House Rules

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Campaign ID: 918

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Official Rules

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Old-School Essentials, by Necrotic Gnome

U.S. Fulfillment by Exalted Funeral

- OSE SRD

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Character Creation

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General Game Rules

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Posting Rules
Maps
- The Mapper
Die Rolls
- Rounding
Private Forums
Detail Tracking

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Standard Procedures

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Directives for Hired Help
Treasure Division

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Encounters and Combat

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Ability Checks
Combat Timing and Initiative
Melee and Movement
Variable Weapon Damage
Natural 1s and 20s
Donning/Doffing Armor
Expended Missiles
Damage, Healing, and Death
Other Combat Issues

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Experience Points

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Levelling Up

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Downtime

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T.B.D.

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General Game Rules
Posting Rules
Maps
- The Mapper
Die Rolls
- Rounding
Private Forums
Detail Tracking

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Posting Frequency
The expected posting rate for this game will be largely character-driven, but expect updates at least once a week. Sometimes more, sometimes less.


Meaningful Posts
I make every effort to leave the group with a decision to make or another situation at the end of each of my updates. Please attempt to make sure your updates reflect a specific action for your character to take that addresses that decision or situation, and is not just some vague statement that does not advance the action in some way.


Missing Posts
In order to keep up a consistent pace of play, any player not posting an action for their character in time for the next update will have their character NPC'd.

1. In non-combat situations, an NPCd character will simply be ghosted.
2. In combat situations, an NPC'd character will act in a logical manner consistent with that character's previous behavior.

Excessive Absences
Any player that consistently or frequently fails to meet the expected posting expectations risks having their character removed from the game.

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Maps
Expect maps to play a (significant) role in this game. They should be considered as a treasure, and possibly a currency. They should be something that the characters should want -- to find, and create, and protect.


Map Scales
Unless specifically stated otherwise, assume the following scale on any maps supplied by the DM:

1. Indoor: 5-foot square
2. Outdoor: 6-mile hex

Cardinal Direction
Unless otherwise indicated, assume North is up.


Encounter Maps
The only time a map is guaranteed to be supplied by the DM is during an encounter, for positioning purposes.


Overview Maps
If a complete overview map is desired, a player/s is/are more than welcome to assume the role of "The Mapper."

Related: The Mapper

Character Positioning
Players are expected to communicate the desired positioning for their character, instead of the DM arbitrarily making that decision for them. This positioning may not be meaningful in every room, but there will be times when knowing where a character is, or what route they take, will be necessary.

1. When a map is provided and your character is present on it, please provide a general indication of where your character will be at the end of their turn, and what route they took to reach that point.
   * If no route details are provided, it will be assumed that a character takes a direct line to arrive at their destination.
2. In the event no map is provided, these character positioning rules can be ignored.

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The Mapper
This role is not a requirement, but one (or more) player should take on the role of The Mapper and create a map of the areas being explored, based on the referee’s descriptions.

In order to create maps, a character will be required to purchase a Cartographer's Kit. These supplies are commonly available and will always cost 5 gold pieces. A character can use this kit to create an unlimited number of maps.

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How a player creates maps for their characters is entirely up to that player.

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Any maps created by a player will be considered possessions of that player's character. They will be something that can get lost, or destroyed, or stolen. If lost or misplaced for any reason, that character (or the group) can no longer refer to or use that map.

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Die Roller
Only rolls made in the Unseen Servant die roller and linked to the campaign created for this game (Campaign ID: 918) will be accepted.

There is a detailed user's guide on how to use the die roller:

User's Guide

Also, user hedgeknight created a really helpful post on using the die roller which can be found here:

The Unseen Servant Die Roller

Initialization Roll
Only rolls made after this initialization roll by the DM will be considered:



Extra Rolls
Please create the following macro for your character(s) and include it with each action post:

macro
As Needed: [1d20], [1d6], [1d6], [1d100]

Missing Rolls
Any required rolls not provided by the player will be produced by the DM.


