I'm going to post a few House Rules I plan to use here for a campaign that is going to start in about a month. Please look over them as I post each one and tell me of any problems you may foresee. I will try to put one house rule up each day or so (currenlty have House Rules in regards to Healing/Injuries, Item Durability, and Difficulties/Opposed Changes.

First up, Healing and Injuries:

INJURIES

Reason for the House Rule: Implemented this after the discussion I read in another thread about Criticals in some ways not being as deadly as Light wounds. I did a tweak on the Immediate Care task (see below) to make this less deadly.

As written, Wounds greater then Threshold leads to a Critical Wound and Unconsciousness. Add that whenever Critical Wounds are greater than Toughness, the character dies. This could be anytime, not just when a character falls Unconscious. To make this less deadly, see the expansion of the Immediate Care task below.

HEALING

Reason for the House Rule: The rules seemed confusing. I wanted to consolidate the rules with the bare minimum of changes, into just First Aid (Immediate Care) and Medicine (Long Term Care) tasks. I also slightly tweaked what Immediate Care was to make up for my adjustment to Injuries (above).

Immediate Care

Use the rule as written with healing of Light wounds. Retain the penalty of using Medicine with a Misfortune die penalty (as written). Apply +1d if treating yourself somehow. As written, Immediate Care can put off the effects of a single Critical wound for the rest of the day (if Successes equal to Critical's rating). Use this rule to allow a healer to keep a person from dying (Criticals > Toughness) if the number of the patient's Criticals is only 1 over his Toughnless. A.i. Toughness 4 just received 5 Criticals, if he is treated quickly the effects of 1 Critical can be delayed, keeping his death delayed (but as a GM I wouldn't let him do anything, just lie there in pain). This isn't a change to the rule, more of an interpretation of what delaying a Critical means. As written, 2+ Banes (3+ if using Medicine) results in 1 Stress, 1 Fatigue, and a Light wound if Critically wounded.

Example: Bork has Toughness 4, falls Unconscious and had 3 Criticals so now has 4. He appears dead to the other players. Marcella runs to his side and performs Immediate Care. She rolls well enough that one of Bork’s Criticals is ignored for the rest of the day. This saves him from immediately dying. The same roll healed enough Light wounds that Bork is now Conscious, but lying on the ground near death’s door able to do nothing but moan in pain, ask for water, and tell Marcella that he has secretly loved her. He must somehow heal a Critical before the next morning or he will die.......

Long Term Healing

As written, Natural healing heals Light wounds equal to Toughness per day of rest. This is free (if you rested) and is in addition to the task rolled below. You are not forced to make the roll below unless you don’t rest or are Critically wounded.

May roll daily one long term healing task which varies by conditions and whether you have someone treating you:

Base difficulty is 1d if Lightly Wounded, 2d if Critically Wounded as written. Add 1d if not resting. You may use Resilience, First Aid, or Medicine for this task. Using First Aid applies a Misfortune die. If no other person is caring for the character, add +1d (a.i. using only Resilience or treating yourself with First Aid or Medicine). Each Success heals a Light wound as written. A Critical is healed if number of Successes is equal to or greater then its Severity rating, as written. As with Immediate Care, 2+ Banes (3+ if using Medicine) results in 1 Stress, 1 Fatigue, and a Light wound if Critically wounded.

Example 1: A person Critically wounded (base 2d), not resting (+1d) and not receiving medical care (+1d) would thus be forced to make a Resilience roll each day with a difficulty of 4d. This would not be adviseable since the character will not be receiving the bonus Light wound healing for resting and rolling too many Banes on the 4d could result in another Light wound, possibly Unconsciousness again, and thus another Critical.

Example 2: A person resting, Lightly wounded, being cared for by another person using First Aid, has a difficulty of only 1d but has a Misfortune die (using First Aid for Long Term Care).

As a rule of thumb that I follow is "always play a game rules as written before adding house rules."

