Jack's London - House Rules and helpful notes on how to play

Back to Main Page:
== House Rules and helpful notes on hot to play ==
Bonus points if I can remember any of this...
== House Rules: ==
=== Dramatic Failure: ===
The Rule: If you make a dice roll in which you roll no successes, pick up any dice that came up “1” and roll them again. If this second roll results in any ones then the failure becomes a dramatic failure. This is instead of the normal system. A chance die still only succeeds on a roll of a Zero, but the chance of a complete disaster is lower, but in order for a dramatic failure to happen you must roll a one and re-roll it to get a second one. If you experience a dramatic failure that inconveniences you then ask and I may award an extra experience point (Max of one per session) if the consequences are sufficiently serious. The Reason: Dramatic Failures are fun and interesting.The current system makes them all too rare and easy for even a mildly cautious character to avoid. Also you learn more from your mistakes than your successes.
=== More Lethal Guns: ===
The Rule: When using a gun in combat, do not add the value of the weapon to your dice pool. Instead roll your attack as normal and if you score one success or more on your attack roll, then add the weapons bonus to the total damage caused. (Some weapons e.g. Sniper rifles and shotguns may add some dice to accuracy and some to damage, but these are special cases, ask me if you come across such a weapon. The Reason: In a stressful situation (such as a fight) it becomes much harder to aim at a target than you would imagine. However when guns do strike a target they are devastating to an unarmoured target.
=== Armour Modifications: ===
The Rule: Armour will reduce the damage done by any attack (after weapon strength has been added in the case of guns). Armour does not protect you if the attacker makes an aimed strike at an unarmoured part of your body (So this may be a good thing to keep in mind when fighting armoured opponents.) The Reason: Armour protects you against damage, defence protects you against getting hit. Separating these two things out to an extent makes a good deal of sense. It also fits more neatly with the more lethal gun rules above.
=== Long term injuries: ===
The Rule: If you suffer an attack (Illness and poison also count) which does more lethal damage in a single hit than your Stamina score (So if you have Stamina 2, this would require 3 Lethal damage) or a number of aggravated wound levels equal to your stamina score (so if you have Stamina 2, it only requires 2 levels of Aggravated damage), you risk suffering from long-term injuries.
Roll: Your Stamina + Medicine skill of person treating you (if applicable) + Equipment.
Equipment: Treatment is highly professional (e.g. Paramedics with a full ambulance) +1 Treatment is rapidly available (e.g. within 10 minutes) +1 Inferior treatment (e.g. back-shop first aid or a vet treating a human) -1 No treatment -2 (roll base stamina only) More than 2 hours before treatment -1 More than 24 hours before treatment -2 Results:
Dramatic Success: Miraculously you escape with comparatively minor injuries. You do not suffer any problems beyond the normal wound penalties associated with your injuries.
Success: You suffer from an appropriate minor physical flaw (Bruised ribs might penalise Athletics, mild burns are tender and prevent swimming, deep cuts could impair the use of a limb etc...) until the injury has fully healed, so you will be back to normal in a matter of days.
Failure: You suffer from an easily treated but serious medical problem (e.g. a broken bone, dislocation, cracked ribs, infection, internal bleeding, Full thickness burns etc...) For a number of weeks equal to the number of wound levels you sustained, you will reduce an appropriate attribute by 1 dot until this time has passed. For a number of months equal to the number of wound levels you sustained you gain a minor physical flaw related to your injury (e.g. reducing your speed for a broken leg as you are in a plaster cast, the loss of a badly injured arm etc...). In addition until the physical flaw is removed, anybody who targets your injured location can cause an extra level of damage on a successful hit.
Dramatic Failure: As per Failure, but the effects (loss of an attribute, physical flaw and vulnerability to attack) are permanent.
Notes: If magic, merits or advanced forms of treatment would reduce normal healing times then they will also reduce the recovery time for these injuries. The Reason: The World of Darkness system allows for very rapid healing.
Minor cumulative injuries are not as serious as major injuries. Broken bones and gut-wounds take a long time to recover from. The existing healing system dictates in broad terms how long it takes for injuries to become stable rather than fully heal. This adds serious narrative consequences to injury beyond wound penalties.
=== Skills Decay: ===
The Rule:
In this version of Changeling almost all statistics can go down as well as up. Skills decay.
Skill ranks: 0: You have no skill to lose. 1: Once per Decade. (It’s like riding a bike, you rarely ever forget how) 2: Once a Year (e.g. Self-Defence skills need to be tested occasionally to keep muscle memory) 3: Once a Month (e.g. A socialite needs to keep up with the latest fashions and trends or risk being left behind.) 4: Once a Week (e.g. A medical doctor needs to attend conferences to boost his understanding regularly as well as being constantly challenged on the job) 5+: Daily (e.g. Olympic Athlete need a daily training regime.)
Each time a skill reaches the listed interval, check to see if it has been used or trained since the last interval. If it has not then roll the appropriate Power + Resistance attributes (Strength + Stamina for physical skills, Presence + Composure for Social Skills, Intelligence + Resolve for Mental skills) if you fail this test then reduce the appropriate skill by 1 level as the character has lost the habit or otherwise failed to keep up with the times. The Reason: Fairly self-explanatory, real skills get out-dated or decay if you don’t use or exercise them regularly. People get left out of shape, left behind by new research or find their ideas rapidly going out of fashion. This honestly shouldn't come up, unless the game runs for an ungodly length of time.
Back to Main Page: