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Houserules and You

 Today I want to just spend a short little time talking about houserules. You can check mine out here for the OSE Stonehell game that I'm currently running. 

When you decide to run a game - any game - you, the gamemaster, have a very important series of choices to make. And it comes down to the kind of game that you want to run. The rules that are there in the book that you're using for the RPG you've decided to play are not computerized. They're not controlled by some third party arbiter. It's just you, the book, and the players. 

You can simply choose to discard everything in there and sit around playing make believe if you want to. Your imagination can go completely wild and the players could add whatever elements suit their fancy in that moment. However, you're not going to have a very structured time. So we use rules to make the fiction fit into what the game is meant to be about and to do as a system. 

Each RPG system has a theme and milieu that's baked into the text. Mothership is a sci-fi horror game. Vampire is a political horror game. D&D is a fantasy adventure game. And so on. The rules that are there are meant to support that milieu. Since there is no other referee besides yourself, though, you can add tweaks and changes here and there to enhance the experience. 

There are lots of changes you can make - near endless options! In DnD alone there are close to three dozen optional rules listed in the DMG. This Comment on Reddit lists out all the ones that user SPACKlick was able to find - a valuable service to the community indeed. Truly a universe is at your fingertips and near limitless power. There is a temptation to just change things because you may find the results will be more cool. 

Resist this urge! We as GMs have a responsibility to be mindful in how we apply this power. When you're getting ready to run a new campaign, ask yourself:

  • What kind of game do I want to run?
    • Is this a game of high adventure, fast and loose with lots of action? Or a more slow-burn exploration campaign?
  • What rules / options add to that kind of game?
    • Gritty realism is awesome - I love it. But if you're running Tyranny of Dragons then it may not be worthwile since its such a high-fantasy kind of vibe. Whereas if you're running Curse of Strahd it may be much more interesting.
    • If you're playing a grounded, investigative sandbox game where the party must do a lot of courtly intrigue, then maybe things like a tinkering artificer or an enormous elephant-headed man do not fit the feeling that you have to the campaign.
Essentially, you need to apply rules and options that fit the experience you want to have. Hexcrawls have different needs than mega-dungeon games. Story driven games are very different than sandbox games. 

This is why in my Stonehell game (you can read the Session 1 report here) I'm using the 3d6 Down the Line Feats of Exploration rules. The exploration of the mega-dungeon is not the entire point of the campaign, but it is a huge point of the experience!

What options do you always use in your campaigns, but that maybe you want to try a game without? A vampire game without the clans - all kindred are caitiff? A 5e game without any spellcasters - Oops all martials? 

Until next time!

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