Rules

You know what I love? Dan ("Delta") Collins's Original Edition Delta rules. You know why? Because he provides a massive number of design notes explaining exactly why he has decided on these particular rulings for his personal D&D game. Sometimes he references later D&D texts (his foundational system is OD&D); sometimes he references his own blog; sometimes he references specific historical treatise or reenactments.

This is awesome. This is what I want to do. I want to "footnote the hell out of" my rulebooks so that every time I get some random idea or notion I can check my notes and see EXACTLY WHY I made a decision to go the way I already did...and put the matter to rest.

It doesn't mean you can't change your rules later on! Listening to Dan's and Paul's webcasts, Dan is often heard taking to heart tweaks and modifications Paul has found useful/helpful in actual play, and added or updated his rules because of it (Paul is also using OED for some of his games, but with personal modifications). To me this is perfectly acceptable; even when a new rule or system appears to work well in play, over time it may shape your campaign in ways you don't necessarily want.

[a quick example...and one NOT incorporated by Dan...comes from this recent podcast: Paul's critical hit table, based in part on WHFRP's system, resulted in every PC in his campaign having some number of amputated limbs by 5th level. Amusing though that might be, not every DM wants a motley group of peg-legs and hook-hands populating their game (I did that back when I used to run ElfQuest...gets old after a while). It actually shaped the tone of Paul's campaign, and he has since reduced the chance of maiming]

Just having a "bible" of sorts that explains your rules is an idea I find incredibly useful. Yes, it can be time consuming (check out Tao's Wiki if you want to look at a more massive example)...but just having the reference available must be invaluable in the amount of time you save: seeing that note by the text means you have examined the rule, tested the rule, reasoned why you want the rule the way it is (either to model something specific or to better facilitate play)...and then you can just leave it alone. And if questioned by your table you have the explanation right there to point to...though I'd suggest holding all questions for after the session concludes.

I really need to take the time to do this. I balk at making the effort because I realize it will be time consuming. But it will save me so much time later...once I get back to running a regular game. Best to get as much ruling out of the way now, so that I can focus on playing when the time comes.

Original Edition Delta

I spent a lot of time researching medieval archery (longbows, crossbows) around 2am this morning because...well, I don't honestly remember what put that particular been into my bonnet. For whatever reason, I felt I needed/wanted to "correct" some things.

[I also spent a good bit of time researching The Runaways. Cherie Curry was a phenomenal talent for her age. Well, I suppose they all were, but I know quite a bit more about being a vocalist/front than those stringy-instrument things...]

Anyhoo, while watching videos of dudes with British accents shooting arrows into things and comparing my copy of D&D with CHAINMAIL and a bunch of pseudo-scholarly web sites devoted to medieval weapons, I...

[oh, wait! I remember! I was checking archery technology in relationship to the development of armor in western Europe...again...especially in the 13th through 15th centuries. Duh]

...I found myself getting more blah-blah-blah-blah because is the kind of shit I am always doing: re-re-inventing the damn wheel just trying to reconcile historic stats with design models. Surely a lost cause when players would prefer to do cool stuff like putting an arrow through a dragon's eyeball.

[having been stabbed in the eyeball with a lollypop stick a couple years back and managing to make a full recovery without the need for medical attention (I got the medical attention, but the doctor did nothing but set me home with some painkillers) I would be inclined to think such an attack, while inconveniencing, would not be nearly as deadly as the players might assume...just given the scale and all]

However, I am what I am (depressing as that can be at times), and I can't help but feeling that if I could just get it right once, then I would stop repeating the damn wheel.

Enter Delta's D&D Hotspot.

Delta's blog is a wealth of good material, most especially for folks (like me) who are interested in the development of D&D over the decades and the modeling of historic accuracy with the oldest versions of the game (including Chainmail). I've been reading his blog for years, but I've never really put in the time to read back over his older stuff. I could have saved myself a shit-ton of trouble if I had. Not only is his archery conclusions fairly close to my own, most of his house rules (Original Edition Delta...available as a free, 6-page PDF) are excellent, well-reasoned, and quite practical. I especially dig on his encumbrance ("stone based") rules and - oh, lookee - a thoughtful distinction of weapons and the use of "real time" for wandering encounters. His system for helmets is pretty much the same as what I was using for my Goblin Wars setting and (with adjustments), Land of Ice.

O Those Mathematicians! If I'd checked here first I might have shaved a couple hundred hours off my design time.

You might want to check it out (if you haven't already)...I'll probably be making reference to OED in future (design-related) posts, seeing as how most of it is so right on.

Okay, now that I got that out there, I shall return to my B/X dissatisfactions...