Friday, February 24, 2012

Brendan's 20 Rules Questions

Brendan is on to something here.

Here are his questions and my quickie answers for Wessex.
  1. Ability scores generation method? - 3d6 in order
  2. How are death and dying handled? - 0 is out, -1 is dead
  3. What about raising the dead? - 1,250gp; 1,000gp in advance
  4. How are replacement PCs handled? - roll, then beam in
  5. Initiative: individual, group, or something else? - group d6, high wins, tie goes to players
  6. Are there critical hits and fumbles? How do they work? - 1 fumble, 20 crit, Arduin charts
  7. Do I get any benefits for wearing a helmet? - can save you from a head crit
  8. Can I hurt my friends if I fire into melee or do something similarly silly? - possibly
  9. Will we need to run from some encounters, or will we be able to kill everything? - run!
  10. Level-draining monsters: yes or no? - yes
  11. Are there going to be cases where a failed save results in PC death? - yes
  12. How strictly are encumbrance & resources tracked? - not very strict most of the time
  13. What's required when my PC gains a level? Training? Do I get new spells automatically? Can it happen in the middle of an adventure, or do I have to wait for down time? - immediate advances, MU types get one new random spell
  14. What do I get experience for? - treasure, defeating foes, carousing, exploring
  15. How are traps located? Description, dice rolling, or some combination? - either/or
  16. Are retainers encouraged and how does morale work? - yes, I sometimes roll BX morale
  17. How do I identify magic items? read magic or consult the local witch (250gp)
  18. Can I buy magic items? Oh, come on: how about just potions? - random potion d6x100gp
  19. Can I create magic items? When and how? - only at high levels, per BX
  20. What about splitting the party? - go for it

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:27 PM

    "0 is out, -1 is dead"

    We somehow have been using the same dying rule!

    I started with Gygax's oD&D dying house rule then simplified it. Did you come up with it the same way? Haven't heard of it anywhere else.

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  2. I like close call knockouts but hate negative hitpoints, hence this rule.

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  3. "what about splitting the party?"
    Um, guys. You're the players. Get into any kind of trouble you want. How would I stop you, even if I wanted to?

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  4. Interesting how many of these I agree with, though I usually don't like doing bookkeeping in the middle of the dungeon.

    Players must get to a settlement to receive awards (XP), advance levels, etc. Makes town RP an opportunity to make sure everyone is in order.

    Granted, when in towns and cities I don't do the whole grand RP experience... walking down every street, with random encounters and other silliness. In town you can talk to NPCs, buy, rest and train. No need for anything more than that unless shit is hitting fans.

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  5. So do you give Read Magic the same functionality as AD&D Identify? That's a damn good idea, and so simple, I can't believe I never considered it!

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    Replies
    1. Only if the item is enruned, which is often but not always the case.

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