House Rules

The following are the rules that I have opted to use in my own T&T games. They make sense and work for me, but your milage may vary. This page is in a constant state of flux.

Hit & Missile (added 2-04-99)

Fired missiles (such as bows, crossbows, guns, etc.) are not dependant on the user's ST, other than to draw, cock or stand against the recoil of the weapon (which is figured into the ST minimum). These use Missile Adds (DEX/DEX/Luck).

The weapons in the T&T rules that should be considered fired missiles include all arbalests & crossbows, bows (self and longbows), blowpipes and guns.

The weapons that should be considered thrown missiles are all slings, African throwing knives, chakrams, shurikin, all bolas, all thrown spears and daggers, thrown rocks, tossed hobbits, etc. ;)

How Hard Is It? (added 1-26-99)

The T&T rules state that the more difficult the action attempted, the higher the level of the required Saving Roll should be. There are only very brief guidelines as to what these levels of difficulty should be. I use the following . . .

Easy (L1 SR, 20-attribute): There should some chance of failure and some element of risk if you do. Examples are dodging a thrown dagger, noticing a trap door before it opens under your feet, etc.

Slightly Difficult (L2 SR, 25-attribute): This should be something that requires some skill or luck. If failed, it could be fairly bad. Examples are sneaking past an alert sentry, quickly finding a well hidden secret passage while being pursued, etc.

Difficult (L3 SR, 30-attribute): This is a tough one. Success should yeild definite benefit, but failure could mean severe penalty or death. Examples are outrunning a cave-in, convincing a guard that he should release you after he caught you red-handed, etc.

Extremely Difficult (L4, 35-attribute): This is the hero-maker or breaker. If failed, it could end the delver's career right there. Examples are doing an acrobatic leap and roll to recover a disarmed weapon while in combat, stealing a wizard's pointy hat from right off his head, etc.

Epic (L5+): These are reserved for those with the true metal of a hero. These include those along the lines of attempting to convince a dragon into giving you his treasure hoard, managing to kill the executioner while your hands are tied and your head is on the block or trying to pursuade the King that your impregnating of his daughter is a good thing. The stuff of legend ;)

Saving Rolls can sometimes have more than one attribute that could apply to them. In these cases, making the roll on the highest of them makes the SR a little less difficult. Making the SR on the lowest of them will make it more difficult. Sometimes, you may want to take the average of two or more attributes to determine a SR, but this should be done rarely if at all.

Above the Common Man

(From Ken St. Andre's House Rules.)

"When rolling up the character, roll 3D6. Triples add and roll over to get the total attribute. Example, when rolling up Bill the Bungler, I manage to roll three 5’s for Dexterity. That’s 15, then I roll again, getting 6, 3, and 4, for another 13. Total Dexterity roll = 28. Bill the Bungler just became Bill the Burglar, and this character is due some respect." -- Ken St. Andre

The Power of Magic

(From Ken St. Andre's House Rules.)

"Power is magical power, a tiny stored fraction of the world’s magical energy that is used to power magical spells. All living things, and some unliving things on Trollworld have Power, though the amount they have may be extremely small. Power takes the place of Strength in earlier editions of Tunnels and Trolls for powering magic, and it can be depleted and restored in the same fashion. Rapid Power loss can deplete Strength as well. When casting a spell that costs Power equal to 1/2 Strength or more, make a Strength saving roll on the level of the spell being cast, or else become temporarily too weak to walk for as many minutes as you missed the saving roll by. At the Game Master’s discretion, Power can be used in a saving roll to resist magical spells cast upon a character." -- Ken St. Andre

"All kindred types have a Power and Speed multiplier of 1. When triples add and roll over, you get enough variation without giving some kindred an unfair advantage in these two critical attributes." -- Ken St. Andre

Power is abbreviated as POW and in section 2.14, Character Levels, add the following to the options to improve prime attributes:

H. Add the new level number to POW.

The Magic of Olde

The 6th Edition of T&T will usher in a new era where POW is used instead of ST to power spells. 5th Edition delvers will not have a POW attribute, so they will need to have one added and a value assigned.

I found that the best method seems to be: roll up your base POW, compare it to your ST and switch over the ST points that you want to cast your spells. Both advance at the same rate, so this doesn't create an imbalance. Of course, once you have done this, you can't change your mind and switch them back or add more to POW later.

