I like cleric domains. I think they’re a simple, direct way of differentiating clerics of different faiths from each other.

But here’s the thing: When you’re trying to strip the spell list back to its basics, domain spell lists seriously muck things up by significantly increasing the number of spells you need to include.

If you look at the Cleric and Arcanist spell lists on pages 99-101 of the Black Book Beta, you’ll see the ideal spell list I’d like to include. (This list has been heavily influenced by the earliest versions of the game; essentially stripping things back to an essential selection.) But if I include all the spells from the domain lists (on pages 101-104), those spells will be added to the Cleric and Arcanist spell lists. (And, in some cases, this will require even more spells to be added. For example, it doesn’t make much sense to include summon monster IX for the Chaos domain and not include the other summon monster spells.)

So here are some options I’m considering:

First, eliminate domains entirely. This simplifies character creation for clerics, but also prevents clerics from being easily customized to different gods.

Second, keep domains but eliminate domain spells. (In other words, clerics would get the domain powers from their selected domains, but there wouldn’t be any domain spell lists.)

Either option presents another question: Do I simply eliminate domain spell slots? Or do I simply fold those slots into the cleric’s daily spells? (In other words, do 4+1 spells per day become 4 spells per day or 5 spells per day?)

Or am I completely off-base here and should just go ahead and bloat the Grimoire up to accommodate the domains?

(Alternatively, if I just strip domains down to domain powers, I’d probably have room to include a wider range of domains.)

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Not quite as auspicious as Gary Gygax’s house rules, but these are the house rules we’ve developed as part of my Thracian Hexcrawl open table campaign.

Virtually all of these rules are the result of discussing the rambling inconsistencies of the rulebooks. For the first five or six sessions of the campaign, in fact, every session started by tackling a few key passages and trying to unravel their meaning (which led to many different experimentations). Over time, however, the table settled sort of naturally into a set of “standard practices”, at which point I codified them and printed up a small booklet to accompany the copies of Volume 1: Men & Magic I have on the table.

WEAPON DAMAGE

One-Handed Weapons: 1d6
Two-Handed Weapons: 2d6, take highest
Light Weapons: 2d6, take lowest

Bows
Short Bow: 2d6, take lowest
Long Bow: 1d6
Composite Bow: 2d6, take highest

Crossbows
Light Crossbow: 1d6
Heavy Crossbow: 2d6, take highest

(In OD&D, despite a lengthy list of different weapons all costing varying amounts of money, all attacks do 1d6 points of damage regardless of what weapon you’re using. This always prompted merry discussion. It gave rise to a memorable session in which a character opted, instead of buying a proper weapon, to simply turn 1 gp into 100 cp and then hurl copper pieces for the duration of the session. During this time period I read James Maliszewski’s Dwimmermount Campaign House Rules and mentioned his rule for two-handed weapons (2d6, keep highest). Everyone liked it and we quickly expanded upon the concept.)

DUAL-WIELDING

Dual-wielding grants you a +1 bonus on your attack roll. On a hit, you deal damage as per the most effective weapon. (You can’t dual-wield with a two-handed weapons unless you have more than two hands.)

HELMETS

Not wearing a helmet inflicts a -1 penalty to Armor Class.

(This was another rule prompted by consideration of the equipment list: Helmets are listed, but what are they good for?)

SHIELDS

Shields grant a +1 bonus to Armor Class (as shown on the combat tables) when they are readied. (Surprised characters do not benefit from their shields.) In addition:

Shields Shall Be Splintered:Whenever you take damage, you can opt to have the damage absorbed by your shield. The shield is splintered and destroyed, but you don’t take any damage from the blow.

Magic Shields: You can do the same with a magic shield, but the shield won’t be destroyed. Instead there will be a 75% chance that the shield will lose +1 of its enchantment.

Magic Shields vs.  Spells: In addition, you can automatically sacrifice +1 from a magic shield in order to make a successful save vs. any spell, breath weapon, gaze, or similar effect.

Special Materials:

• Dragonscale Shields: Can be sacrificed like a magic shield in order to make a successful save vs. any spell, breath weapon, gaze, or similar effect.
• Silver–Faced Shield: Functions as a magic shield against spectral attacks (75% chance of the silver-facing being ruined).

(These rules are adapted from Trollsmyth’s Shields Shall Be Splintered and Aeons ‘n Auguries’ Splintering Shields by Material. Unlike the other house rules here, I included these simply because I liked ’em so much. The result? Unlike the other house rules, these are basically never used.

What I like about all of these house rules, however, is that they provide a simple-yet-effective method of making greatsword wielders (effectively +1 damage), dual-wielders (+1 to hit), and sword-and-boarders (+1 AC plus the splintering) all mechanically diverse and rewarding options.)

MOVE/TURN IN THE UNDERWORLD

1 turn = 10 minutes = 10 rounds = 2 moves
1 segment = 5 minutes = 1 move

1 move = speed x 10 feet
1 turn = 2 moves = speed x 20 feet
1 turn of flight = speed x 40 feet

Search a 10’ wall = 1 full turn
Listening/ESP/Clairvoyance/X-Ray = 1 quarter turn

(Check out Reactions to OD&D: Turns, Rounds, and Segments – Oh My! for a complete description of archaeological text work that was required to piece out this system.)

COMBAT SEQUENCE

• Declare Magic / Preparations
• Missiles
• Movement
• Magic
• Movement
• Melee
• Miscellaneous

All actions in a phase are considered simultaneous. If a character becomes incapacitated in a phase, they will generally not deal damage in that phase.

Surprise: Surprise allows one movement and one action.

Magic: Includes turning and most magic item use. Characters preparing to cast cannot take other actions. Any damage suffered while preparing forces a prime requisite check (modified by damage taken) to avoid losing the spell / turning.

