Friday, January 15, 2010

Confessions of a 1st edition AD&D house ruler

I started D&D in the late 70’s, and got into AD&D 1st ed. pretty much when it came out. I never used all the rules as-is even from the beginning, but starting sometime in the late 80’s I began leaving out huge sections, and changing rules on lots of things big and small. It has been so long and in my head for so long (few of my house rules are on paper), I forget a lot of reasons why I changed things.

I stopped being a student of what was in rulesbooks by the end of the 80’s. I DM’d mostly in a bubble as an adult. I didn’t go to cons or hang out at game stores (as a kid though I pretty much grew up at Aero Hobbies in Santa Monica). Most of my players who came along or I got into my campaigns starting in the 90’s had little to no D&D experience, so I was pretty much unchallenged on any changes I made.

After several years off I started a new group last year, and most players where seasoned D&D vets. Needless to say, I had some ‘splainen to do, Lucy. Some changes caused delight, some caused head scratching and “why’s.”

OK, I say this because after getting involved in the online community a bit, I have a desire to put a lot of stuff I changed or left out back on the active shelf. So here is a partial list of items I changed/added to my taste over the decades, and some are things I may change back to the rules. Having said that, it turns out many of these are very common house rule items.

Note: Keep in mind that I have very little experience with editions after 1st ed. (as DM or player), so any similarities here to stuff in those editions is probably an accident, or some kind of osmosis. Lately I have described my 1st ed. Games as “AD&D 1st ed. Light” and “OD&D with some AD&D tossed into the mix.”

*Hit points: you get max at 1st level. I think I have done that since around 1982.

*Weapon length/speed adjustments: Don’t use them. I just use common sense for things, like a dude using a polearm or two-handed sword in a narrow tunnel gets penalties. And of course, if a guy with a spear and a guy with a dagger are running at each other, the spear will probably get initiative.

*All things have set movement rate I give out for hex battle mat use. Most humans have 12, dwarves 10, hobbits 8, etc. On your turn you can move a full amount (in hexes or squares), or half and do something (attack, cast spell, etc.). Characters act in order of DEX.

*Combat rounds are 6 seconds, and turns are 1 minute or 10 minutes (depending on what we are talking about)

*Don’t use the extra attack rules, have my own. A fighter would get an extra attack when he hits 5th level; a cleric at 6th, a thief at 7th, etc. and yet another at a higher level (fighter at 8th, etc.).

*All spellcasters get a “spell in mind,” a permanent spell they do not need to study or pray for, and don’t usually need components for . Usually rolled randomly off first level spell list, but sometimes let player choose one from three random rolls (this will be in their head for life, after all). When used it comes back after rest.

*Don’t use psionics (for players, anyway)

*Any race can be any class (pretty much), and anybody can multiclass. I remember in the mid-80’s letting a guy with a half-orc be a fighter/cleric/magic-user/thief (although I doubt I would go so far now). I have a habit of letting any player get the character they envision (which maybe indicates that I should have gotten all Arduin before the 80’s were up).

*I usually allow some skills, and they depend on the characters background. Nothing hard and fast, but a farmer will have farming skills, son of a blacksmith some metal working knowledge, etc. This is one thing that has a lot of room for abuse. For example, a recent MU character who went to a wizard school wanted all these mythology and magical lore skills that you would probably assume an MU would know about anyway. It just seems that some players feel their characters are more fleshed out if they have some background skills. Oh, I usually have skill rolls made based on a stat (intelligence or wisdom on a D20).

*Training to go up a level: don’t make them do it. At least not pay to practice. I usually only have PC’s pay for training when they get another weapon proficiency or something like that. Often not even then.

*I am often arbitrary and lazy when it comes to giving experience. Sometimes I keep track of monsters and treasure; sometimes I put together a number based on how much they need to go up. Often I give as much or more as monster xp for role-playing and such. My players have aren’t really seasoned DM’s, so they don’t know the difference. My slacker attitude about xp is perhaps my greatest failing as a proper DM (IMO).

7 comments:

  1. Yeah, I tend to let PCs have maximum hit points at first level myself. I haven't decided whether it's too indulgent or not.

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  2. When we used to play 1st edition we played with many of the same rules that you've just listed.

    Out of curiosity, you say that the movement is based in hexes? And if, for instance, a human has a move of 12", they can move 12 hexes? So each hex is equal to a foot? Your maps must be ginormous.

    We've played max HPs at first level for so many years now that I've forgotten when we started it. And the XP deal, I'm the same way...I've never been particularly happy about sitting down at the end of a session and tabulating, calculating and quantifying all sorts of crazy numbers. I just wing it, like you, and say "here's some experience". It's always seemed to work just fine.

    You sound like you run a really fun game. That's the one thing that kind of bums me out about the interwebs...you get to read about all of these cool games, but the chance that you'd ever actually get to play in one is slim to none.

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  3. We always played max HP at first level too but I can't for the life of me remember where I could have picked it up from.

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  4. Hey, I'm a lazy experience point tracker as well. I think every DM probably has strengths and weaknesses. I too am indulgent toward PC's because I want them to be able to inhabit the characters they imagine in their heads. But if I "go easy" on characters during character generation, and even during game play in terms of what I will let them attempt -- I admire chutzpah -- I certainly do NOT typically change or fake die rolls in anyone's favor, so fate is fate at my gaming table.

    Anyway, great house rules here, I especially like the "spell in mind" rule and may hork that one. thanks!

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  5. Decent house rules - very similar to some of the ones we used when I started playing (about the same time as you). I particularly like the "any race can multi-class" rule, as it provides more flexibility, and I've also found that players who want characters who can do everything tend to pay for it later, as they end up being dynamically underpowered compared with the single-class characters, so balance is kinda built in.

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  6. Jayson: It never seems too indulgent in my games. It just means that at 1st level a fighter can take two and maybe even three hits from an orc with a sword, and still maybe not have to be dead.
    GamerD: I usually have hexes be three feet in my D&D, and 5 feet in my Champions games (the blue moon that I get to run that these days). I know it makes some of the spell ranges and areas etc. a tad wonky but it works out. I don't remember when the hell I started having my own movement rates in D&D. Probably late 80's.
    Coop: Yep, memorary fades. I remember...the Road Warrior...
    Carter: I really do tend to waver between player-indulger and Imperial DM. Drives 'em nuts sometimes (but keeps them on their toes)
    Victor: For a long time I gave separate experience for each of a multi-class. Got to be a pain recently though, so I started having them divide again. Much better, and keeps them lower than the other guys, which as you say it's the price they pay.

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  7. XP suggestion:

    100 XP per HD (divided by party)
    1 XP per GP of treasure squandered (by the PC who does it)
    Campaign-specific XP as appropriate. For example, in my hex crawl right now I'm giving 100 XP for exploring (successful daylong search) of a 5-mile hex.

    Your house rules look pretty normal to me. The weapon length / weapon vs AC / weapon speed rules are a pretty common set to ditch.

    No training / no racial restrictions / no psionics / vague secondary skills are all pretty regular too.

    Maybe that should tell you something about how good those ideas are and how much the system itself encourages them ;)

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