Spite Damage (updated 2-12-99)

From the article Spite Damage By Roy Cram, from SA #13 (thanks to Jack Spencer JR)

" . . . In a melee or battle, regardless of level, ability, or protective spells or clothing, I believe ther is always a chance, be it ever so slight, that each combatant is going to catch a little fallout. Winners and losers alike can be the victim of serendipity, chance, fate, dumb luck, mistakes, or what have you. A really good roll deserves some measure of reward. I think that even the weakest of monsters and characters deserve to get a few licks in regardless of who or what they are fighting, in the form of spite damage: a sort of last great gesture of defiance.

Calculating spite damage is extremely simple. After each side has rolled their dice, they simply add up the number of 6's rolled, and subtract 1 [Personal note: I do not subtract 1, DM]. The resulting number represents the minimum damage they have inflicted on their adversaries in that turn, regardless of armor or other protection.

For example, if one side rolls a total of five 6's on their dice, their opponents will have to distribute randomly among their members 4 points of constitutional damage. And vise-versa: if the other guys rolled up five 6's too, they also get a minimum of 4 randomly distributed hits on their foes.

Spite damage is never added as a bonus to any real damage scored, but simply the minimum damage done to the other side in that round. It represents injuries, bruises, abrasions, contusions, nicks, bites, scratches, bumps, and lumps incurred by chance during the fight. If real damage is scored, but is less than the spite damage, use the spite damage. If real damage is greater than spite damage, use the real damage. Situations can occur where neither side suffers any real damage, but one or both sides take spite damage.

This system gives back a grudging measure of respect to any creature worth more than one dice in combat. No matter how well protected or powerful you are, that nasty little bugger you have cornered and are preparing to skewer, can still slip in under your guard and, out of pure spite, with his dying gasp, bite you. In close contests where the adversaries are evenly matched, spite damage can be a deciding factor. Also, players and judges whose characters or monsters are getting roasted in a fight will at least have the satisfaction of leaving some mark on the foe with good dice rolls.

Naturally, weapons which have been envenomed, or monsters whose attacks include poisonous bites or stings, will be at an advantage when facing foes who are affected by toxic substances. One system of handling this is to give all spite damage inflicted by poison weapons or creatures the same bonuses or effects that would occur had real damage been done in the coures of combat. However, those who will point out the serendipitous nature of the injuries that constitute spite damage, can allow injured parties the benefit of an appropriate level SR on their Luck to see if the injury was from the envenomed weapon, or from some other accident of chance that occurred during the confusion of a knock-down, drag-out struggle.

Another question arises when magic protection and armor are taken into account. Since these items go beyond the normal limits of natural, non-magical protection, it is highly likely they will also have some degree of effectiveness in protecting their wearer or user from the effects of spite damage.

I believe that spite damage should never be totally ruled out or eliminated. Characters who are protected by magic armor and spells should, at best, be allowed a saving roll on Luck at an appropriate level to see if they were hurt or not.

Another possible approach is to divide spite damage inflicted on opponents who are superficially defended by an appropriate factor (rounding fractions up or down, according to individual practice or preference). In no case, however, should spite damage ever be lowered below at least one point . . .

. . . Spite damage returns hope to outclassed monsters and characters. It will be especially satifying to the GM who has watched smug groups of armored adventurers stroll casually through his carefully-contrived adventure, demolishing his beloved dungeon denizens with relative impunity. No longer will these mail-plated myrmidons be able to sneer at their adversaries - because with spite damage, the meanest goblin has the power to leave a mark on them. I think the spite damage system corrects some of the faults inherent in the T&T rules, returning a measure of realism that should make the game more fun and exciting for everyone who plays it."

Endure and Conquer

(From Ken St. Andre's House Rules.)

"Evenly matched battles can go on for a long time, but not forever. Combatants will tire. Those wearing the heaviest armor tire fastest. Generally speaking, the extremely fit citizens of Trollworld can fight for a number of combat turns equal to their Constitution rating. When that number is exceeded, the character/opponent begins to weaken. Strength goes down by 1 point per combat round (and if Strength goes down, combat adds go down). If the fighting character is carrying stuff, he weakens a lot faster, using a formula of CON/(1 + N), where N = number of weight units being carried times 100, gives the number of combat turns before the character weakens. If a character gets too weak to effectively use his weapon, but continues using it, he weakens even faster. If Strength reaches zero, or goes negative, the character falls down unconscious for combat turns equal to the negative number as Strength rebuilds to a positive number. At the Game Master’s option, the Character must make a first level Constitution saving roll (on his current CON) to see if his heart burst from the effort and he died on the spot. This takes care of all those situations people complain about where it seems that heavy-armored characters cannot be hurt. It is also a major advantage for monster-rated creatures who are assumed to have CONs equal to their monster rating." -- Ken St. Andre

Rating Monsters

Rated Monsters start at 1d6+0 at 0 MR. For each additional 10 MR they gain basically +10 CON, +1d6 and +5 Adds (about 8 average Hits rolled).

