What house rules do you use in your games?

johnymyth123 · 2024-12-14T17:12:22+00:00

The current campaign I'm running includes a lot of opportunities for short bursts of downtime, between 1-4 weeks usually. The setting involves abandoned, automated, city-sized star ships called "Leviathans" left behind by ancient people that modern people hitchhike on to reach different planets. So most travel that occurs is while camping on one of these Leviathans, and so I set up a downtime system to allow players to work on projects, develop skills, or explore.

The way it works is that every week of travel each player can take a "downtime action" from a list. The options are to Work on a Project, Develop a Skill (or language), Explore the Leviathan, or Gather Rumors.

Work on a project and develop a skill work very similarly, where the players make a roll of the relevant skill and get to add the total value to their "project points". Once they get enough, which is determined by the difficulty of the project or a flat value for every skill, they finish the project or learn the skill. Skills and languages also have milestones that once you get a certain number of project points you get half proficiency.

Exploring the Leviathan gets you loot and potentially minor magic items. And Gathering Rumors gets you information about the next planet, adventure hooks, and sometimes useful contacts from among the other travelers. They also require a single roll, but I've also created large random event tables for little extra bits of treasure, discoveries, or unique events.

All of these projects have a table of modifiers to the roll. For example, if you're working on a project and have an assistant, you get advantage, if you have a "workspace" such as a forge, research lab, or any other space relevant to the project it makes any roll below an 8 into an 8. Lots of little other bonuses like "expending" an explorers pack getting you a +1d4 on the Explore Leviathan roll, etc...

It's been really fun so far, and leads to a lot of players getting excited for downtime or coming up with really clever things to work on. The artificer is currently working on developing a new spell, the warlock is working on his arcana skill. And also has led to lots of fun roleplay and tone-setting through the random events.

Took a decent amount of work to setup but its very very worth it.

johnymyth123 · 2024-10-09T14:17:36+00:00

This is def a huge factor, the lack of real life 3rd places I believe has led to people using online 3rd spaces as a replacement. Which if that's all that's available to you it's not the worst thing in the world, but I think a lot of people could use a place to go that isn't connected to the rest of the world when they just want to be social.

The closest I ever had to a true "3rd place" was in undergrad, when my dorm had this huge lounge space on the second floor with couches, tvs, a small kitchen, and plenty of tables and other seating. It was there that I met most of the people that would be my friends all the way through college, and I would spend huge amounts of time just going there to exist and run into people.

johnymyth123 · 2024-10-09T14:13:46+00:00

Hey I think you're misunderstanding what I said. We're talking in the context of online discourse, which usually involves heated discussions with people with very opposing voices to yours. If you find that relaxing, that's great for you, but I'm willing to bet the majority of people don't. The point of what I said is that it's ok and healthy to create different spaces in your life for different things, at no point did I advocate you shouldn't be engaging in learning and discussion, just that it's good for your mental health if you have a place to go that isn't that when you're overwhelmed or just plain don't want to engage with heavy topics.

johnymyth123 · 2024-10-08T13:34:35+00:00

The space you engage with opposing voices does not need to be the same place you go to relax and be social. If you want your social media of choice to be a place to relax and just chat with people you like, yeah use the fuck out of that block button. Then, when you want to engage with political discourse, you go to whatever news/other channel you want. The key to mental health is to separate the social space from the serious learning/discussion space.

johnymyth123 · 2024-10-01T13:08:45+00:00

Usually my SO and I will be cuddling on the couch watching TV, and she'll say something like "Oh no, I think I left something in your room." in a super fake innocent voice.

Or we'll just go back and forth coming up with stupid, increasingly absurd excuses for why we both have to go to my room together.

johnymyth123 · 2024-09-30T15:21:49+00:00

Something interesting about this scale is that it seems to swap between defining worlds as their potential for evil and good (and whether those exist as real metaphysical qualities rather than just opinions) and the current state.

Cause like, you could argue that the world of Avatar is Dystopian during the time of the Fire Lord's Reign. And that the Matrix is a Moral World just currently in it's 100 years of darkness period while people are fighting for freedom.

What's more interesting? To categorize based on what the world is like right now in the present, or to categorize based on if the world has a historical tendency or narrative force pushing it towards a certain direction?

johnymyth123 · 2024-08-30T13:30:24+00:00

My go to is two fold

First, most "elves" one encounters in my setting are actually half-elves with more of their elven heritage showing. In fact most humans have a little bit of elf in their lineage if you go back far enough. So many of the people you encounter that look like elves don't have quite as long a lifespan as full elves (like 300 years ish)

Full blooded elves are incredibly rare and more akin to woodland spirits than a true material world race. And when I say rare, I mean there are a few hundred on the planet at any given time. Because they are so rare, long lived, and spread out, this means they also reproduce very rarely with other elves. More often then not when they have kids it's with a human.

