Is it house-ruled D&D or a new game?

A current discussion over the odd74 forum deals with the question of what constitutes a new game and not a house-ruled D&D. I offered the following hypothetical games in whose case it may be decided whether they are D&D or something else. I firmly believe that the answers could help us establish a simple baseline to what D&D is and what it is not.

• No. 1. Exactly like B/X but with a spell point system (but the point costs can be reverse-engineered into the original spell levels); thus, rules for spell point recovery, spell point-based magic item creation.
• No. 2. Exactly like No. 1. but with spell schools and specialised wizards, for whom the spell point costs are also varied by schools and not only the original spell levels.
• No. 3. Exactly like No. 1. but the spell point costs are not related to the original spell levels anymore.
• No. 4. Exactly like B/X but no Hit Dice; instead, a flat number of HP is gained upon each level, and monsters' have a fixed number of HP, too.
• No. 5. Exactly like B/X but no character classes; characters are built from powers (which resemble cast abilities: attack bonus, saving throw bonuses, turning, casting, thief skill, etc.).
• No. 6. Exactly like B/X but uses d100 instead of d20. The probabilities are the same, though, only the die size is changed.
• No. 7. Exactly like B/X but uses 3d6 instead of d20. The probabilities are sometimes drastically changed because the bonuses and penalties are not adjusted at all, only the die rolling mechanics.
• No. 8. Exactly like B/X but uses a single die roll to determine the outcome of battle. Other sub-systems (spell casting, non-combat spells, thif skills, movement, advancement, etc.) are untouched.
• No. 9. Exactly like B/X but character advancement is based on (a) "role-playing" (acting like your character, doing a voice, etc.), (b) clever solutions, and (c) witty remarks in-character that bring laughter to the table.
• No. 10. Exactly like BX but adjusted to a 1on1 setup with no henchmen or followers. A single hero versus the world.

Alertness and Stealth

I have been thinking about using a skill system in my next campaign; I was trying to come up with a couple of skills, when I got this idea. The general rule in most OSR D&D-esque games is that parties are surprised on a roll of 1-2/d6, which is essentially a d6 roll against a Target Number (TN) of 3; these numbers are hard coded, but I wanted to play with them a little, which resulted in the following:

Alertness could be a skill which decreases the chances of surprise (by increasing the die size step by step); it could be rolled against 3 by default or higher in case of stealthy creatures (5 for giant spiders lurking on the ceiling, for instance).

Stealth, on the other hand, could be a passive skill, increasing the TN the opponents have to roll against to avoid being surprised; the TN is 3 by default, 4 for skilled, 5 for expert, and 6 for master skill level.

Although noting these numbers for individual monsters seems like extra work, it is actually already included in the rules (counting the chances from 1 and up, though). Any possible downside of this I do not see? How would you try to implement such a rule?

Campaign Settings: Underworld, Hell, and Afterlife

There has been a similar post to this on Grognardia (part one and part two) detailing interesting and unusual settings developed for D&D-esque campaigns. In this short post, I intend to do the same. Each of the following settings deals with the underworld, Hell, or the afterlife to some degree. Take it as expressing my greatest admiration to the creators of these wonderful settings. Enjoy!

Marvel-esque Initiative and Turn Sequence

In OD&D, where it is basically only a roll with a d6, initiative is not much of a chore - but not really much fun either. In other games which use individual initiative, it certainly gives more random and individualised results but also increases the book-keeping factor. It was argued by Justin Alexander that initiative, as is presented, does not function as a seamless way of transitioning from the previous game structure (hexcrawl, dungeoncrawl, or else) to the combat structure; furthermore, the book-keeping it requires weakens the dynamics the outbreak of combat would present to the players (see this post and this post with the comment).

Trying to solve these problems, I came across the new Marvel game which uses a turn sequence system that I find very clever: after acting, it is the combatant's duty to choose who acts right after him. There are two important restrictions: (1) you cannot delay your action, you act when you are called, and (2) nobody may act again until everybody has acted in the round.

The game leaves to the GM to determine the first one to act depending on the situation; in a D&D-esque game, I would say the one who states his action the quickest may act first. By instantly resolving the first participant's action, we - all of a sudden - find ourselves in the combat structure.

