Worst REAL house rules you've used

[Talakeal]

Here is a house rule I played with just a few days ago. Just to be clear, this is not something that the players agreed to, this was just something the DM wanted to do.

Cutscenes.

Now, a cutscene consists of an extended period of time in which a player is deprived of their ability to take actions, reactions, make saving throws, or even say something in character. Instead, the DM simply tells all the players some terrible thing that happens, and nobody is allowed to do anything to counter their horrible fate.

An example to put this into context:
The group had been playing this one shot that was basically the Odyssey. We were trying to get home, but we kept getting imprisoned, ship wrecked, all manner of things. Most of our failures arose because of cutscenes, and while it was aggravating to have your whole cunning plan, with backups and contingencies, fail because your character suddenly loses the ability to act, we were all having a fairly good time.

Up until the end.

We had finally reached home, and the party was celebrating in a tavern. It was getting late, and the session was basically over, so we thought that was the end. Just then, this small cat, which we recognized as the familiar of an evil wizard we had escaped, appeared in the door.

The players immediately say, "We go out the window."

"You can't. It's a cutscene. Only the rogue sees the cat."

"Okay," says the rogue, "Then I go out the window."

"No, you don't. You walk over to talk to the cat."

"No I don't."

"Yes, you do. It's a cutscene."

The rest of the party asks if they see their companion get up and walk over to the door, and if they can follow him.

"No, it's a cutscene."

The cat suddenly lunges forwards at the rogue, trying to grab him.

"I dodge out of the way!"

"No, it's a cutscene."

The cat suddenly grabs the rogue and teleports him away. Several players argue that teleportation only affects willing targets, and that if this is happening against his will, he should at the very least get a saving throw.

"No, he doesn't get a saving throw. It's a cutscene."

The rogue suddenly finds himself alone, back in the evil wizards tower. He is in a room with several windows. He declares that he immediately bolts for the nearest window.

"You can't, it's a cutscene."

The wizard in question enters the room, and the rogue declares that he immediately attacks.

"You can't, it's a cutscene."

The wizard suddenly polymorphs the rogue into a small bird, and then teleports him into a cage with no doors. The players ask if he gets a saving throw against either spell, only to be met with the familiar,

"No, it's a cutscene."

And that was the end of the session. What had been a fun adventure was pretty much spoiled for the players on account of an almost five minute segment during which they could do nothing as one of their companions was kidnapped. We still have yet to rescue our rogue.

Wow thats bad.

I once had a player who told me to Tell the players that I was using a cut scene if I didnt eant the players arguing.

I was narrating a characters exploration and told them that they slipped and fell, and the player jumped in and demanded I give him a roll to avoid falling and how it just wasnt fair, and eventually I was able to calm jom down enough to explain that I was merely trying to let him know that the unidentified magic ring he had found had feather falling properties, and te player told me that in the future if I ever did that again I needed to declare it a cut scene, using those exact words, to a oid player argument.

Of course, the forum then told me tnat it is never appropriate to narrate player failure for any purpose, including setting up a scene or a situation which ultimatley benefits the player, as failure, no matter how minor or inconsequential, hurts players ego and should only be brought about by the dice, not by DM fiat.

No, we didn't rescue him because the session ended there. I actually just got back from a session where we continued the story. The rogue's player had to make a new character, but once he was introduced, the party traveled to the evil wizard's tower.

Turns out, the DM did this because, in his words, the wizard was "Too intriguing and interesting of a character to abandon," but the DM simply "Could not think of any other story hooks to bring him back." So the wizard met the party, and said that he would release the rogue if we did a series of quests for him. Being a mature, reasonable group of adventurers, we did the obvious thing.

We killed the wizard, freed the rogue, burned the tower to the ground, salted the earth on which it stood, and had the cleric cast desecrate on it's unholy site.

Because that's how we roll.

Huh. Maybe there is a reason why he is try ping to railroad you so hard?

It doesn't seem to be working.

[JoeJ]

Of course, the forum then told me tnat it is never appropriate to narrate player failure for any purpose, including setting up a scene or a situation which ultimatley benefits the player, as failure, no matter how minor or inconsequential, hurts players ego and should only be brought about by the dice, not by DM fiat.

So rather than have the action happen by GM fiat, it occurs after rolling dice against a target number set by... GM fiat?

[Resileaf]

Oh, I am definitely stealing that Star Wars cutscene idea for my Starfinder campaign.

[Malifice]

Oh, I am definitely stealing that Star Wars cutscene idea for my Starfinder campaign.

If you can dig up the old WEG D6 Star wars modules, they're full of great stuff (cut-scenes, adventure scripts, handouts etc).