If you have a party of three delvers that have a total of 10d6, plus 37 Adds and two of them are wearing armor (both leather, 6 hits) then you are going to want a creature (for an even fight) with similar combat abilities. Add 10 to the MR until it reaches a nearly equal point to the delvers.

With the progression of +5 Adds automatically to each dice, this might seem hard to get an equivalent match, so figure out the averaged Party Strength of the delvers (dice x 3.5 + adds, in this case 72) and keep building up the MR until you get an average that is close.

• 10 MR, 2d6+5 (12 average)
• 20 MR, 3d6+10 (20 average)
• 30 MR, 4d6+15 (29 average)
• 40 MR, 5d6+20 (37 average)
• 50 MR, 6d6+25 (46 average)
• 60 MR, 7d6+30 (54 average)
• 70 MR, 8d6+35 (63 average)
• 80 MR, 9d6+40 (71 average)

At 80 MR you have a monster that is basically equal to the delvers in combat ability. Using this base MR will probably result in a battle of Spite Damage until a decisive point in the combat occurs, such as a delver becoming exhausted or dying or the monster becoming too weak to fend off the party's blows.

The "Equal Hits for Equal Pay" Option: Hits of damage are distributed equally among the members of the losing side, so subtract the higher average from the lower and divide by the number of combatants on the lower side. Then subtract each individual's armor to arrive at the average amount of Hits they are likely to take in a combat turn. Those with armor might be unscratched, while those without will likely emerge from the fight wounded. If a combatant takes enough damage to die during the combat, his dice and adds are lost to his side, tipping the balance drastically.

The more delvers beating on a monster, the less Hits they each will take if he manages to win a turn, so it is less likely for one to die (having their dice and adds lost to the group) the greater their number. Also, Party Strength can potentially be lost in "chunks" as delvers drop, but Rated Monsters will get weaker and weaker each turn they lose and their MR is reduced.

The "Let's All Stand Behind the Warrior" Option: Some may prefer to allow the players to determine how any Hits they take as a party are distributed. This will no doubt lead to the heavily-armored warriors taking the brunt, with those with little or no armor taking next to none. However, using the Spite Damage rules where both sides take automatic damage regardless of winning or losing, this becomes a much more workable option. The warriors can't take all that automatic damage themselves or they will die and the group loses the benefit of their armor. The Spite Damage might dominate the combat until someone gets tired, takes enough Hits to die or the Rated Monster is weakened, tipping the balance.

From this reference point you can decide on how relatively tough you want the monster to be:

• Sword-Fodder: -15 to +15 to MR (average of -10 to +10).
• Good Fight: +25 MR (average of +22). The delvers will need to be lucky, rely on Spite Damage or pull out some direct damage to weaken it.
• Tough Fight: +30 MR (average of +29). This monster will be tough. It can be worn down with Spite Damage, but direct damage and/or cunning are almost a must.
• Epic Battle: +40 MR (average of +37). This monster will savage the delvers. Spite and Direct damage will be needed to weaken it enough to finish it off.
• Hopeless Battle: +50 MR (average of +46). This monster will demolish the party in straight melee combat. Spite Damage will wear it down, but those without "direct damage" or major tricks up their sleeves may be in trouble.

Monsters may also have armor, which makes them much more difficult to kill. If you are not using the Spite Damage rules, make sure that the side with the higher average can in fact generate enough Hits (not average, maximum) to penetrate it, or the battle will likely stalemate.

Monsters can also have "direct damage" (spells, a thrown knife, etc.) which they are likely to use on their opening turn of combat. If this attack is apt to kill one of the delvers, figure the MR of that monster from a Party Strength excluding the member most likely to be lost (probably the one with the lowest CON, DEX or Luck . . . you are going to have to choose here). If the monster fails to kill a delver with his initial attack, he has lost his advantage and will likely be dispatched quickly.

