Goodman Games

If the cleric is missing, I allow the players to temporarily burn Stamina for a HD of hit points. 1 stamina pt per HD between encounters, up to their level in pts/HD. The break has to be interrupted for one turn (10 minutes.) During combat, I let them PERMANENTLY burn Stamina to get HD of hit points. They can do this once per combat, or if they're at 0 hp or less, and someone spends a round to stop their bleeding, they can can also temporarily burn some stamina.

Hi guys first post here.

The only houserules I am thinking of implementing is forbiding wizards to spend luck to resist corruption. To counterbalance that, I am planning on adding to each corruption a small positive effect.
For example if you grow a fish head it might allow you to breath underwater. Or if a demon claims a part of your soul (the penalties descriped in major corruption) I might grant you a +2 bonus in casting checks.
The reason I might do this is because most of my wizard players almost always hoard and spent luck to avoid corruption thus missing an interesting and fluffy aspect of the game.

Related to this I might make up my own corruption tables for elves. Focusing more on madness, extremely powerful emotions and plant body-behaviour and less on chaos type mutations.

Interesting idea on corruption VladtheLad - though from my reading corruption effects already have slight benefits to them from time to time, like a crab claw being a 1d6 attack, eye mutation gaining infravision at a 100' range, permanently losing 5 lbs (I am a joker), eyes on your back, growing claws that do 1d6 damage, gaining the ability to smell like a snake does, all of the tails you can grow (horse excluded) are useful, you can grow gills, and you can even get a beak for a bite attack... and there are others that specify a type of transition that don't say that you don't gain the benefit that transformation would have, so really the only "down side" to corruption is that there are some effects (about half) that have no benefit at all and that normal people will look at the corrupted character with fear and mistrust.

I guess adding a few more slight benefits to the ones that don't already have them would encourage your players to embrace the corruption system... my players needed no such encouragement, and in fact have responded with "Why would I do that?! Corruption is cool!" when I reminded them they could burn Luck to avoid corruption.

Crimsontree wrote:The death rate is quite high in DCC. Me & my players want to give the characters a better chance of survival and get a bit of a campaign going. I let my players have 2 Fate Points at 1st level as per the WFRP rules and I let them add their character's Stamina score to their hit points.

I'm allowing max hp per hit die and adding the Stamina bonus too. Also gave them a few magic healing potions. i love that the game is so easily tweakable for exactly how i want to run it. For monsters, i'm keeping their crit charts in the low range, d4 to d6, so it's harder for an accidental beheading or such

I have been kicking the following idea around

HouseRule:
Heart of the Warrior. A warrior may rest after combat to regain lost hit points. The warrior must spend 10 minutes of uninterrupted rest after a fight in order for this to be effective and the Warrior must have sustained injury in the current combat. After resting the Warrior may regain his level +1d4 in hit points, but  not to exceed the number of hit points he lost in preceding fight. The Warrior can not heal injuries from other combats through this means and must have10 minutes of rest Immediately after the combat stops. 

I had the image of Bulwine at the end of the 13th Warrior.

One of the systems we tried out was Burning Wheel. One of the things I really liked about that was the 'belief' system. SO taking that as a house rule.

Upon 1st level, if a zero survives they get to train to first and select 3 beliefs. As long as they role play those beliefs, then those beliefs can incur a +1 or +2 bonus to some rolls.

Examples of beliefs (FROM: http://www.burningwheel.org/wiki/index. ... f_workshop)

Kublai's guide to creating great Beliefs
One Belief needs to be about the goal of the campaign/adventure. If you don't have this goal defined in crystal clear terms, go back and discuss it with the group.
(Example: I will rescue the princess and defeat the ogre who kidnapped her.)
One Belief should be about another character.
(Example: Meniacles [party wizard] is also interested in the princess. I'll make him look like a fool in front of her and ruin his chances.)
One Belief is something personal that can be achieved while pursuing the goal.
(Example: To defeat the ogre, I have to retrieve the magic sword buried at the bottom of the lake.)

So with these examples on board, I would give a +1 or a +2 to the roll if the character was acting toward his belief, (+1 for normal, +2 if really working it.)

IBurning wheel also has a subsystem called 'Instincts'. I will allow the character to take 2 - 3 instincts. Instincts are something the character tends to do automatically based on 'training' or something they have learned to do over time.

Examples:
1. When startled I always draw my dagger.
2. When I have time to rest, I always clean my weapons, sharpen them, and go through my training excercises my master taught me.
3. I take 10 minutes every morning to pray to my god.
4. I always make sure my whetstone is in my right pocket.
5. When confronted with danger, I always branish my shield and step in front of the weak!

These are just examples, but they are behaviors the characters have developed via training from 0 to 1st level that have become ingrained. Maybe they are childhood things, maybe something else, but the Judge and player agree on them.

