Unusual House Rules

[Nicrosil]

Never, EVER, touch the DM's dice.
In a similar vein, any dice Alex uses have to be quarantined. Dude's practically made of bad luck.

[BootStrapTommy]

But, but...

Off with his head!

The metagaming I can understand.

But the rest of it...

No one affronts the seriousness of the gaming table on my watch! *angrily slams fist on table*

[RoyVG]

Wait, he motorboated a goddess to death?

Exactly that, he motorboated a goddes to death, and got her job in the process.

[Orion Hamby]

Exactly that, he motorboated a goddes to death, and got her job in the process.

That must have been the manliest man ever🎲

[oxybe]

Do you also gain her title? Because Gruk the Bloodslayer, Goddess of the hearth needs to be a thing as far as I'm concerned. And it needs to be in an in-character, in-setting late night talk show, filmed in front of a live dungeon audience.

"What happens when low mental stat heroes attain divinity, next, on Eliminister Tonight!" /introsong.

[Orion Hamby]

Do you also gain her title? Because Gruk the Bloodslayer, Goddess of the hearth needs to be a thing as far as I'm concerned. And it needs to be in an in-character, in-setting late night talk show, filmed in front of a live dungeon audience.

"What happens when low mental stat heroes attain divinity, next, on Eliminister Tonight!" /introsong.

So what channel will this be on or is it pay per view (I'm joking of course)🎲

[Sith_Happens]

Exactly that, he motorboated a goddes to death, and got her job in the process.

Welp, looks like that's it, someone has officially won at being a player character.

[Anonymouswizard]

Do you also gain her title? Because Gruk the Bloodslayer, Goddess of the hearth needs to be a thing as far as I'm concerned. And it needs to be in an in-character, in-setting late night talk show, filmed in front of a live dungeon audience.

"What happens when low mental stat heroes attain divinity, next, on Eliminister Tonight!" /introsong.

'So Gruk, when did you decide to become Goddess of the Hearth?'

'Well, it was after I killed her and looted the divinity, strangest thing, seems like the gods had an opening.'

'You sound different to the last time you were on the show Gruk.'

'I was embarrassing the other gods, they thought I could do with a read. I ended up with a +5 inherent bonus to INT.'

[Talakeal]

The oddest rule I ever played with was one GM who had a super crits rule. If you rolled a 20 to threaten, and then a 20 to confirm there was a third confirmation roll. If this hit, the attack was a 100% instant kill. It didn't matter what when the attack or target was "20"-"20"-"hit", meant that thing was dead.

This only ever actually ever killed something once. It was generic level 1 NPC sailor in a battle against a Kraken on a boat - pretty much the opening blow of the fight. He had to pause for a full minute or two to consider what was going on, before deciding the sailor had somehow strangled it with the ships anchor? It was a very odd, and very funny moment.

This is actually in the third edition DMG as an official varients, so its a pretty common houserule.

I perfer thr 2nd ed exploding crit systems where a nat twenty just gave you an extra attack which could itself generate extra attacks so long as more twenties kept being rolled.

[Lord Torath]

This is actually in the third edition DMG as an official varients, so its a pretty common houserule.

I perfer thr 2nd ed exploding crit systems where a nat twenty just gave you an extra attack which could itself generate extra attacks so long as more twenties kept being rolled.

Me too. It's the crit system I use. A 20 is an automatic hit that inflicts normal damage and gives you an instant free attack. If that free attack hits, you inflict normal damage. If that free attack was a 20, you get another attack. It has the benefit of making more-skilled fighters more likely to crit.

[Chronos]

Not an RPG, but here's one for Magic: the Gathering. A friend and I had a houserule that, whenever you used anything that gave you "one mana of any color", if you didn't need any particular color, you had to choose a new one every time. So a long game could end up seeing mauve mana, ocher mana, teal mana, plaid mana, ultraviolet mana...