Opinions? What possible disadvantages you can foresee regarding this approach? Do you think the benefits proposed above outweigh them?

Vikings & Valkyries, Session 4

Session 4 (June 8, 2013)

(Back to Session 1)

The report of our latest Vikings & Valkyries game of ours, in which the party fights Sea Devils again, gain some help from villagers, and - by a hilarious(ly clever) trick - conquer a whole village, the home of the bastard Gregorssons.

Land of NOD, Session 4

Session 4 (May 23, 2013)

(Back to Session 1)

We finally carried on with our Land of Nod sandbox campaign; it has been a while since we last played, and it took this whole session for us to get back on track with the whole sandbox/hex-crawling idea. Having defeated the pirates, the party decided to explore the whole of the island.

Weather and Fortune

Since our last Vikings & Valkyries game, I have been thinking about the random weather table, the given sailing speeds, and the sailing rules in general (Mazes & Minotaurs Player's Manual, pp42-43). I have read several takes on randomly determining weather (Talysman, LS, and Brendan) and decided to use the 2d6 reaction table for that, because (1) it eliminates the use of d10s (except for the morale rules - but I will get to that) and (2) I can easily roll 3d6 together, two for the weather, one for random encounters. Anyway, the revised table is below:

2d6	Weather	Speed
2	Calm	20 miles
3-5	Pleasant Breeze	40 miles
6-8	Average	60 miles
9-11	Strong Gale	80 miles
12	Storm	2d6 x 10 miles

Last session I also had to improvise a way of determining a ship's Fortune modifier and ultimately settled on the following formula: 1d4 minus 1d4 (thus 62.5% of ships have a non-negative Fortune modifier). The only drawback of this that I can see is that it introduces the use of d4s, whereas it is my intention to use d6s and d20s wherever possible.

An alternate approach that popped into my mind was to use 3d6 and the traditional B/X modifiers to determine a ship's Fortune; I dislike it for two reasons: (1) the arrangement of modifiers in V&V resembles 3E not B/X and (2) non-zero modifiers would be much less common which, concerning the frequency of acquiring a boat, would make Fortune much less relevant.

I am not pleased with the official rules regarding Storms and Drowning whatsoever; in time, I will surely propose my own variant rules for those situations.

Mal-Lam the Fearful Symmetry

Submitted for the Petty Gods project.

Although the thought of perfection in geometry amazes people, when it becomes a reality, they are terrified of it; that fear is Mal-Lam, who gains his powers from the right angles, regular shapes, and symmetric patterns of nature and our creations as well.

Ixomant the Living Darkness

Submitted for the Petty Gods project.

Ixomant dwells in the deepest of caves and the darkest of dungeons. Even if unseen, his presence can be experienced as a feel of a nightly breeze chilling to the bone, a lurking amorphous shadow, or simply the overwhelming fear of the dark, for exactly it is he.

Vikings & Valkyries, Session 3

Session 3 (May 18, 2013)

(Back to Session 1)

Our third session was quite a short one: we began playing later and finished playing earlier than usual, plus there were five players instead of three. Nevertheless, the session was fun, they managed to set sail and get the hell out of Jarl Olaf's court. Below, I present the most important occurrences only.

Vikings & Valkyries, Session 2

Session 2 (April 20, 2013)

(Back to Session 1)

I am quite late with this session report; I am remembering less and less details about this fine session, hence the brief report (the actual game was about eight hours long, including having a pizza, non-game-related talks, and such).

(For some information on the NPCs, check the previous session report.)

Songs for the Metal Axe

The second instalment of Patrick Wetmore's incredible Anomalous Subsurface Environment (check Bryce Lynch's review of the first book here and Gus L.'s of the second) features one of the coolest magic items: the Metal Axe, a great axe with guitar strings, with which fighters can play songs of magic. This post describes 14 songs (with the original 6, it makes a nice 20), reflecting my interests in gaming and guitar-centric music, as well.

Rank was decided by comparing the song's power to the ones described in ASE II and spells in the original edition, but I may have screwed this up; I am open to helpful criticism. As for monster stats and modifiers, those were written with OD&D/Delving Deeper in mind.