Unused Rolls
Any rolls supplied but not used are considered spent and will not carry over or "bank" to the following round.

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Rounding
Occasionally the rules ask you to round a result or value (e.g. saving throws). Unless instructed otherwise, all results will be rounded down.

Half of 7 will round down to 3.

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Private Forums
Each player will have their own private forum which only the player, DM, and site admins will have access to view.


These private forums will contain:

1. A general 'OOC: [Username]' topic to be used for any private chatter;
2. An 'action' topic matching the corresponding action topic in the main public forum (see below);
3. Plus any private character details (e.g. alignment, possessions, character notes, etc...) withheld from the public character sheet.

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Detail Tracking
Someone (or multiple someones) should feel free to create a new topic (or topics) in the main public forum for group accounting purposes (e.g. tracking and treasure won but not individually awarded, experience points, notes from any encounters, maps, etc...).

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Marching Order
Before the game beings, the players should agree upon a series of marching orders. Who will be standing where, and what will each character be doing, during the following situations:

1. Single File
2. Double File
3. Opening Doors or Searching

Sleep Watches
The party should also agree upon a default sleep watch schedule.

Sleeping in Armor
It is possible to sleep in light (e.g. leather) armor, but any heavy armor (e.g. chain mail or plate mail) must be removed prior to sleeping in order to benefit from a restful night's sleep.

If heavy armor is slept in, the character does receive the extra protection, but --

1. Does not benefit from any Natural Healing; and
2. They also suffer from Exhaustion upon waking:

   A –2 penalty to attacks, damage, and Armour Class.

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See: Equipment, Donning/Doffing Armor

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Directives for Hired Help
While Retainers, Mercenaries, and Specialists are considered NPCs, the employing character is expected to provide default expectations or standing orders for their hirelings, which the DM will use in determining how they act or respond in different situations.

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Treasure Division
Before play begins, the group should reach at least a basic understanding or agreement on how treasure (monetary and/or magical) should be divided, including any hirelings.

Hirelings

The expectation is that hirelings are to receive a half-share in any division agreement (see: Shares of Treasure).

Related: Division of Experience

This Shares of Treasure rule will not be enforced by the DM, but how fairly and generously a hireling is treated will definitely factor into their ongoing loyalty and future reactions.

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Encounters and Combat
Ability Checks
Combat Timing and Initiative
Melee and Movement
Variable Weapon Damage
Natural 1s and 20s
Donning/Doffing Armor
Expended Missiles
Damage, Healing, and Death
Other Combat Issues

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The DM reserves the right to handle Ability Checks in one of two methods:

1. The official Ability Checks rules;
2. Situationally, an alternate method, defined below, may be employed:

Alternate Method
Whenever a skill (or knowledge) check is required, the success of the attempt will determine the difficulty, as determined by the DM. Once the difficulty has been established, the player will roll the appropriate number of d6's according to the following chart:

Task Difficulty
Easy: 2d6
Normal: 3d6
Hard: 4d6
Very Hard: 5d6

The attempt is successful if the total of all dice rolled is equal to or less than the relevant ability score.

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Per the Combat Sequence Per Round rule, the order of combat resolution is as follows:

1. Attempt any 'Death' saving throws
2. Declare spells and melee movement
3. Initiative: Each side rolls 1d6.
4. Winning side acts:
   • Monster morale
   • Movement
   • Missile attacks
   • Spell casting
   • Melee attacks/Stabilization efforts
5. Other sides act: In initiative order.

For this reason, when a combat situation is initiated -- when one side indicates an intention to attack or take action against another side -- the DM will:

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- 1 -

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Any character (or significant monster; as determined by the DM) that is considered 'Dying' will attempt their saving throw here.

(See: Damage, Healing, and Death)

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- 2 -

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Call for any spells and/or melee movement, defined as:

Characters who wish to cast a spell or move when in melee must declare this.

