Fear no rule. I know you will homebrew this game: I trust it will remain recognizable but different from as I conceived it. Such is as it should be.Just like OD&D and many of it's offspring, it is expected that the DCC RPG will be played in a manner that suits each individual group. Houseruling is to be expected.
I'm one mean houseruling mother f'er! I do it to every game I run. I can't help myself.
Last spring / summer's ACKS campaign? I houseruled the sucker. The ongoing AD&D / OSRIC game delving into Rappan Athuk? I houseruled the shit out of that.
I don't know how an experienced DM / Ref / Judge worth his salt doesn't tweak a given ruleset to suit his players. Mind you, houserules aren't there to make make the game easier for the players, they are there to make it a better play experience for all involved. Some may help them, some may hinder them but the play is the key.
I do, however, let my players know upfront the houserules that are in effect. No one likes the surprise houserule that screws over their plans. It's not fair to the players and itsnot fair to the campaign.
When you run a campaign, do you RAW (run as written) or do you houserule?
I use the RAW as a foundation, but build my own House Rules around it. And, like you, my players are informed of the House Rules before play begins. As you say, it's only fair.
ReplyDeleteI've had a set of houserules I use that tend to jump from one edition to the next...but a lot of them are more "tweaks" than anything, because honestly having to hack a system too much can make me wonder why I'm bothering in the first place. But otherwise it does seem to be a part of the process. I think my most common hacks include a luck stat for whatever edition I'm running, some critical/fumble rules, and a spell point mechanic. System specific stuff can include tiny stuff like tweaking how flanking works in 3.X on down to redacting racial class limits in 2nd edition and earlier.
ReplyDeleteI go by all four of those admonitions.
ReplyDeleteThe first time I run a new system, however, I stick to the RAW. For example, while I like DCC RPG, I've never run it, so I would run it RAW. Later I'd change things around.