Now these are things I can't take away from them. "as you round the corner you are started by three orcs, none of you has a weapon drawn, roll for initiative." Player 1 "ummm my instinct is to draw my dagger anytime I am started." Judge, "Oh yeah, okay Player 1 has his dagger out the rest of you are weaponless at the moment, roll"


We are working on it this weekend with our group, first time for DCCRPG so I am excited to both try it and modify the framework a bit to fit my groups needs.

-Z.

We've started playing with a "cover my withdrawal" rule in which a character can move away from a monster without incurring a free-whack if there is an active ally in melee adjacent both to the character and the monster. This is subject to some Judge-fiat, so that extraordinary monsters like monstrous vines or giants might still get their free-whacks in regardless of cover. It doesn't require any action on the part of the covering character, he just has to be there and in combat with the monster.

oncelor wrote:We've started playing with a "cover my withdrawal" rule in which a character can move away from a monster without incurring a free-whack if there is an active ally in melee adjacent both to the character and the monster. This is subject to some Judge-fiat, so that extraordinary monsters like monstrous vines or giants might still get their free-whacks in regardless of cover. It doesn't require any action on the part of the covering character, he just has to be there and in combat with the monster.

I also toyed with an idea like this but finally decided to make it a "protection" MDoA for warriors. Hmm, I wonder if I'm being too tough on my players...

Pesky wrote:I also toyed with an idea like this but finally decided to make it a "protection" MDoA for warriors. Hmm, I wonder if I'm being too tough on my players...

We started doing withdrawal protection with MDoA's, but even with that it seemed that the wizard was still dying every combat. Maybe I'm being too soft on my players!

I just changed the names of the Lucky score roll results, but kept their effects the same. I didn't like some of them, and felt they should all refer to birth in some way. So now when a player rolls their Birth Augur, they're going to get one of these descriptions:

1 Born during a Harsh Winter
2 Born in a Barn
3 Born under a Tree
4 Born in the Wild
5 Born on Horseback
6 Cut from the Womb
7 Born in a Cave
8 Born on a Battlefield
9 The Twin didn't Survive
10 Born on the Floor
11 Born in a Garden
12 Born under an Arch
13 Seventh-born Sibling
14 Eighth-born Sibling
15 Born in a Church
16 Born during a Plague
17 Born during Harvest
18 Born into a Cauldron
19 Mother was a Food Taster
20 Born during a Storm
21 Born during a Famine
22 Conceived in a Church
23 Born on a Noble Estate
24 Premature Birth
25 Conceived at a Brewery
26 Born on a Bridge
27 Born in a Prison
28 Conceived under a Bridge
29 Gypsy Midwife
30 Born at Sea

Also, I treat the default Birth Augur as a +1 bonus, but if the characters Luck modifier is +2 or +3 then their Birth Augur will also be +2 or +3. Birth Augur is never a penalty.

I'm going to do my best to run my first campaign RAW, but there were a few things that I decided to change.

1. I let them do 4d6 and drop lowest to generate ability scores. Blasphemy, I know, but this is a group that has been playing with alternate rolling rules for over a decade. They've been conditioned to consider a character with less than three 18s to start as practically useless. I was never going to sell them on playing characters with multiple 5s in ability scores. As it stands we have 12 characters rolled up so far and not a single 18 to be found, so I think they'll be challenged enough. Maybe I can convince them to go hardcore next time around.

2. I'm going to allow halflings, elves, and dwarves to choose basic classes or their racial class when they hit 1st level. If they choose a basic class, then they only receive the racial abilities listed in the book for 0-levels. Obviously, only the specific race can choose each racial class. Actually, in my campaign I'm not allowing anyone to start as a dwarf or an elf. Those races are rare in my world and are only going to become available as PCs when the party discovers them in game. Dwarves live in one underground kingdom and elves all reside in the Fey. Halflings are scarce too but do sometimes cohabitate with humans so they're still available initially.

3. Birth Augers are a straight +1 to start. I gave my players a choice of either going with +1 across the board or basing it off Luck modifier - good or bad - and they chose the former.

4. For wizards learning new spells, I'm allowing them +1 to their chance for every week spent studying. A week studying must entail them spending at least 1 hour per level of the spell each day doing nothing other than studying. That means they can still adventure and study, as long as they have the tools and spare time to put aside each day. Also, they can study multiple spells during the same week as long as they have the time. If they miss a day, they have to start the week over. So basically if a wizard with no other bonuses or penalties spends 21 weeks studying a first level spell, he or she only fails to learn it on a roll of 1. They still roll randomly to determine which spells they can learn. That or discover potential spells in game.

So far, that's it. I'm tinkering with some way to give warriors a bonus when they attempt their signature deed, but I haven't fleshed that out yet. It may end up as simple as shifting one step up the die chain when using their signature deed. I also plan on stealing minion rules (monsters with all the stats of high levels except that one hit kills them) for some foes as the party gets into higher levels. I found that mechanic to work well for making hordes of foes still challenging when I ran 4e games. But that is down the road and possibly for my next campaign, since I plan to run my first group through all of the official modules as written this time around. Except for Doom of the Savage Kings, because I can't seem to find that one anywhere.

