In the meantime, here's another question to keep you occupied: have you ever imported a rule from one RPG into another? That is, have you ever come across a rule (or rules interpretation) in one game that you liked so much that you thought a different game would benefit from its adoption? In my own case, I found the way that Empire of the Petal Throne handles the rolling of hit points upon gaining a new level so clever that I've made use of it in every level-based RPG with increasing hit points that I referee. For those unaware, EPT says that, once a new level is gained, the player rolls all his character's hit dice and adds up the total. If the sum is less than his character's current hit points, he gains no new hit points; if the sum is greater, it becomes the character's new hit point total. I like the rule because it evens out a PC's hit points over time while still respecting the inherent randomness of using dice.
What are your favorite rules you've borrowed from another game?
I've swiped a number of things from 13th Age to put into my S&W, C&C, and OD&D mashup games: Monster "Specials" (special attacks/abilities that trigger on a certain roll of the attack die), Backgrounds (an abstract easy peasy skill system), and it's abstract ranging system for combat (I believe this is referred to as a "range bands" among the younger RPG crowd).
ReplyDeleteI use those pretty often, as well as the Escalation Die mechanic (for both accelerating combat and acting as a timekeeper) in most d20 based systems, and One Unique things have become pretty much universal in my campaigns these days - about the only place I don't use them is supers games.
DeleteYes, the One Unique Thing concept and the Escalation Die are very portable and I've used them in many other games. I also like the way skills/backgrounds work in 13A, and while those are a bit trickier to transfer, I try to use something similar in other games too.
DeleteI've borrowed the Luck characteristic from Tunnels and Trolls and stuck it in so many games over the years I can't remember them all. So, when playing some other game, say Basic/Expert D&D, and the PC wants to go to the inn and speak with his shady contact, how do we know the contact is even there at that time, or still hanging around? Make a Luck roll!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, James. I totally use EPT's method of rolling newly acquired HD, and for the same reason (skewing hp totals towards the average, and thus avoiding the spectacle of a 5th-level fighter with 9 hp).
ReplyDeleteShould actually skew above average over time, right? You're getting a chance every level to roll hot, and rolling poorly just leaves you stuck where you were rather than lowering your HP.
DeleteBut if you roll hot on attaining a new level, chances are you won't gain any hp at all for the next few levels.
DeleteI use this rule in my D&D games. I'd even consider stating that you always get at least 1 HP for a new level. And I'd allow the re-rolls when you gain a level that just adds fixed HP. The rule can also work nice for multi-class. Instead of the AD&D way of getting 1/2 the HP for each level, whenever you level in a class, just roll that classes HP. Will tend to be higher HP since you get full fighter HP for multi-class, but still would be nice. And it would mesh well with my OD&D elf rule where elf can decide each adventure where their XP goes.
Delete"But if you roll hot on attaining a new level, chances are you won't gain any hp at all for the next few levels."
DeleteSure, but you're still ahead of the game for at least some of that time - and sooner or later you should roll hot again, although the more dice you're rolling the less likely you are to get near the real outlier results of the bell curve. The system prevents you from getting permanently stuck with any of your low rolls, which is not a bad thing.
Stun or knockout damage from Star Frontiers into D&D, so combatants can be temporarily incapacitated (& thus perhaps captured) without going into negative hit points. The effect is triggered by a natural 20 (& the victim is allowed a saving throw to avoid the knockout), instead of double damage or maximum damage, etc. The duration of the knockout depends on the difference between the saving throw roll failure and the target number, in rounds (with a variant allowing for longer duration using multiple saving throw rolls if there is an initial failure, or repeated failures: rounds to minutes, to turns, to hours, to days, to death, assuming the players agree to make so many rolls, as a house rule; thus, death is possible from a single blow but really unlikely; it's more likely that on a bad day a small party might be captured while having enough hit points to attempt a breakout later that day).
ReplyDeleteI have considered using Traits and Passions from Pendragon in other games (e.g. some edition of D&D), but so far have not pulled the trigger or come up with any of the ancillary stuff like when/how do Traits and Passions change and what bonuses/penalties does using a Passion give? I also wonder if there's some changes to magic I'd like to do to further play with Traits and Passions.
ReplyDeleteEver since I heard about it I've tried to implement the High Living rule from Mongoose's Conan D20 game in D&D games: "every in-game week the adventurers are not adventuring, they spend 1/2 their current total money on food/drink/partying/etc"
ReplyDeleteFor BECMI D&D, I've pinched the STR save from Into the Odd. Essentially, you use up hit points and then damage comes off STR - at which point you have to roll under STR on D20 or collapse. If STR goes to zero, the character dies. We found that this worked very well at low levels to allow characters a little more durability than they'd otherwise have. It also makes strong characters tougher on average, which makes sense.
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting. Thanks for sharing.
DeleteWeirdly we use the same rule but with con for my games, but without ever having read the Into the Odd rules.
DeleteIt is my experience that skilled GMs tend to run "Mut" rule systems, taking the best characteristics from the systems they have experienced. Playing a "pure bred" aka "rules as written" demonstrates a limited scope of imagination.
ReplyDeleteHogwash. What you're saying cannot be proven. You can mish mash rules from other systems and still be a terrible DM, or be an excellent DM and play any game as written.