I don't think these rules are necessary, because the game is already dangerous enough for players. Two to three solid hits will drop most rank 1 characters and critical wounds are usually bad enough all on their own that a character still under his or her wound threshold with crits over his or her toughness is probably so gimped that they are pretty much resigned to bed rest for a while. Also, if that character suffers one too many wounds, he or she just dies anyway. Also, don't forget that critical wounds count as a wound when checking to see if a character is over his or her threshold.

Wounds in this game really do not need to be worse since there are so many ways to "die" in WFRP (wounds, disease, mutation, insanity), it simply isn't necessary. But it is your game and I won't tell you how to run it, just what I think about it.

Sturm: I'm with Jason on these. I think you've just added unnecessary complexity to the rules. The game really actually is dangerous enough. Unless you're trying to get people to absolutely avoid combat at all costs and only do a social campaign, I think

If you really want to make criticals more dangerous without a more complex rule, it would be simpler to say that a person dies at crits equal to toughness (instead of one greater than toughness). Dying before you go unconscious is fine, but I don't think it's necessary.

The same goes for healing. Instead of writing a new rule, you may just want to have a quick handout that more clearly describes the healing rules.

This is from Universal Head's Complete WFRP Rules Simplification Document:

Levels of Injury
Uninjured: no wound cards.
Lightly Wounded: wounds up to your maximum wound
threshold. Care difficulty is Easy (1 ).
Critically Wounded: at least one faceup critical wound. Care
difficulty is Average (2 ).
Knocked Unconscious: wounds over your maximum wound
threshold. Select a random wound and flip it faceup to critical.
Death: after a character is knocked unconscious and one
of his wounds is critical, if the total number of his critical
wounds exceeds his Toughness, he is killed.

Thanks for the input, but what I was trying to do was actually consolidate some of the healing rules and make them seem less convoluted. I wasn't actually going for more deadliness, hoping to keep it the same overall. If it seems MORE complex and MORE deadly, then perhaps I've failed miserably.

I'm reading from the Core rulebook, perhaps the healing rules look more simplified in the Player's Guide? The healing section in Core seems to rattle on. To me at least, the healing part above (ignore the death change for a sec) is more simplified. There are only 2 healing tasks, Immediate or Long Term. I tried to bring all of the options into only two different tasks with consistency across them. My changes are really only tweaks if you put them side-by-side with Core. They seem more simplified to me, at the most the same complexity, not increased. Perhaps my explanation is confusing?

Emirikol said:

But this is my problem, look at all of that block above. That's not something I want to hand to a new player. I would prefer:

• Lightly = Only Light Wounds (1d), Critical = Any Criticals (2d) (no explanation really needed)
• Total Wounds > Threshold = Unconscious. Going Unconscious adds a Critical.
• Criticals > Toughness = Dead.

On second glance, my block pretty much describes the same thing, just more briefly and short-handed?

I think my interpretation of Immediate Care's alleviation of a single Critical to keep someone alive doesn't increase the complexity of the rules at all. The rule is already there (putting off the effects of a Critical), it's just an interpretation of what it covers. Where I could be wrong is how often/likely Immediate Care could save a person who is on the brink of death. I was hoping the added chance to save someone from Death would cancel out the increased occurence of death from Criticals. Is this not the case? As in there are two ways to meet death (just from Criticals or from Uncon. +1 Critical), but there is also a way with Immediate Care to keep a person alive.

If it's not the case, what if I removed the bit about Unconscious = +1 Critical also? A.i. going Unconscious means only that, you don't receive another Critical. Combine that with my Immediate Care chance to save from death. Would that make the system have about the same deadliness as canon or perhaps even less deadly overall? Removing Unconscious = +1 Critical would also make the rules less complex in my opinion. You are only left with Wounds > Threshold = Uncon and Critical > Toughness = Death. That's pretty simple.

Hey, if you can simplify the descriptions, i'm all for it

jh

Thanks for the critigue. I think I'm going to trust the vets for now and keep the injuries as with canon. I am going to keep my streamlined (to me) healing rules however with my "ignore a critical" interpretation of Immediate Care - could lead to some dramatic moments as the dying player is rushed off to an expert healer.

On to my next house rule......

TASK SYSTEM HOUSE RULES

INCREASED DIFFICULTY: I'm thinking of using 2d as the default task difficulty. It is the "Average" difficulty and I've been catching up on old posts here with GMs complaining things are too easy.

