Shawn Vincent's House Rules

Introduction

I use a fair number of house rules, as well as playing fairly high-handed with the rules that are left, usually ignoring inappropriate procedures and dice rolls for the sake of a smoother game. Ideally, I want the rules to go away altogether, but sometimes they're convenient.

For the most part, I like for you to get involved, think about what's going on, and come up with entertaining and cool solutions to problems. That's the point.

On the other hand, sometimes it's fun to roll a few dice, and so I have you come up with stats and proficiencies and all the rest. It's all secondary, though, to having a good time.

Now that that's been said, I can go about telling you about some of my particular house rules that I use.

Magic and Spells

When choosing spells for a first level character, cantrip is almost always known, unless a good reason can be given in the character's background as to why he or she didn't get formal training. Besides this spell, typically two or three others are known. All spell lists must be approved by me before play. Spell books exist, and must be used, and they're heavy and expensive to replace.

Also, don't be afraid to try to research new spells or magical items! It is possible in my campaigns even for low-level characters, and makes for much more interesting game play.

Modified Strength Rules

Exceptional strength is stupid. To avoid it, I use the following modified system. I'll drop this on the floor when 3rd edition comes out, because they're removing exceptional strength officially. Horray!

Combat

My campaigns tend to be very low-combat. That in mind, I also try to spice up combat when it does happen, so that it tends to be less the typically slash-at-the-monster-roll- the-dice-did-I-hit-maybe- yep-roll-damage-I-got-5-the- monster-swings-its-claws-etc..

First of all, I'm not afraid of putting characters up against monsters that are much more powerful than them. If something looks scary, and you think it might eat you if given the chance, then it probably will. Don't run into combat unnecessarily. Run away to fight another day...

I sometimes run combats which don't consist of rounds, but combine multiple rounds into one with a bunch of dice rolls. Sometimes I average dice rolls to get an overall view of a battle, and then describe what happens. Combat can get really, really boring, and I try to spice it up as much as possible.

I'm also not afraid of giving characters permanent injuries. If a character is driven below 0 hp during the course of a combat round, that character is unconscious, and will bleed, losing 1hp per round until appropriate medical treatment can be administered. After regaining consciousness, I will occasionally give that character a permanent injury, with the severity roughly corresponding to how far below 0 the character was. This could range from a scar to the loss of a limb.

Healing

There is magical healing available in my campaign, but not in all places, and it's often expensive and hard to find. In addition, there are many fakirs who claim to be able to heal, but truly cannot. Some priesthoods claim divine healing, and are also fakirs. In other words, don't count on it. It probably won't be there for you unless you're willing to go on a few long journeys and so some favors for important people.

As for raising the dead... well, it's happened before. Exactly twice. Once, the character up until that point was a ghost (as she had been at character creation), and the raising was a major plot element. In the other case, a character who had died was sucked into the body of a fallen enemy. The character was never quite the same, or ever very happy.

So the up-shot of all this is: don't expect to be raised if you die. Mostly when people die, they're dead.

Role Playing

Role playing is a complex and poorly understood phenomenon. It's used in education, psychotherapy, and the more immediately interesting use: entertainment.

I don't particularly wish to go into a long scholarly essay here (although I always like to talk about it), but there is some motivation for becoming a better role-player. It heightens your involvement with the game, it makes things more fun for you and everybody else, and everybody is happier.

So, what sort of advice could I dredge up about good role playing? Remarkably little, for my many years of gaming. Role playing is mostly something that happens on its own without conscious effort. But there are a few tips I could give:

Play yourself

That's poorly phrased. It should rather be: play a character who is an extension of some part of yourself. I'm sure that there are role players who can magically become somebody who's completely unlike themselves, but I haven't met them. Play who you'd be in an ideal world. Roleplaying is an excellent opportunity for us to escape our own limitations.

