not mine. Hey Mr Darke great to see you around! Hope you are doing well!
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Post by Mr Darke on Nov 15, 2019 18:37:06 GMT -5
I want to clarify that this was someone else's houserule, not mine. Hey Mr Darke great to see you around! Hope you are doing well! Thank you!!! About as well as can be expected...Hoping to get round to some new Karstlands material soon!
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Nov 15, 2019 21:34:08 GMT -5
Hey Mr Darke great to see you around! Hope you are doing well! Thank you!!! About as well as can be expected...Hoping to get round to some new Karstlands material soon! Hoping that goes well for you!!
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Post by mao on Nov 16, 2019 8:56:50 GMT -5
Oh Oh! I just remember one of mine from 1981 (AD&D)> During your gaming w me, you can only play 1 dwarf and they are the Grimm family and you must have a name like: Chucky, Bobby, Billy, etc.
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ampleframework
Prospector
Searching for the portal to Blackmoor
Posts: 72
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Post by ampleframework on Apr 25, 2020 18:39:11 GMT -5
I never had any house rules I regret. I mostly regret being too generous with treasure and too lenient on bad or immersion breaking behavior because I was afraid of offending players. That was the timidity of youth and inexperience, being more concerned with making everyone happy than in maintaining the integrity of the campaign. I did allow a huge array of diverse character types at the table because I was weaned in some rather strange media, not exactly Appendix N because I hadn't yet known the joys of many of those authors but certainly spiritual successors to it, and as you guys know pulp comics and novellas have a lot of bizarre types in them, so my worlds had as many cyborgs and mutants and wizards, and it never seemed to hurt the game in any way.
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 25, 2020 23:54:40 GMT -5
ampleframework , I am with you, I do not recall any house rules that I had any regret over. I do not know if I am too lenient on treasure or not, but I gave out less than the methods in The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures Vol 3 would indicate. It was kind of funny when I found out that Arneson thought Gygax was too liberal with Treasure. I still do about the same amount of Treasure that I always did. I agree with putting all of that stuff in the game, that is what Arneson did moreso than Gygax and it is definitely what Dave Hargrave did in Arduin. I think that is properly called multi-genre D&D aka gonzo. At least when I say gonzo that is what I mean. I had read a lot of the Appendix N material before OD&D was published and years before Appendix N was compiled. I had also read a lot of pulp stuff whatever I could get my hands on and some was in collections of short stories that I read. I had also read a lot of mythology, fairy tales, folk tales, legends and such. Along with a lot of fantasy and science fiction. And a steady diet of the B-movies with monsters and giant radiated creatures. On top of that I loved Westerns (books and movies) So I took to it right away. I did not see Dave Arnesons' First Fantasy Campaign until comparatively recently, although when I did it was a "Wow, I was doing a lot of the same stuff!" I did have access to the Arduin Grimiore in college.
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Post by mao on Apr 27, 2020 6:30:42 GMT -5
I was gonzo until I read the "Thieves World" books, I then turned to a VERY low level and many deaths, ah good times when I was 21.
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Post by Hexenritter Verlag on Apr 28, 2020 23:05:16 GMT -5
Mine was being worried about being a killer DM so I at times coddled my players & have then too much treasure & magic. No house rules exactly but I did do away with alignment which upset a player who left after the first session.
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 28, 2020 23:24:28 GMT -5
Mine was being worried about being a killer DM so I at times coddled my players & have then too much treasure & magic. No house rules exactly but I did do away with alignment which upset a player who left after the first session. How do you define a Killer DM? IMO a Killer DM is someone who deliberately and maliciously sets out to kill the characters off.
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Post by mao on Apr 29, 2020 6:45:23 GMT -5
Mine was being worried about being a killer DM so I at times coddled my players & have then too much treasure & magic. No house rules exactly but I did do away with alignment which upset a player who left after the first session. How do you define a Killer DM? IMO a Killer DM is someone who deliberately and maliciously sets out to kill the characters off. I think just about every gamer that started when they were under 20 and had no example have :Monty Haul " games , at least for a ttle while. I started the right way and slowly changed to fit my second groups . I can even pinpoint the moment we changed. I was given a +4 battleaxe(early bard)
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 29, 2020 8:27:43 GMT -5
I think just about every gamer that started when they were under 20 and had no example have :Monty Haul " games , at least for a ttle while. I started the right way and slowly changed to fit my second groups . I can even pinpoint the moment we changed. I was given a +4 battleaxe(early bard) I avoided the Monty Haul thing, but though I was 19, I was in college and it just seemed to me that Magic Items should not be really common in treasure. Plus with 12 or more players thing got divided quite a bit too!
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ampleframework
Prospector
Searching for the portal to Blackmoor
Posts: 72
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Post by ampleframework on Apr 29, 2020 10:09:01 GMT -5
I've actually gotten to the point with Legendary magical items that my M.O. is to have just one in existence in the entire game world at any given time, and very few permanent magic items that don't require recharges. And Magic Swords, being as powerful as they are, should always be wrested from the hands of a dangerous foe and should come with as many drawbacks and limitations as strengths. Always sentient, too. Lends a lot of "oomph" to being a Fighting-Man but also makes it a strategic choice. Are thou worthy to wield Cortana or Excalibur? There's really just one way to find out, and you better have a backup character rolled up in case.
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 29, 2020 11:08:19 GMT -5
I've actually gotten to the point with Legendary magical items that my M.O. is to have just one in existence in the entire game world at any given time, and very few permanent magic items that don't require recharges. And Magic Swords, being as powerful as they are, should always be wrested from the hands of a dangerous foe and should come with as many drawbacks and limitations as strengths. Always sentient, too. Lends a lot of "oomph" to being a Fighting-Man but also makes it a strategic choice. Are thou worthy to wield Cortana or Excalibur? There's really just one way to find out, and you better have a backup character rolled up in case. My Artifacts are sentient and do not tend to stay around, they leave on their own. So no one possesses an Artifact, although it might possess you. All of my Magic Swords are sentient and all are fairly high on Intelligence and Ego, anything of any great power are always a Max on Int & Ego. I also had Magic Swords have the possibility of being attuned o the character where there goals matched each other.
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Post by Hexenritter Verlag on Apr 30, 2020 22:53:28 GMT -5
Mine was being worried about being a killer DM so I at times coddled my players & have then too much treasure & magic. No house rules exactly but I did do away with alignment which upset a player who left after the first session. How do you define a Killer DM? IMO a Killer DM is someone who deliberately and maliciously sets out to kill the characters off. At the time it was going out of the way to punish players that didn’t hold to the story or pissed off an hostile NPC over something stupid that you weren’t aware of. So I went to the extreme and coddled my players in reaction.
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on May 1, 2020 1:14:54 GMT -5
How do you define a Killer DM? IMO a Killer DM is someone who deliberately and maliciously sets out to kill the characters off. At the time it was going out of the way to punish players that didn’t hold to the story or pissed off an hostile NPC over something stupid that you weren’t aware of. So I went to the extreme and coddled my players in reaction. That would explain the people who do not like DM run games, I do not understand "punishing" players.
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