GenCon (part 2) - House Rules

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edobrzel's picture
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GenCon (part 2) - House Rules

I was talking today with Ken, or Zjelani, or whatever his name is. Eye-wink I've been thinking for a while of hosting/running/having my own little session on one of my favorite topics: House Rules. I've started coming up with ideas and possibly a plan. I wanted to talk to my peers within the PW community to give and get some ideas.

My main motivation for such a session is that, as should be somewhat obvious, I really like house rules. It isn't that I dislike the official rules. I just find great enjoyment in creating things. I also enjoy sharing and collaborating with others.

I see a few somewhat large potential problems. The first is how to keep it interesting. If I made it "My top 20 favorite house rules", it would be pretty boring for most people, or no one would show up. The second is how to prevent flame wars. I don't want it to become some big debate between the Purists, the Rules Lawyers, and the Power Gamers/Exploiters.

I've thought about making it more of a "How to make house rules that work". I've also thought about focusing more in the social aspects. House rules can really brighten up a campaign or get people involved.

I'll leave it at that to find out if there is interest before I go on.

Good idea? Bad idea? Comments? Ideas? Flames? Smiling

Krypter's picture
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GenCon (part 2) - House Rules

I'm not much of a rules-lawyer myself, but I do tweak rules a lot, mostly to make them simpler and more logical. For example, AC should not be the primary indicator of your fighting defense. Your skill is always the most important when defending.

Planescape needs more simple rules. Something along the lines of quick unarmored combat for all those silk-shirted tieflings fighting heavily-armored demons. That's why I've explored systems other than d20 for Planescape because it seems like a more fairy-tale universe than the standard D&D world.

If you have rules based on fairy-lore, rules for whimsy or dreams, rules for bizarre metaphysics or the ethics of angels, or things along those lines, I would be interested. Another super-duper cleave feat I do not need.

edobrzel's picture
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GenCon (part 2) - House Rules

"Krypter" wrote:
Another super-duper cleave feat I do not need.

I very much agree (with the whole reply, not just that line). "Another super-duper cleave feat" is for the Power Gamers. Sometimes my house rules are a bit unbalanced, moreso at first, but adding a rule doesn't always mean adding "power". Many of the rules my group comes up with have penalties or make things simpler. Same thing with the magic items I create.

Maybe the magic items could be worked in as well. Maybe it is more of a "How to customize your campaign" along with "How to add flavor without 100 dice rolls".

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