Gygax House Rules 2005

[Finarvyn]

I found this a while back and did some re-formatting for my own use, then with the creation of the forum thought I shoud share it for anyone who might not have seen it.

I pulled it from K&K, where WSmith was kind enough to post it. (More details in his own post, down the page...)

The key here is that if we're talking about House Rules, who better to answer the question than OD&D Master Gamer Gary Gygax? Here's some information on how he plays his games, 30 years after creation...


1. Introduction

In 2005, Gary ran an OD&D campaign for his group. This is a compilation of notes about the rules for that campaign. The info was gleaned from Q&As in Gary's Q&A threads on ENWorld & DF as well as some tales of the campaign posted by Deogolf.

Rules
• Not using the supplements. Only the three little books.

[Finarvyn]

2. Character Generation and Advancement

• Ability scores rolled as best 3 out of 4d6. Arrange scores to taste.

• PCs started at 3rd level.

• Fighters get +1 HP/die. All PCs get +1 HP/die if Con > 14.

• No training necessary to gain a level.

[Finarvyn]

3. Initiative

• 1d6 for surprise. 1=1 round. 2=2 rounds. 3 or more=no surprise.

• PCs must declare actions before initiative. Casters must declare the specific spell being cast.

• 1d6 for initiative. A tie means simultaneous.

• A casting caster who loses initiative will lose his spell if hit.

[Finarvyn]

4. Combat

• All PCs get 1d6 hp/level. HP rolls are rerolled on a 1.

• Fighters do +1 damage if Str > 14.

• Dex doesn't affect AC.

• Dex does affect missile attack "to hit" rolls.

• PCs are unconscious at 0 hp. They can go as low as level +1 before death. (A 4th level fighter can be brought as low as -5 hp & just be unconscious.) A healing potion or cure spell restores them immediately.

[Finarvyn]

5. Spells & Magical Items

• To acquire new spells: Casters must find scrolls, spellbooks, or a friendly higher-level caster.

• Clerics don't need spellbooks. (The original books can be read to imply that they do.)

• Gary IDs most magic items immediately (charging large sums of money when they return to town to rest & recuperate for this service). (This is because the players are anxious to get back into the dungeon & don't want to bother with in-town adventures.)

• Potions must still be tasted to ID.

• Unusual items require a trip to the "striped mage".

[WSmith]

I can confirm that this came from K&K, cause I put it there, copied to from a thread at Dragonsfoot, where Gary was giving a recap of some OD&D gaming.

[Finarvyn]

wsmith said:

I can confirm that this came from K&K, cause I put it there, copied to from a thread at Dragonsfoot, where Gary was giving a recap of some OD&D gaming.

Thanks, WSmith! I like to give credit where it's due. I'll edit my intro post...

[crimhthanthegreat]

I noted the following on Robert Fishers blog in his post on the 2005 Gygax OD&D house rules

"Posted by EGG on ENWorld September 2006:"

"I run three-booklet OD&D now and again myself, adding some house rules to make 1st level PCs a bit more viable and allowing Clerics a spell at 1st level if their Wis is 15 or higher."

[serendipity]

admin said:

5. Spells & Magical Items

• Gary IDs most magic items immediately (charging large sums of money when they return to town to rest & recuperate for this service). (This is because the players are anxious to get back into the dungeon & don't want to bother with in-town adventures.)

• Potions must still be tasted to ID.

• Unusual items require a trip to the "striped mage".

I've greatly enjoyed haggling with odd traders and unscrupulous town merchants to acquire items I need or knowledge about what I've found while adventuring. However, I find the concept of having a "striped mage" who will-- at great cost and over long distance-- ID magical items instantly hysterically funny. Direct debit for the medieval set. Who knew? I can just picture this striped mage setting out his shingle: a telescope aimed at a crystal ball.

[tgamemaster1975]

I saw this on the other forum, I think it is great to know how the author plays, with just a few simple house rules. Well at least the ones he admits to. I understand from other posts that I have seen that he house rules on the fly throughout the game and it cuts a different way everytime he plays. I think we would all love a chance to play in his game.

[sham]

tgamemaster1975 said:

I saw this on the other forum, I think it is great to know how the author plays, with just a few simple house rules. Well at least the ones he admits to. I understand from other posts that I have seen that he house rules on the fly throughout the game and it cuts a different way everytime he plays. I think we would all love a chance to play in his game.

Truer words have never been typed.

Gary (RIP) is like 99.9% of us DMs out there. We house rule, we change our minds, we refine, we adapt, we deny. It's who we are. I recently added a 'Gary's OD&D House Rules' info bit to my campaign. I realized I needed to stop researching because I kept finding new quotes/house rules from Gary.

Honestly, this is exactly why D&D is the greatest game ever invented.

~Sham

[philotomy]

Saw this post on the TLG forums where Gary briefly describes the house rules he used when running his GenCon OD&D game.

Gary's OD&D House Rules:

For a score of 15 or over:
STR: +1 to hit and +1 to damage if a Fighter
INT: +1 1st level m-u spell
WIS: +1 1st level cleric spell
DEX: +1 to AC, and +1 to move silently
CON: +1 HP per HD (same as a Fighter class gets, +2 if a Fighter)
CHA: +1 (positive) on reaction checks

HPs: Characters are only unconscious at 0 HPs. For each level a character may have a minus HP total equal to the level, so a 1st level PC is dead at -2, a 2nd level at -3, etc.

That's the gist of things.

Moderator note 5/21/21: fixed the TLG forum link as those forums have moved since the original post --- Zenopus

[foster1941]

That "+1 to move silently" is curious; I wonder what it means -- surely not +1% to a thief's chance to move silently; perhaps +1 to surprise opponents (i.e. surprise on 3 in 6 instead of 2 in 6) but only if you're being quiet (i.e. not in plate armor, not dragging along a mule or dungeon-cart)?

[coffee]

I think it's more of an "anyone can do this; I'll roll a d6" kind of thing. That would be consistent with Gary's demonstrated style (as I understand it).

Also, I believe when he runs the game it is just the three brown booklets, i.e.; no thieves.

[calithena]

EDIT FROM YOUR MODERATOR:
At the request of the posters, I split the thread when I copied the next few posts in the sequence into a new thread called "Calithena's Alternate Stat-Free Chargen Model". The old posts have been erased from here just to keep this thread on track. Your post counts are unaffected.
- Your Humble Servant, Finarvyn

[foster1941]

That's a really fantastic system, but it, umm, has nothing whatsoever to do with Gary's OD&D house rules from GenCon 2007...

[calithena]

Yeah, you're right. Maybe the thread should get split from my first post down. Somehow Gary doing something with OD&D just sets my imagination running...

[Finarvyn]

Okay, back on track. I moved these posts to Men & Magic, since it deals with character creation!

[crimhthanthegreat]

When it comes to playing Gary does love rules lite, that is a very brief set of house rules, really very minor tweaks.

[Deleted]

crimhthanthegreat said:

When it comes to playing Gary does love rules lite, that is a very brief set of house rules, really very minor tweaks.

Well, I doubt that this is all of them.

There's another thread about Gary's rules which is more complete. I'll bet he uses that list.

[crimhthanthegreat]

That may well be; however, just because you have a number of house rules does not always mean that they are all in use at the same time.