Now we just have to agree on a night and place that everyone can make it to, and we're good to go.

Gizrond wrote:I'm going to do my best to run my first campaign RAW, but there were a few things that I decided to change.
1. I let them do 4d6 and drop lowest to generate ability scores. Blasphemy, I know, but this is a group that has been playing with alternate rolling rules for over a decade. They've been conditioned to consider a character with less than three 18s to start as practically useless. I was never going to sell them on playing characters with multiple 5s in ability scores. As it stands we have 12 characters rolled up so far and not a single 18 to be found, so I think they'll be challenged enough. Maybe I can convince them to go hardcore next time around.

We started a new group of zeroes a couple weeks ago and allowed them +1 to any one stat at first level. Power creep!

oncelor wrote:

Gizrond wrote:I'm going to do my best to run my first campaign RAW, but there were a few things that I decided to change.
1. I let them do 4d6 and drop lowest to generate ability scores. Blasphemy, I know, but this is a group that has been playing with alternate rolling rules for over a decade. They've been conditioned to consider a character with less than three 18s to start as practically useless. I was never going to sell them on playing characters with multiple 5s in ability scores. As it stands we have 12 characters rolled up so far and not a single 18 to be found, so I think they'll be challenged enough. Maybe I can convince them to go hardcore next time around.

We started a new group of zeroes a couple weeks ago and allowed them +1 to any one stat at first level. Power creep!

I'm kind of new to the game, but in my humble opinion, what I am seeing is that the quality of a character's stats simpley doesn't impact one way or another someone's enjoyment of the game. I'm sure if you end up with someone who has a high stat of 9, maybe that's not really much fun to play, but with what I'm seeing, most of these average characters, with one or two good stats and one or two bad stats are quite fun. We are focusing on other things, I guess.

cjoepar wrote: I'm kind of new to the game, but in my humble opinion, what I am seeing is that the quality of a character's stats simpley doesn't impact one way or another someone's enjoyment of the game. I'm sure if you end up with someone who has a high stat of 9, maybe that's not really much fun to play, but with what I'm seeing, most of these average characters, with one or two good stats and one or two bad stats are quite fun. We are focusing on other things, I guess.

The openness the game encourages on the issue (you will have characters die, and you will enjoy the game at the same time) plays a huge role in it, I think.

I can only say that players I have played with for years that would get bored if their character wasn't always beating down every bad thing with extreme prejudice will sit down to play DCC and thrive while playing characters with stats so bad they aren't even sure how they managed to make it to first level in the first place.

In fact, the characters that my group of players just can't stop talking about are the "loser" characters with the low stats - the ones that they threw at the initial dungeon like fodder that somehow managed to make it through.

I hear a lot of "I tried to kill him, but he just wouldn't die... I wonder if he can make it to level 2, or maybe even 5!" around my table.

cjoepar wrote:

oncelor wrote:

Gizrond wrote:I'm going to do my best to run my first campaign RAW, but there were a few things that I decided to change.
1. I let them do 4d6 and drop lowest to generate ability scores. Blasphemy, I know, but this is a group that has been playing with alternate rolling rules for over a decade. They've been conditioned to consider a character with less than three 18s to start as practically useless. I was never going to sell them on playing characters with multiple 5s in ability scores. As it stands we have 12 characters rolled up so far and not a single 18 to be found, so I think they'll be challenged enough. Maybe I can convince them to go hardcore next time around.

We started a new group of zeroes a couple weeks ago and allowed them +1 to any one stat at first level. Power creep!

I'm kind of new to the game, but in my humble opinion, what I am seeing is that the quality of a character's stats simpley doesn't impact one way or another someone's enjoyment of the game. I'm sure if you end up with someone who has a high stat of 9, maybe that's not really much fun to play, but with what I'm seeing, most of these average characters, with one or two good stats and one or two bad stats are quite fun. We are focusing on other things, I guess.

I agree. But in my group I've decided to pick my battles. Since stats don't matter all that much, I'd rather start them off more satisfied than cajole them into playing a character with a 5 or 6 in a stat before they even get a chance to experience the game. I'm working with a group that hasn't played in over 10 years, and min-maxxed the living hell out of 3E when they did. Trust me, convincing them to play 3d6 generated stats is a bridge too far, and frankly just not that important.

TheNobleDrake wrote: In fact, the characters that my group of players just can't stop talking about are the "loser" characters with the low stats - the ones that they threw at the initial dungeon like fodder that somehow managed to make it through.

I hear a lot of "I tried to kill him, but he just wouldn't die... I wonder if he can make it to level 2, or maybe even 5!" around my table.

That's cool