OPPOSED ACTIONS: The opposed actions chart I imagine is easy to grasp after you have been playing a while, but all of the adjustments seem alot to throw at new players. There is already a system for competitive actions (most successes wins) that I'm considering using for any "opposed" actions except combat. It just seems much simpler to have both roll and the most successful wins. For teaching purposes it also is simpler. Once you understand the basic dice pool roll, you just announce if someone is opposing/competing you compare successes.

How much would this slow my game down? For a new Player/GM the opposed modifications chart can also slow things down, but without it we have 2 people rolling then comparing not just one roll.

My second consideration is the RP aspect being lost in competitive rolls. A standard roll allows the GM to explain what happens based upon a chaos star, banes, boons, etc. With 2 rolls and comparing this becomes over-complicated.

COMPETITIVE COMBAT ROLLS: Ok probably not using this radical change, just a consideration for discussion. After learning most of the rules I imagine that originally the Block, Dodge, and Parry abilities were meant to be an actual defensive roll as a competitive action. After play-testing though, this was tossed for an attacker roll (only) with misfortune dice added from defender abilities due to how much it slowed down play. Has anyone considered making Block, Dodge, and Parry a competitive roll vs. the attack roll? It would be a change to those action cards (their text would be obsolete), slow down combat a bit, but give those "skills" more meaning and make the overall action system much more simple - You have a standard roll. If 2 players are competiting in any way whatsoever both roll and compare results. Versus - you have a standard roll, and you have a competitive roll, and you have a opposed roll with this chart of modifications, and you have a combat roll.......

Thanks for any responses. Please critgue the above 3 parts seperately.

>>INCREASED DIFFICULTY: I'm thinking of using 2d as the default task difficulty. It is the "Average" difficulty and I've been catching up on old posts here with GMs complaining things are too easy.

That's what I do, except for combat. Along those same lines, you may wish to have "assist" only one white per trained yellow.

>>OPPOSED ACTIONS: The opposed actions chart I imagine is easy to grasp after you have been playing a while, but all of the adjustments seem alot to throw at new players. There is already a system for competitive actions (most successes wins) that I'm considering using for any "opposed" actions except combat. It just seems much simpler to have both roll and the most successful wins. For teaching purposes it also is simpler. Once you understand the basic dice pool roll, you just announce if someone is opposing/competing you compare successes. How much would this slow my game down? For a new Player/GM the opposed modifications chart can also slow things down, but without it we have 2 people rolling then comparing not just one roll.by second consideration is the RP aspect being lost in competitive rolls. A standard roll allows the GM to explain what happens based upon a chaos star, banes, boons, etc. With 2 rolls and comparing this becomes over-complicated.

Agreed. The smartest method for doing opposed and competitive rolls is simply to compare successes. In certain cases you may wish to just do a couple of rounds worth. For example: Climb a really tall tree while monkeys are pulling you down. First side to win three rounds wins. The original cor e rules method was designed to be "quicker" by looking up opposing numbers, but it's really not quicker and isnt' a better system imo. "More successes wins the round" is kind of a standard in the roleplaying industry and is a tried and true method.

>>COMPETITIVE COMBAT ROLLS: Ok probably not using this radical change, just a consideration for discussion. After learning most of the rules I imagine that originally the Block, Dodge, and Parry abilities were meant to be an actual defensive roll as a competitive action. After play-testing though, this was tossed for an attacker roll (only) with misfortune dice added from defender abilities due to how much it slowed down play. Has anyone considered making Block, Dodge, and Parry a competitive roll vs. the attack roll? It would be a change to those action cards (their text would be obsolete), slow down combat a bit, but give those "skills" more meaning and make the overall action system much more simple - You have a staard roll. If 2 players are competiting in any way whatsoever both roll and compare results. Versus - you have a standard roll, and you have a competitive roll, and you have a opposed roll with this chart of modifications, and you have a combat roll.......