[Talakeal]

Not an RPG, but here's one for Magic: the Gathering. A friend and I had a houserule that, whenever you used anything that gave you "one mana of any color", if you didn't need any particular color, you had to choose a new one every time. So a long game could end up seeing mauve mana, ocher mana, teal mana, plaid mana, ultraviolet mana...

Kind of a tangent, but I feel that a lot of games have an unwritten rule that you have to choose from something "that exists". In this case, mana colors.

I see a lot of people on the TO D&D boards doing something similar, for example using Polymorph any Object to make things for which there are no rules or using the Sarrukhs grant any ability power to make up new abilities that don't exist like "I automatically win power".

I remember the old Arabian Nights card "Ring of Maruf" allowing you to swap it out for any other card you own. Of course, it never specified it had to be a Magic card... What is the casting cost of the Ace of Spades or Topps Baseball card I wonder?

[Feddlefew]

We play with a 24oz Mountain Dew per person limit, after the Mountain Dew Day of '09.

Spoiler: context

Show

The host-player's largish fridge was COMPLETELY FILLED with cans of mountain dew. I spent more time waiting for my players to come back from the bathroom than actually running the game...

[Mr.Moron]

What is the casting cost of the Ace of Spades or Topps Baseball card I wonder?

iirc: Cards without a printed mana cost can't be cast (because their cost can't be paid), unless something says cast it "without paying mana cost", have a CMC of 0 and no color unless an ability says they do.

Assuming you get the casting cost issue, I assume the spell would go on the stack and then the game engine would just kind of "Crash" when it comes time to resolve it since the card lacks a type.

[Arbane]

I remember the old Arabian Nights card "Ring of Maruf" allowing you to swap it out for any other card you own. Of course, it never specified it had to be a Magic card... What is the casting cost of the Ace of Spades or Topps Baseball card I wonder?

There's a card in the Over The Edge CCG that let you do that - "Copyright Violation", IIRC. It used the first number on the card for the cost, the second for the attack, third for defense.
Some joker pointed out this went well with one of the cards from the Redemption CCG that was current back then. I shudder to think what it could do with Yu-Gi-Oh.

[TheEmperor]

Well, I'm PRETTY sure this was stolen from Tabletop Titans (that was the webcomic name, right?), but the one GM I've actually played with face to face demanded that Settlers of Catan never be mentioned, since it's a "German land grabbing game".


I am certain it was stolen from that webcomic.

[BootStrapTommy]

Do you also gain her title? Because Gruk the Boobslayer, Goddess of the hearth needs to be a thing as far as I'm concerned.

Fixed that for you.

[Chronos]

Quoth Talakeal:

Kind of a tangent, but I feel that a lot of games have an unwritten rule that you have to choose from something "that exists". In this case, mana colors.

That is, in fact, a written rule in current M:tG, though we played in an earlier day when the rules weren't nearly so detailed. In any event, though, the existence of a houserule can override a standard rule. And I don't know of any way to actually abuse mauve mana (though a mauve-colored spell could be mildly abusable).

[turbo164]

Well, I'm PRETTY sure this was stolen from Tabletop Titans (that was the webcomic name, right?), but the one GM I've actually played with face to face demanded that Settlers of Catan never be mentioned, since it's a "German land grabbing game".


I am certain it was stolen from that webcomic.

http://tabletitans.com/comic/mines-of-madness-page-1

re: mixing CCGs...does Pikachu die to Doom Blade?

[Anonymouswizard]

Well, I'm PRETTY sure this was stolen from Tabletop Titans (that was the webcomic name, right?), but the one GM I've actually played with face to face demanded that Settlers of Catan never be mentioned, since it's a "German land grabbing game".


I am certain it was stolen from that webcomic.

Wait, what? But that's up there as my 4th favourite board game!

I wonder what would happen if you managed to mention Carcasone, Seven Wonders, Agricola, and Dominion in the same sentence. All games that share some themes with Settlers of Catan (and rounding out my favourite five), what's wrong with a game focused on development.

