House Rules: Why we do them.

Hey guys I wanted to make this post to address some of our house rules and why we use them.  I first want to say that both James and I are huge fans of customizing our games.  We have created completely new worlds and rule sets for some of the games we have run to mixed, but generally good, results.  However; our changes always stem from the base rule sets developed by the pros at Wizards of the Coast.

Whenever we choose to make a change that decision always stems from a desire to increase the fun factor in our games.  The first consideration when we look at this is the players experience.  When I say experience I mean both what the game feels like from a player perspective and how well versed is the player in tabletop roleplaying games in general.  I think it is fair to say that a good DM would never run a game the same way for veterans as for total newbs.  For example our current podcast is run using primarily the 5e rule set.  We do this because we know they are well balanced and "fair" for new players.  It also gives us a fallback since we can simply look up the corresponding rule if we are confronted with either a situation we weren't prepared for or a conflict between what a player thinks is correct and what we may believe.  Having a standardized set of rules is invaluable in dealing with these situations especially when dealing with new players.

One of the things you may notice is that we don't play with a high attention to the rule sets governing inventory weight or spell casting slots in our games.  We make this choice very intentionally in order to enhance the player experience.  Since we are playing with relatively new players we don't want to overburden them with considerations that remove them from the game.  That being said, we do generally have an idea if a player is gaining an unfair edge by ignoring any of the rules in place.  If that happens we gently remind them of their characters limitations.  We want our players to feel as empowered and cool as possible as long as they also understand that the world is still threatening.  In my experience; one of the worst ways to get a new player comfortable with the game is to make sure they adhere absolutely to all of the rules.  I prefer to simply let them play and let them learn their character and the rules as they go.

The biggest house rule we do use for this game is the "over crit" system.  I have to say I was inspired to create this system by some of the games I watched on itmejp's channel on youtube and twitch.  If you like us please check him out at www.twitch.tv/itmejp or www.youtube.com/channel/UCQj4ZJd2QxRHwVYQbMvcKdQ.  I introduced this system for a couple of reasons.  The first is that it speeds up combat.  James and I both agree that we do not like combat that degenerates into hitting someone enough till they fall over.  We want players to be able to wipe out enemies quickly if they roll well.  It makes them feel awesome and that's a huge part of what we want to achieve as DMs.  This system also rewards better rolls.  What I mean by this is that in a typical combat all you need to roll is above the enemies defense threshold but aren't rewarded for rolls above that unless you roll a natural critical.  But with the overcrit system you get to feel great for rolling higher.  I think it is way more fun to be looking to roll as high as possible as apposed to just high enough to hit.  Also, I think it makes a lot of sense to reward a blow that hits with high accuracy in a real world sense.

The system breakdown is pretty simple: for every five over the enemies natural defense you roll you add a hit dice to your damage.  For example if Talim hits an enemy with a 17 roll against 16 ac he deals his normal 1d8+4 damage.  But, if he rolls a 21 he gets to roll 2d8+4 and if he somehow manages a 26 his damage goes up to 3d8+4.

If you want more info or have any questions feel free to comment.  I'll do my best to respond.

: )

-Will H.