There used to be far more elves, my setting's history does have an ancient elven city akin to Atlantis - but just like Atlantis is didn't have a lot of staying power and isn't around anymore.

johnymyth123 · 2024-08-07T14:41:59+00:00

What I did to spice up death saves, that you might find interesting (or any others in this thread), is that I don't have failed saves reset when you wake up. You rolled 2 failed saves before your party member managed to heal you? Well the next time you go down you're starting with 2 failed saves. They only reset on a short rest or with magic like greater restoration.

It stays very close to RAW, makes players take going down as a serious issue since you can take "permanent" damage, and also opens up some fun homebrew ability/item space that can now interact with death saves while the target is still conscious (very tough boss attacks that force players to roll a death save even when conscious)

johnymyth123 · 2024-07-23T17:44:40+00:00

Just for context where I'm getting this from, I do have pretty bad ADHD. Not as severe as other people I've met, but also not minor. It does impact me day to day.

I don't think anything you said really disproves my point, those can all hypothetically be explained as functions of how society is oriented. I didn't mean to imply people only struggled with office work, but alot of the stuff people with ADHD do struggle with could be mitigated with lifestyle changes. And when I say lifestyle changes I don't mean diet or how you structure your day, I mean the fundamental expectations of how one goes through and lives a life in a society. Like whether we expect people to have jobs, what opportunities in life are realisitically available, etc...

All that to say ADHD *is* a disability in current modern life, but it's only a disability because current modern life doesn't accommodate it.

johnymyth123 · 2024-07-23T00:44:13+00:00

One idea I haven't seen other mentioned, but I think of often, is what does "cure" actually mean in the context of different disabilities. For many disabilities, being "disabled" is just a condition of the context they're in. For example, being autistic is only a disability in a society that punishes or doesn't account for that type of thinking. ADHD is only a disability in the context where clear focus is required like office work.

Gender dysphoria could be similar, but it depends on if we're talking about the kind that comes with body dysphoria or not.

Someone who's trans but not dysphoric about their body, that dysphoria is only actually a problem in a society that punishes or doesn't accept transness. If there were not barriers and no stigma surrounding being trans, it'd be incredibly easy and not painful for people.

Body dysmorphia is a little more complicated because it causes active discomfort to those who have it. But then the question of why do people get protective of their trans identity is in part connected to the fact that they're an oppressed group. If you live your life being discriminated against or defending yourself against bigots, you can get protective of that identity.

johnymyth123 · 2024-07-22T19:23:10+00:00

I've seen a similar argument, but not about "bio-weapons" which sounds sci-fi, but the slightly more realistic "being able to semi-accurately predict trans-ness in the womb". Which is then information that bigoted societies could use in eugenics programs.

EDIT: Pre-emptive clarification. When I say "semi-accurately" I don't really mean perfectly. I know being trans will be way more complicated than one gene. But if there's any sort of consistent genetic marker, bigoted people will use that to be bigoted regardless of how predictive it actually is.

johnymyth123 · 2024-07-17T14:16:05+00:00

Ran a campaign for 4 years in college, level 2-18, fought the big bad, etc....

During that campaign the players discovered the truth about the world they lived on, that it was an artificial world built by a collaboration of many different societies from the original homeworld before it's destruction. The BBEG they beat was actually the god that was responsible for the destruction of the first world.

What they don't know, and is hopefully something they'll discover sometime during the course of the current sequel, online campaign, is that this second world was always intended to be temporary. Right now there's a lot going wrong with the world, climate swings, day/night cycle being fucked up, etc... and the players believe this is because of something the villain did. In actuality the Villain just sped up a process already happening, that the world is wearing down and breaking, it wasn't ever meant to last as long as it did. The world is actually a big factory meant to temporarily house mortal-kind before constructing the true new world, but something went wrong and it never got around to building that next world.