The above scale works for fighting a group of monsters as well. Simply take the selected "battle difficulty" and split the MR into several separate beasts. The base MR arrived at can be thought of as Monster Party Strength.

A solo delver fighting a group of monsters would best be done by taking how hard you want the fight to be ("Good Fight") and dividing the MR among the monsters.

Warriors (updated 2-04-99)

[ Note, I am currently trying out Ken St. Andre's variation of this idea with +New Level/Level Warrior Adds. ]

I prefer to give Warriors a +1 Warrior Adds (applying to Personal and Missile Adds) per level (independent of armor) instead of doubling for the following reasons:

• Offensive bonus. Warriors currently have no offensive advantage at all. Unarmored and unarmed, they are no more formidable than a wizard with equal Personal Adds.
• Defensive bonus. Someone who has practiced combat all of their lives should have some knowledge of dodging and parrying beyond the average man. They will be able to fight in minimal armor and still have an edge.
• Not equipment dependent. Currently, a warrior without his armor is without any advantage.
• Training with weapons. The warrior will be able use the thigh bone he found on the floor to beat the stuffing out of that goblin, because he knows how to get the most out any weapon, even if he has to improvise.
• Unarmed combat. A warrior will be a formidable fighter, even if he has to slug out his foes with his bare fists.
• Improves with experience. A warrior doesn't have the vast array of spells that the magic-throwing types do. They spend their whole lives fighting. As they get more and more experienced (gain levels), their martial prowess should increase. Every type gets Personal Adds increases with raised attributes. The warrior deserves an extra edge to reflect that his specialty, his entire life, is combat.

In addition, I use Berserk Fighting as a warrior specific ability (provided they do not have an IQ of 16+).

Warriors fight. That is all they do and they should do it well.

Playing the Numbers

Sometimes the number of dice to be rolled in T&T combat is daunting . . . or just plain unavailable. There are three primary methods to skirt around this dilemma:

(Option 1 is from Ken St. Andre's House Rules.)

1. "When Monster-rated foes have big monster ratings--like 300--I usually don't have 31 dice to roll, although that can be fun. I'm more likely to divide by 10, or some other convenient factor and calculate monster hits that way. In this case, ten Orcs with monster ratings of 30 each would roll 3 dice getting 6, 4, 4 for 14 times 10 = 140 weapon hits plus 1 die (its 31 dice total) = 143 weapons hits and 150 adds for a combat total of 293. There was one 6, and times 10 makes 10 sixes for 10 points of spite damage if the Orcs lost that combat round. [Actually rolling 31 dice, I got only 117 for the Orcs' dice roll. As you can see, factoring will produce a wider variety of combat results than mere die-rolling or averaging is likely to do, and thus make the game more exciting.]" -- Ken St. Andre

Note, this method generates a much wider range of numbers and makes combat far more unpredictable, weighing it even more so in favor of the side with the most dice.

2. Reduce all factors (dice, adds, armor) by a like amount (usually 2) and then re-convert Hits to CON after armor is applied.

For Spite Damage, multiply the number of sixes rolled by 2 (or whatever number you divided by).

Do not round adds and roll "true" half die when needed (divide the result by 1/2 without rounding). Everything will arrive at a whole number when re-coverted.

1. .5
2. 1
3. 1.5
4. 2
5. 2.5
6. 3

Note, this method will make the combat outcome closer to what it would have been had all the dice been rolled.

Example:

Gorz Orcstab (6D6, armor 6), Tawny Manslaughter (5D6+12, armor 8) and Hobbert the Hairy (2D6+3, armor 3) are gearing up to take down a Newt-Dragon (MR 70, 8D6+35) that has been carrying away local virgins.

The delvers have a total of 6.5D6+7.5. Combat is fought using these smaller numbers, but if someone takes damage, it is multipled by 2 (after armor has been applied).

3. Roll the dice that you have (or want to roll) and assume any unrolled dice are 3.5 each. This will be very close to same result had all the dice been rolled.

Wielding Two Weapons

The advantages to being able to wield two weapons at once are obvious. A shield gives a fixed, low value usuable only for protection while another weapon will provide dice and adds that are used for defense and offense.

If someone wishes to wield a second, one-handed weapon, they must add the ST and DEX requirements of them both together. If their ST and DEX are both high enough, they can use them. If not, then they simply are not strong or skilled enough to wield them both.