Preparations: Retrieve 1 item, stow a weapon, draw a weapon (while dropping current weapon), pouring oil in front of you.

Missiles: Firing into melee has 50% chance of hitting a random target.

Movement: Move a number of feet equal to your speed (6” = 6 feet) or charge at twice that rate (suffering -2 penalty to AC and attacks for round).

Melee: If you’re engaged in melee, all non-melee actions (spells, missile fire, etc.) are considered a miscellaneous action and delayed until that phase. You cannot attack during melee if you are waiting to take a delayed action in the miscellaneous phase. (A spellcaster forced into melee during the first movement phase can’t cast until the miscellaneous phase, even though they were out of melee when they declared their spell.)

Miscellaneous: Includes helping wounded comrades, imbibing potions, lighting a flask of oil, etc.

Note: It is possible to shoot a missile weapon, move, move again (into melee), make a melee attack, and then drink a potion (although this would require you to be wielding a one-handed missile weapon and a one-handed melee weapon, since you wouldn’t be able to switch weapons between those actions). Similarly, one can declare a spell, cast a spell, move (into melee), and then make a melee attack (but if someone engages you in melee before the spell goes off, your casting is delayed to the miscellaneous phase and the other actions become impossible).

COMBAT SYSTEM DESIGN NOTES

OD&D doesn’t include a system for determining the order in which actions are resolved. My initial impulse was to embrace a system of simultaneous action resolution. We went through several variants of this — generally with a guideline that incapacitation favored the PCs (either striking one last valiant blow before falling unconscious or preventing monsters from dealing damage by slaying them first) — and what I discovered was that I could generally manage the system as long as the number of combatants remained relatively small.

But as group size grew — both due to the popularity of the open table and the increasing number of henchmen and hirelings — it became more difficult to juggle all of the disparate elements into a compelling narrative and game experience. This led to a fresh round of experimentation. Throughout this process I resisted the impulse to simply embrace initiative checks and call it quits (largely because I view my OD&D experiences as a chance to radically experiment with the basic game-form).

I eventually settled on this system, which is largely inspired by the Mmmmmm! System from Swords of Minaria and the Perrin Conventions. Resolution in each phase is simultaneous, but sufficiently broken up that I can manage much larger groups without losing all sense of cohesion and comprehension.

These house rules — and more! — can be found in the Blackmoor Player’s Reference.

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I still can’t decide if it bugs me or not that alignment takes up something like 1/5th of the chapter on character creation (simply due to the bulk of information being conveyed). It was originally meant to be relegated to a sidebar, but it actually proved too large for that and ended up getting all of page 11 to itself.

Of course, that’s partly because the information on alignment needs to be entirely contained in Chapter 1, whereas the rest of Chapter 1 references players out to the more detailed descriptions of ability scores, classes, races, and the like found elsewhere in the rulebook.

A couple of other options I entertained:

(1) Removing alignment entirely. I would have left “good” and “evil” descriptors in for spells and extraplanar creatures, but the basic concept of PCs having an “alignment” would have been gone. Ultimately, I decided this was too radical a departure.

(2) Just describing the two axes of alignment — good vs. evil; law vs. chaos — in general terms and not discussing each combination in detail. (This might have included an old school, x-y axis chart of alignments.) A remnant of this remains in the sidebar on page 11, but what I discovered was that new players weren’t grokking the system. They were asking a lot of clarifying questions, and that’s usually an indication that the rulebook isn’t doing its job.

What do you think?

Check out this page purporting to be a list of Words That Don’t Exist in the English Language. It’s been making the rounds for awhile, so you may have seen it. And at least portions of it have possibly been debunked. But here are a couple of examples:

Waldeinsamkeit (German): The feeling of being alone in the woods.

Forelsket (Norwegian): The euphoria you experience when you are first falling in love.

Gheegle (Filipino): The urge to pinch or squeeze something that is unbearably cute.

What concepts would be so unique to a fantasy world that they might give rise to words which are, more-or-less, untranslatable to English?

Here’s a few thoughts:

The feeling of slight nausea and dizziness that happens when you teleport somewhere.

A color that can only be created by magic.

The soul-searing, howling noise created by adamantine when it’s shattered.

The sick giddiness left in the wake of a charm or domination effect.

What would be some good words for that? What other concepts would be evocative?

The Legends & Labyrinths 8-Bit Funding project has come to an end! And it’s been a huge success! To celebrate, my primary gaming group baked me a cake:

What happens next?

Sometime in the next 24-48 hours, I should be receiving a spreadsheet from 8-Bit Funding. Once I have that in hand, I’ll be able to organize it and start contacting funders to make the arrangements necessary for their perks. So, at some point in the next week, everyone should be receiving their copies of the Black Book Beta (ideally sooner rather than later).

If you’re a funder, keep an eye on the Updates page at 8-Bit Funding. That’s where I’ll be posting any kind of “house management” stuff regarding perk fulfillment (rather than cluttering up the Alexandrian).

Once that’s done, I’ll be able to continue the process of commissioning art, proofreading, and continued playtesting that will eventually culminate in the release of the final rulebook. My goal is for this to happen as quickly as possible, with the time table being largely dictated by when the artists can complete their work.

Here at the Alexandrian I’ll be continuing to post Black Book Beta Responses. Now that people have copies of the rulebooks in their hands, I’ll probably also be rolling out some Home Testing Kits. (Let me know in the comments if little test scenarios and endurance testing sounds interesting to you.) There will also, of course, be non-L&L content coming down the pike.

The adventure is just beginning!

THANK YOU!

P.S. We didn’t hit $4,000. But I’ve decided to go ahead and unlock the $4,000 landmark bonuses anyway. You guys have been great!