The mirror the cinematic feel of the game and genre perfectly.

Among some of the best Star Wars modules made. Dead easy to convert to SWSE with minimal work (you can largely do it on the fly with a copy of Threats of the Galaxy nearby).

They should be equally easy to spin into a Starfinder game (thats being run as a pulpy cinematic space opera)

[Unavenger]

So rather than have the action happen by GM fiat, it occurs after rolling dice against a target number set by... GM fiat?

While this is definitely a gripe I have with some systems, it's not universal to all of them. Some have decent task-resolution mechanics, which isn't surprising since an RPG is just a task-resolution mechanic with an ego.

[JoeJ]

While this is definitely a gripe I have with some systems, it's not universal to all of them. Some have decent task-resolution mechanics, which isn't surprising since an RPG is just a task-resolution mechanic with an ego.

What game has a mechanic for determining whether a PC trips and accidentally discovers that they have a Ring of Feather Falling?

[Malifice]

What game has a mechanic for determining whether a PC trips and accidentally discovers that they have a Ring of Feather Falling?

Rolemaster has a mechanic to see if you trip over an imaginary invisible turtle.

[Malifice]

97-99 on the Fumble chart.

If you thought that was bad, a 00 result means you 'strike self in the vitals' turning yourself into a eunich.

Nearby enemies are out for 6 rounds laughing.

True story.

Man, I used to love that game in the 90's. We've come a long way since though.

[The Glyphstone]

How do you roll 0.49 on a d100?

[Arbane]

How do you roll 0.49 on a d100?

That's a minus sign.

IIRC, percentile rolls in RollROLEMaster explode in both directions - if you roll 01-05, roll again and subtract from your previous total, if you roll 96-00, roll again and add.

[Khedrac]

Rolemaster has a mechanic to see if you trip over an imaginary invisible turtle.

I witnessed a duel where that happened to both combatents on consecutive rounds - we came to the conclusion that the tuurtle was real and all the witnesses were blind not to have seen it.

[Anonymouswizard]

In an AiME game I'm going to be running soon I've considered making a thematic critical hit system: on a success roll a d20, compare to the chart to see which digit you lose.

In all seriousness I am planning on using a fumbles rule, rolling a natural one in all your attacks means you're off balance and reduces your AC by one point for PCs and two points for NPCs until the start of your next turn.

[Telok]

Right. I need to get s copy of Rolemaster fumble tables for the next time I run Paranoia. Trim out the boring results and keep the silly ones.

Don't have a clue how to integrate them yet, but it's Paranoia. Maybe let the players vote or wager to see who fumbles every round or something.

[Kurald Galain]

Right. I need to get s copy of Rolemaster fumble tables for the next time I run Paranoia. Trim out the boring results and keep the silly ones.

Attention citizens! An unseen <CLASSIFIED> has been causing loyal citizens to stumble and become stunned! Your mission is to locate this <CLASSIFIED> and capture it for R&D purposes! Should this <CLASSIFIED> cause you to become confused instead of happy, you must report to the nearest termination booth! Praise The Computer! The Computer Is Your Friend!

[Pex]

XP rewards are an instrument, and like most instruments, you need a bit of practice to use it well, but the truly arbitrary behaviour is to refuse to use the tools given to you at all and leave it to chance, and that's why the refusal of individualized XP is such a tell-tale sign of hack GMs.

You admit you DM for kids. Getting paid for it only means you're a babysitter, not a "professional" DM empowered to impose your way upon others. As I'm neither parent nor teacher nor babysitter, I'll let them decide what is the proper way to raise or instruct or take care of children. As an adult I am not to be treated like a child. The DM is not the Lord and Master to hand out rewards and punishments for proper/improper behavior. If there's a problem you discuss. Hopefully it gets resolved with everyone playing. If not you depart however sad it may be.

I had a game of 5e D&D that used PF crit cards (both fumbles and hits). That sucked.

1) The results of the cards required ad lib translations between the very different mechanics of the systems.
2) The effects were debilitating on both sides, but worse against players.
3) since no confirmation of crits happens in 5e, crits happened way more frequently (especially against players).
4) drawing and translating slowed things down to a crawl. Especially when there's on set of cards for 3 tables...

Oh were they horrendous. I remember once a player critically fumbled and the DM pulled a card. The result was the character critically hits himself. Eventually they were ignored, but I'm not sure if it's because the DM realized how stupid they were or because he was tired of having to pick a card a lot.

[Resileaf]

How do you roll 0.49 on a d100?

By rolling on the edge, but not quite.