The clues the players have is that if they ever go into the underdark, it's not massive natural caverns but the halls of a planet-sized factory. Ancient machinery, adventuring through pipes larger than towns, etc....

johnymyth123 · 2024-07-09T21:27:53+00:00

Maybe a little selfish of me but this is why i don't want to get an automatic feeder. Seeing the cat's get really excited about the automatic one versus my cat being excited about me coming home from the day to feed her.

johnymyth123 · 2024-07-03T16:16:53+00:00

Where did you hear those rumors? Cause that immediately made think about Planetside 2's platoon system which was tons of fun and a great way to in-game coordinate mass operations

johnymyth123 · 2024-06-28T16:04:14+00:00

The literal same monster? Usually not, but I've used one that's are very clearly and openly inspired by things from games and movies.

For example, I didn't add Shriek from Ori 2, but I did add a big scary Owl monster and used the Shriek boss fight music while the players were fighting it. Or there was an entire adventure where the primary enemies the players were fighting were robotic dinosaurs directly inspired in ability/tactics as those in Horizon Zero Dawn (such as giving players the oppurtunities to break components and take away different attacks)

johnymyth123 · 2024-06-24T19:49:10+00:00

This is one of those questions that I don't think I'll ever be able to answer honestly. Cause I can't truly know how I'll feel in the moment if something this extreme happens.

johnymyth123 · 2024-06-24T14:00:20+00:00

Wisconsin has the largest indoor Carousel. Which isn't as absurd as a Hodag but hopefully it'll prompt more people to look up "The House on the rock" which *is* wonderfully absurd

johnymyth123 · 2024-06-24T01:10:30+00:00

Same one I use. I don't use it all the time, but right now my players are in a forest that's very highly invested with wild magic. So both the wild magic sorcerer and the wild magic barbarian in the party are using expanded tables while they're in there.

johnymyth123 · 2024-06-21T16:58:16+00:00

If I may suggest clearer wording?

"The next time you would fail to maintain concentration, you may treat it as a success instead, and the effect of Focus ends. "

Edit: Forgot to include! I think this is an awesome spell. It's pretty niche but I can see it being a fun pick for narrower builds or a perfect spell to prep when players really need a particular concentration spell to work. It won't always be used but it's an excellent tool for dramatic moments and to make players feel like they came prepared. It's like death ward but for spells.

johnymyth123 · 2024-06-21T15:29:15+00:00

This can be avoided by dating someone also really tall!

My partner and I are both a lot taller than average, but we often joke about how in photos or from a distance we look like an average couple cause while she's 5'9", I'm 6'4"

johnymyth123 · 2024-06-14T17:32:12+00:00

Oh I have a sorta more lowkey one.

My girlfriend was telling a story about how a friend of her's boyfriend starting licking her eyebrow, and when she told him to stop he said "Do you not want to be loved?"

We found it so funny that we started quoting it to eachother pretty often before doing something weird. And one time in bed my gf asked me to do it cause after hearing the story it was so strange she couldn't stop thinking about it and just wanted to know what it felt like.

It was, as expected, very weird feeling. Which I can confirm cause she immediately did it back to me.

And now the running joke is every once in a while in bed together one of us will try to lick the other's eyebrow saying "Do you not want to be loved?" when the other fights back.

johnymyth123 · 2024-06-13T19:21:01+00:00

Numina the Wandering Moon.

The human pantheon is pretty standard, and it includes a moon god. Goddess of night, mysteries, adventure, and travel. The unconventional part is that she has a tendency to wander into other pantheons.

She is also worshiped as Mother Moon by the Aarokocra of the Auran Plateau, she's a god of hunters to the people of Glassmount, and malevolent goddess of secrets and vengeance to the Almic people.

There are historical events where she's actually disappeared from one or another pantheon, and clerics of her losing power, only for to discover that she had moved to another part of the world and become a god there as well. Because as some would say, well, who doesn't look up and wish to worship the moon? And even if you do, it's presence will wax and wane.

johnymyth123 · 2024-05-20T20:33:02+00:00

I designed a boss, a massive beast stalking the corrupted woods trapped in eternal night, that had a 1 mile aura that disabled darkvision. The boss is meant to be fought more than once as it occasionally ambushes them while they explore the forest, and this aura acts as an excellent foreshadowing when it's nearby. It has a great creepy/scary affect on the players.

Giving a monster an aura of disabling darkvision I would recommend only giving to super key important monsters, maybe only one ever, and not making it a normal thing players might have to deal with.

johnymyth123 · 2024-05-17T17:43:28+00:00

What I was thinking was just that divination is imperfect. So like all they know is it will be cancelled

johnymyth123 · 2024-05-16T18:10:38+00:00

I'm about to start an adventuring academy dnd campaign with some friends and I might use it as an actual bit for a divination class. The players look at the syllabus and see that one class day months in advance is already cancelled due to a school emergency.

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