[Loxagn]

We've always run with the house rule that any character who utters any variation of the phrase 'nothing can stop us now' will always have their next roll treated as the 'worst' result. Natural 1's with hilarious consequences, tables suddenly rolling the most 'amusing' result...

Seen as Lady Luck punishing those who, in their hubris, think themselves infallible.

[themaque]

We had the Monkey Rule back in high school. One person says the following joke.

Why did the monkey fall out of the tree?
Because it was July!

If this joke is funny, we where up to late and it was time to stop. the first time this rule was enacted we had been playing for about 18 hours and I literally fell out of my chair laughing.

[braveheart]

At my table I don't use critical success or failure tables, although if you ever manage to get an attack roll to after modifiers be negative, you roll your damage against yourself. (I made this rule when a player made a character with a -6 on her attack rolls and still wanted to wield a sword)

[veti]

We've always run with the house rule that any character who utters any variation of the phrase 'nothing can stop us now' will always have their next roll treated as the 'worst' result. Natural 1's with hilarious consequences, tables suddenly rolling the most 'amusing' result...

At one point we had - not so much a "rule", more an observation of the world - that anytime we went into an encounter without anyone using some variant on the phrase "we're all gonna die", we would lose at least half the party.

Using the magic phrase became talismanic. It didn't actually work, of course, but it made us all feel better.

[Coidzor]

What is an unusual house rule specific to your gaming table? I'm not talking No Variant Human or No Synthesis Summoner. I'm talking something very distinct for your table?

Mine? NO DURIAN ALLOWED.

If I have to explain, you've never had Durian. It's a fruit that can only be described as a moldy onion left to ferment in an old sweat sock. This issue has come up once. ONCE.

Why aren't PCs allowed to use Durian-based tactics in-game? It's too cruel?

[Feddlefew]

I'm not sure if it's unusual, but when I run the game I have the Early Installment Weirdness Rule:

You can change anything about your character's back story and characterization, even if it has come up in play, between the first and second full sessions. DM still reserves veto rights, of course.

I've only had one person use it (Dwarven Samurai* escorting his lord on a diplomacy mission when lord is kidnapped, forcing him to work with party during rescue mission -> Dwarven Samuri shipwrecked during freak storm, must locate the rest of his companions without damaging already strained diplomatic relations between his and rest of PC's nations.) but I think it's improved overall quality of RP at my table since I started using it.

*Swordsage with the serial numbers filed off.

[themaque]

I'm not sure if it's unusual, but when I run the game I have the Early Installment Weirdness Rule:

You can change anything about your character's back story and characterization, even if it has come up in play, between the first and second full sessions. DM still reserves veto rights, of course.

I've only had one person use it (Dwarven Samurai* escorting his lord on a diplomacy mission when lord is kidnapped, forcing him to work with party during rescue mission -> Dwarven Samuri shipwrecked during freak storm, must locate the rest of his companions without damaging already strained diplomatic relations between his and rest of PC's nations.) but I think it's improved overall quality of RP at my table since I started using it.

*Swordsage with the serial numbers filed off.

I like this rule, and unofficially use it for actual mechanics as well. Sometimes things don't work as well as you thought, made a mistake, or problems with team synergy. It's better to give people a last minute change than stuck with a bad character they don't like.

[BootStrapTommy]

I like this rule, and unofficially use it for actual mechanics as well. Sometimes things don't work as well as you thought, made a mistake, or problems with team synergy. It's better to give people a last minute change than stuck with a bad character they don't like.

I concur. First session makes a good testing ground. If it bores a player, no reason they shouldn't be able to change it in the early stages.

[DigoDragon]

I concur. First session makes a good testing ground. If it bores a player, no reason they shouldn't be able to change it in the early stages.

I agree, and I've been on both sides of the GM screen for this. Great idea it is.

[Feddlefew]

I let players retrain skills, feats and the like between quests in exchange for gold, XP, or a sidequest of my choosing. I don't let them change class levels or race, or any traits/background related crunch after the second session, because at that point I'd rather just give them a fresh character sheet.