DeleteImported Chivalry & Sorcery height & weight tables a lot and more often the idea of rolling backgrounds randomly multiple times. Too many people only showing up to play non-humans has killed at least one of my campaigns.
ReplyDeleteBennies from Savage Worlds. Everthing is better with bennies. Well, lot of things are.
ReplyDeleteCare to explain further, for those of us who haven't played Savage Worlds and don't know what a "bennie" is?
DeleteIt's short for Benefits. A metacurrency represented by tokens (often poker chips) that you can spend for various game effects. Advise checking the link, it's got a better explanation than i can give:
Deletehttps://savageeberrontales.com/savage-worlds-and-bennies/
Advantage and Disadvantage from 5th edition. Players "get" it in a way I never seen before for a system of bonus. While it lacks nuance in only three levels of modifiers (disadvantage, normal, advantage) it good enough for a classic D&D campaign and don't want to internally debate if something is -2 to -4 and so on.
ReplyDeleteYeah as much as I don't care for 3rd ed and later as a whole they occasionally come up with the odd brilliant mechanic. Advantage/disadvantage is great, I also really like attacks of opportunity.
DeleteI took the you gain extra armies if you control the whole continent from Risk into My AD&D 1e game. So far it hasn't come up...
ReplyDeleteI've swiped the Die of Fate from World of Dungeons and use it in every game I play.
ReplyDeleteI use hero points and luck points from Castles & Crusades in other games (e.g., I'm using them at the moment in a Gamma World 2E campaign).
I use a bunch of techniques and rules from Apocalypse World games and use them in OSR systems.
I borrowed the hit dice rolling method from EPT too, though I don’t remember getting it from there. It was mentioned elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteI borrowed the bonus die etc idea from Over the Edge 2e, which is basically the advantage / disadvantage mechanic of 5e et al.
I borrowed the idea of ‘quality of success’ from RQ2, and Flashing Blades, and Talislanta. If I’m going with ‘roll high’ is good, then a success (or fail) by 5 or 10 has meaning. If it is roll stat or under, then rolling less than 1/2 your stat is a ‘good’ result, and less than 1/5 your stat is an excellent result - this is sorta from FB and RQ derived games.
I’ve borrowed the idea of a luck roll. I was using a 2D6 version of it before I read about it in GURPS, and now I use 2D6 or 3D6 as seems appropriate for the game I’m running. The 2D6 version was I think inspired by a Traveller GM I gamed with, who also encouraged the use of the 2D6 reaction roll in other games, so it was more a situational thing rather than a PC centred thing.
OTE and Traveller particularly encouraged the idea of using a character’s background (Traveller Career, Call of Cthulhu occupation, OTE trait etc) to help determine what chance a PC might have of success in a task, or whether or not the even needed to roll (or even could roll).
Even Amber, which over time (plus a lot of commentary on ‘theory’ on social media and blogs over the years) has me rolling dice a lot less, and calling for dice rolls from the players less often.
So yeah, I guess I’ve borrowed a lot from most of the games I’ve played.
I've stolen a few rules here and there for my WFRP 4e runthrough of The Enemy Within, the most significant being the Luck rules from Call of Cthulhu 7e (Luck can be spent to modify a die roll) replacing the Fortune, Fate, Resilience & Resolve rules in WFRP, with the additional tweak that the players can choose to re-roll luck (d100) at the beginning of each session. Its become a key ritual that marks the start of the game now. I posted all my house rules to unkansas.blogspot.com if anyone's interested
ReplyDeleteThe "Allies" from Savage Worlds. If the PCs have hirelings, followers, etc, these are managed by the players. It works well in almost any game, reducing the workload on the DM.
ReplyDeleteNOTE: English is not my native language, sorry for the Google translation.
I know I have, but nothing specific comes to mind. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteI've used the saving roll rules from Tunnels & Trolls in the FASA Doctor Who RPG, and I've used the situational roll from Fudge in D&D, DCC RPG, and the Ghostbusters RPG. There are probably others, but those were the first I recalled.
ReplyDeleteI now consider Let it Ride from Burning Wheel in any game. I may not always apply it, but it's a good principle. Also "Say yes or roll the dice" is nice.
ReplyDeleteAside from the One Unique Thing and Escalation Die mentioned above, I also use the Call of Cthulhu 7 Luck mechanic and the Delta Green 2 automatic firearm rules in my CoC5 games.
ReplyDeleteLuck: you can spend points from your Luck score to turn a failure into a success, but of course this reduces your Luck and could be a problem if you need it later.
(One reason I like it is because it's more or less the LUCK mechanic from Fighting Fantasy and I love FF.)
Autofire: big guns have a "kill rating" which is a percentage chance of killing a normal creature outright. You roll your d100 and if it's below the kill chance the target is dead, and if not you read it as 2d10 and apply that damage, which often also kills the target, but may not. It's a simple approach that clears away the fiddliness of using automatic and explosive weapons that have followed CoC since the 80s.
A little late to the party but it should come as no surprise that I have cross-pollinated many a system many a time. While I rarely play any sort or Edition of D&D anymore, my own variant is rife with rules from Ars Magica, Hero System, and the Japanese TRPG Sword World. I love to tinker and customize things so my RPGs are usually quite kitbashed.
ReplyDelete