Yea, i'd skip this. related note: We've got basic dodge/parry/block on the chopping block. It's just dice-bloat and "yet more tracking." We thought of doint 1 round recharge, but if that's the case, why not just always have a black die in addition to the purple (standard) and then the GM doesn't have to dink around with ACE dice that he was going to use anyways in that fashino "and yet more tracking."

Keep it simple, otherwise your combat rounds will drag on longer than need be.

jh

..

Emirikol said:

Why not for combat? Makes it too hard if base is 2d? I was hoping to go with every type of task having a default of 2d (average) unless modified by the GM or an action card. This would make melee/ranged 2d base and spells 2d (quick cast) or 1d (slow cast).

Not sure what you mean on assist. My recollection of assist was 1 fortune die per person, 2 fortune die per person if the person is trained in the task at hand. Do you mean only trained persons should be able to assist?

Emirikol said:

I like this. I will use this when the two comeptitors aren't direclty opposing each other (a.i. arm wrestling) but after the same timely goal (a foot race). A tracker could be used and depending on the action advanced either by your method (each round of a win) or by number of successes.

Re: assist

Yes, we're going to only allow it from a trained person. One white per trained.

jh

Emirikol said:

I think I editted and added some questions as you were responding.

Only can assist if trained? What about a person trying to push a door in with assitance from others? I don't know if I want to put such limitation in place. Making it weaker is a consideration (but not sure how), but even an untrained person in combat could distract an opponent while his swordmaster friend attacks, gaining the fortune die. A cap might be better for me. As in put a maximum on amount of assistance, such as only 2 people could help someone else push a door in, so a maximum of 2 fortune dice are added.

Take that assist as far as you need to. Honestly, I can assure you that in real life, I don't want someone who isn't "athletic" trying to help me slam open a door with my shoulder..however helping to use a ram is pretty much a hamburger-flipping job.

jh

Emirikol said:

From one who has real-world experience knocking down several doors with and without a ram (really) I know what you mean. BUT, that is the beauty of this system. Just because you don't want Joe's help, doesn't mean he won't try anyway. So you get a fortune die, but the GM may rule that the CS that was rolled means he took a running charge at the door you were trying to beat down and caught you in the back with his shoulder causing a wound to each of you as you crash prone into the next room through the broken door....

I guess I'm back to canon on the assists - 1 fortune die per person, extra die for each trained person in a related skill. I think I will greatly limit though how many can actually assist on a given task. Over a certain amount and they not only contribute a fortune die, but a misfortune die for getting in the way.

Ok so while I have your attention, my last house rule.......

Sorry this one is long. I read over old posts on weapon Durability and (hopefully) came up with a sensible and easy system to use for Item Durability. I've already made cards using SE that have Durabilities along the side. I noticed that the SE items cards already had a component for Durability which worked great for marking off item damage to weapons, armor, and consumeables (not really damage, just a way to mark of uses of potions, arrows, etc).

I've left out my list of Durability ratings for specific weapons and armors, hopefully you can get a sense of what I'm doing without it.

This adds some complexity (having to remember chaos stars and criticals could cause item damage) and I will NOT be using it at campaign start. Once my players and I have a good understanding of the rules I may add this later on.

DURABILITY

Melee Weapons and Armor are assigned a Durability rating. Record each point of damage taken on its equipment card.

For weapons each point of damage decreases DR by 1 and increases CR by 1 (significant damage makes it nearly impossible to get a critical). Once the Durability rating in damage is reached, the weapon is destroyed. Most Poor quality weapons have -1 Durability to start; most Superior ones have +1 Durability to start. Examples: Spear has a Durability of 3, a Sword has a Durability of 5.

For armor (including shields), each point of damage decreases Soak (only) by 1. Once the Durability rating is reached the armor is destroyed. Note that some armors will be reduced to a Soak of 0 (or have none to begin with) long before they are destroyed. They will retain any Defense and be able to be repaired until destroyed. Most Poor quality armors have -1 Durability; most Superior ones have +1 Durability. Examples: Chainmail 5, Robes 6, Shield 3.