Other actions need not be declared.

* Keep in mind, the only movement options available are:

• Fighting Withdrawal or
• Retreat

(See: Melee and Movement)

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- 3 -

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Initiative

• Initiative order will be determined, using the official Initiative (not the optional Individual Initiative) rule.
  Note: Any racial, class, weapon, dexterity, etc... features can factor into the order in which that character acts within their sides turn (either step 4 or 5, above), as determined by the DM.
• The DM will make all initiative rolls.

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- 4 -

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The actions from the side winning initiative will be resolved.

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- 5 -

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The actions from the side losing initiative will be resolved.

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Melee
A character will be considered to be in melee when they are in the attack range of any opponent still in combat (e.g. not unconscious, charmed, asleep, etc...), as defined by the reach of the opponent (e.g. sword = 5-feet; pole-arm = 10-feet).


Movement
If in melee, as defined above, there are only two movement options available, and these must be declared before Initiative is determined, per the Combat Timing and Initiative rule.

1. Fighting Withdrawl

   The character moves backwards at up to half their encounter movement rate. There must be a clear path for this movement.

2. Retreat

   The character turns and flees from melee, moving up to their full encounter movement rate.
   
   This round: the character may not attack; the opponent gains a +2 bonus to all attacks against the character and ignores any AC bonus due to the character’s shield (if applicable).

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Reference: Questions About Movement in BX/Old-School Essentials D&D

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Variable Weapon Damage
A variation of the optional 'Variable Weapon Damage' will be used in this game.

The amount of damage a character will do with any weapon will equal the Hit Dice type of their class. Thief characters (and their derivatives) will be considered to have d6 hit dice for weapon considerations only (their actual hit dice and hit points will remain at d4):

• d4: Gnome, Illusionist, Magic-User
  d6: Acrobat, Assassin, Bard, Cleric, Drow, Druid, Duergar, Elf, Half-Elf, Halfling, Half-Orc, Svirfneblin, Thief
  d8: Barbarian, Dwarf, Fighter, Knight, Paladin, Ranger

Attack Macro
Because all weapons will do the same damage, only a single macro will be needed.

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Related: Weapons

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Natural 1s and 20s
A Natural 1 is just an automatic miss, per the 1s and 20s rule.

A Natural 20, however, will result in double damage... and bonus experience points... as detailed below:


Natural 20
On a roll of a natural 20, the attacking character will:

1. Be awarded 20 experience points
   • Two consecutive natural 20's?
     20xp * 20xp = 400xp
   • Three consecutive natural 20's?
     20xp * 20xp * 20xp = 8,000xp!
   • Etc...

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     - Keeping in mind the Maximum XP in One Session rule.
2. Double the result of any damage die rolled then add any modifiers.
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   Doubling the result (instead of rolling a second die) will allow you to just use a single macro for all attacks with weapons.
   

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For example:

Gnome, Illusionist, Magic-User
( [1d4] x2 ) + modifiers

Acrobat, Assassin, Bard, Cleric, Drow, Druid, Duergar, Elf, Half-Elf, Halfling, Half-Orc, Svirfneblin, Thief
( [1d6] x2 ) + modifiers

Barbarian, Dwarf, Fighter, Knight, Paladin, Ranger
( [1d8] x2 ) + modifiers

Note: These Natural 20 rules apply to both characters and monsters alike.

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Donning and Doffing Armor
The time to don and doff armor is the same, where 1 round = 10 seconds:

• Leather: 3 rounds
• Chain Mail: 6 rounds
• Plate Mail: 12 rounds

Note: Any magical bonuses reduce the above time by a number of rounds equal to the bonus (minimum of 1).

Related: Equipment, Standard Procedures

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Expended Missiles
Ammunition fired in combat can be recovered by expending a turn of time; chances of success for each item loosed are based upon the ammunition’s magical bonus:

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