Try to get involved

You know the feeling you get when you're reading a particularly engrossing book? Where you start to feel like the character? When you're completely engrossed in a role playing game, you can get even further engrossed. If you can get involved to the point where your adrenaline actually starts pumping, and your heart rate increases, I say you're being successful. Try to feel what your character feels. Think about what it's like to be staring at a heavy sharp chunk of steel heading in your direction, or to have an OMNIPOTENT GOD after your hide! Get involved.

Try to act as your character would

Gaming can be a form of theatre. If you really get into your character, even hamming it up, etc, you can make the game much more enjoyable for yourself and everybody else. Of course, not all of us are the greatest actors, but this can be fun to try regardless.

Have fun, and TALK ABOUT ISSUES

Above all else, try to have fun. I believe that the atmosphere of a gaming session is supposed to be relaxed and welcoming, where everybody's having a good time. If you're not having too much fun for some reason, bring it up, either with the other players, or with the game master, whichever seems most appropriate for the issue at hand. Most issues get worse if you don't talk about them, in any aspect of life. Gaming is no different. Everybody wants everybody else to have fun, and if you're not, and you mention it, probably something could change to accommodate you.

The Seven Models Of Roleplay

One theory on roleplaying I have found useful in the past is the "seven models of roleplay" theory, from Levi Kornelson. Levi contests that there are seven styles of gaming, each with their own merits and benefits.

Levi's pretty close to the mark on this one: I've seen all these types of gamers, although often several styles will be present in one person, to greater or lesser degrees. It's helpful to keep these styles in mind: often other players in your group may have different styles than you, and this isn't necessarily a bad thing.

So, here are the seven styles.

Story - In this model, the focus is on the story above all else. All actions are to further the plotline of the current adventure/saga, and the principle enjoyment is found in shaping the shared story into an attractive "shape". This model is the closest to "collabrative storytelling" of any of the models. I have minor leanings in this direction. Very plot-oriented.

Theatre - In this model, the focus is on roleplaying one's character to the hilt, acting more as an actor than a player in a game. It is of utmost importance to play the character, even at the expense of the character's personal gain. Very character-oriented. My wife leans heavily in this direction.

Game - In this model, the focus is on playing a game: there are rules and a GM to keep things fair, and the player does things to accomplish goals (the same way one would attempt to win at Monopoly). Often very system-oriented.

Simulation - In this model, the focus is on immersing one's self into an interactive world, becoming one's character, and taking part in things you can't do in real life. Similar to dreaming, roleplaying in this manner can allow you to enter another world, filled with wonder and excitement, as compared to your dull dreary life at home. This is my principle aspiration, although I tend to succeed more in providing Socialization, Theatre, and Story.

Socialization - In this model, players mostly are interacting with each other, using their characters as a means to interact in a more entertaining (and perhaps less socially difficult) manner. Some of us gamers work all the time, and gaming is the only guarantee that we'll see friends on a regular basis, and others use gaming as yet another means for social interaction. Our group has a fair amount of this model thrown in, to the extent that we often end up not gaming, but just sitting around talking instead.

Recreation - In this model, the whole point of the game is to have lots and lots of fun. The characters are made to do entertaining things, at the expense of plot, character development, and similar things. The whole point of gaming is to have fun, right? The focus is on fun, whilst the other models are more focused on satisfaction.

Growth Experience - In this model, players take characters that are similar to themselves, and use them to examine themselves. It is often difficult to know when players are doing this (it often looks just like regular gaming, sometimes similar to Simulation or Theatre), but most serious gamers experiment with it at one point or another, I think.

Which model do you fit into?

More thoughts?

I'm sure there's other stuff that I could put here, but I can't think of it right now. It's hard!

Miscellany

I will probably try to introduce a few rules changes with respect to proficiencies and attributes during the course of the game, but nothing too major.

I try to encourage good role-playing, and absorption into the world and one's character. Try to think like your character, and imagine yourself being him or her. It makes the game more fun for everybody.