ATTACKING: When attacking in melee (only), weapon takes 1 damage per Chaos Star rolled, but only if the number of Chaos Stars is lower than the Soak value of target. Tougher armors tend to damage weapons more - you can't damage your sword on someone's robes but could damage it on plate armor easily. Example: Rolling 2 Chaos Stars would cause 2 damage to the melee weapon, but only if Soak of target was 3 or higher.

If attacking Unarmed, there is no weapon damage obviously, but use the same rules and instead the attacker receives a like amount of damage ignoring attacker’s Soak (you could get hurt punching on someone wearing plate armor). If wearing Gauntlets, the attacker does get the benefit of his armor Soak, but not shield Soak. Example: Punching a target with Gauntlets rolls a Chaos Star. Target has Leather armor of Soak 2, so attacker is hit with 1 damage. Attacker is wearing Scale armor with Soak 4, so he receives no damage (wearing Gauntlets makes it very difficult to harm yourself when punching someone).

DEFENDING: Whenever a target receives a critical hit, something was damaged. If the target Blocked, a shield is damaged. If the target Parried, a weapon is damaged. If the target Dodged or did not defend, armor is damaged. For each critical, apply a point of damage.

ENVIRONMENTAL: A GM may rule that an item is damaged if something adverse happens to it – falls down a well, gets trampled by a horse, etc. The amount of damage should be determined by the item and what happened to it. A sword falling down some steps may not be damaged at all. If you toss your prized Hochland rifle down a flight of stairs, you might not find it in great condition.

>>DURABILITY

Melee Weapons and Armor are assigned a Durability rating. Record each point of damage taken on its equipment card.

For weapons each point of damage decreases DR by 1 and increases CR by 1 (significant damage makes it nearly impossible to get a critical). Once the Durability rating in damage is reached, the weapon is destroyed. Most Poor quality weapons have -1 Durability to start; most Superior ones have +1 Durability to start. Examples: Spear has a Durability of 3, a Sword has a Durability of 5.

For armor (including shields), each point of damage decreases Soak (only) by 1. Once the Durability rating is reached the armor is destroyed. Note that some armors will be reduced to a Soak of 0 (or have none to begin with) long before they are destroyed. They will retain any Defense and be able to be repaired until destroyed. Most Poor quality armors have -1 Durability; most Superior ones have +1 Durability. Examples: Chainmail 5, Robes 6, Shield 3.

ATTACKING: When attacking in melee (only), weapon takes 1 damage per Chaos Star rolled, but only if the number of Chaos Stars is lower than the Soak value of target. Tougher armors tend to damage weapons more - you can't damage your sword on someone's robes but could damage it on plate armor easily. Example: Rolling 2 Chaos Stars would cause 2 damage to the melee weapon, but only if Soak of target was 3 or higher.

If attacking Unarmed, there is no weapon damage obviously, but use the same rules and instead the attacker receives a like amount of damage ignoring attacker’s Soak (you could get hurt punching on someone wearing plate armor). If wearing Gauntlets, the attacker does get the benefit of his armor Soak, but not shield Soak. Example: Punching a target with Gauntlets rolls a Chaos Star. Target has Leather armor of Soak 2, so attacker is hit with 1 damage. Attacker is wearing Scale armor with Soak 4, so he receives no damage (wearing Gauntlets makes it very difficult to harm yourself when punching someone).

DEFENDING: Whenever a target receives a critical hit, something was damaged. If the target Blocked, a shield is damaged. If the target Parried, a weapon is damaged. If the target Dodged or did not defend, armor is damaged. For each critical, apply a point of damage.

ENVIRONMENTAL: A GM may rule that an item is damaged if something adverse happens to it – falls down a well, gets trampled by a horse, etc. The amount of damage should be determined by the item and what happened to it. A sword falling down some steps may not be damaged at all. If you toss your prized Hochland rifle down a flight of stairs, you might not find it in great condition.
>>>>

This works. A quicker way to describe this to just have it as part of your random chaos star effect chat (gms chart) and just add the damaged condition. Weapon is "destroyed" on the 2nd acquired "damaged" card. (add one tougness for metal and one for "magical"). On a parry/block you could give te player the option of: damaged weapon or critical. On dodge you could do it to the armor. THis way its the player's choice: want a crit or a broken item?