Example:

Gori Roadkill, the hobb rogue, has a ST 10 and a DEX of 22. He wields a sabre (ST 9, DEX 10) as his primary weapon, but wants a little extra "umph" to his attacks, so he decides to try use a second one in his left hand. He has the DEX (10 + 10 needed and he has a 22), but has barely enough ST to wield one sabre. He only has one extra ST point, so he'll need to find something small. He looks through the dagger list and finds that a Dirk (2d6+1, ST 1, DEX 4/10) seems to be his best bet . . . and he has enough DEX to throw it 10 yards if needed for direct damage.

This rule should be used when a character attempts to compete in some way against another character or monster, pitting thier prowess against the other.

Versus Adds (or VAdds) for each Stat or Skill is +1 per point over 12 and -1 per point under 9. STR 16 would have +4 VAdds, CHA of 6 would have -3 VAdds, while a DEX of 10 would have 0 VAdds.

Both roll 2D6 (doubles re-roll and add) applying their VAdds. Highest total wins. In case of tie, either it can be declared a draw (if applicable), or 1D6 can then be rolled off until one rolls higher ("cut-throat sudden death").

Adventure Points gained, if applicable, should be the number rolled times the level of the person went against (or the level of the dungeon if a monster).

Examples:

The bottom-line is, if you think a character is trying to get free experience by making meaningless SRs or casting a spell over and over, give him Adventure Points for the first attempt or two - warn him - and if he persists... tell him the gods are displeased - zap his Charisma to 3 - and make him justify why he should get EPs each time he makes a SR or casts a spell before awarding them to him - just for the current adventure. Return everything to normal the next game - and hope he learned his lesson.

A character could cast Will-o-Wisp (1 "magic energy") up to five times a turn (2.21, 5th Ed. T&T Rules) until he was tired, rest to recover his energy, cast again, etc. all day. This would amount to gaining 30 EPs per hour, 360 per day (assuming he's casting 12 hours, resting/eating 12 hours). Stick a level 1 wizard in a room for 10 years and he comes out at 16th level with 1,314,000 EPs. Why bother adventuring? Of course -- if a player of mine ever tried this, not only would he NOT gain the EPs he was expecting, but his character's head would grow to fill his pointy, wizard hat, his skin would turn paisley and he would be cursed to say "shnuck" between each syllable whenever he spoke ("Hell-shnuck-o. Ven-shnuck-dor the Mag-shnuck-nif-shnuck-i-shnuck-cent, at your ser-shnuck-vice.").

It is important is play by the spirit of the rules and not the letter, in all cases. Role-playing always should take precedence over Rule-Playing.

Examples:

[ Speed is currently the subject of hot debate and there are good arguments from both sides of the forest. This is my current view on how SPD should be used, though it may change. ]

Speed is rolled like any other attribute.

"All kindred types have a Power and Speed multiplier of 1. When triples add and roll over, you get enough variation without giving some kindred an unfair advantage in these two critical attributes." -- Ken St. Andre

It does not increase with level. A delver has a top, healthy, brain-to-muscle response time which is with him pretty much from from birth to grave. Brain damage, bad health or fatigue can diminish it, but not much can increase it (I'm not a doctor, this just makes sense to me). Granted, over time DEX will become much higher than Speed, but that is allowable. Dexterity is easily trainable (a typical "delving" day, juggling, thumb-wrestling, sports, etc.) while Speed isn't.

This Speed attribute can be used for SRs when reflexes and quick response time is more important than control (dodging in combat, grabbing the edge of a ravine just before you plunge to your death, etc.) while Dexterity is used for actions that require coordination and accuracy (Personal Adds and combat ability) or fine manipulation (picking a lock or a pocket, etc.).

For movement, Speed times the delver's kindred height modifier determines his "stride" or movement rate. Longer legs cover distance much faster. Apply normal load modifiers (from 2.36 Speed and Movement) before multiplying to keep it relative. These can all be figured out at character creation so it doesn't bog down play.

Examples:

Delvers are truly exceptional people. They are constantly battling fierce beasties, dodging deadly traps and pitfalls - and basically fighting for their lives most of the time. That's quite a work-out and those that survive develop far beyond that of the average person... however, sometimes even the most daring delver decides that it's time to hang up the old magic sword and relax to enjoy the vast wealth he has acquired through his travels. For every year spent without adventuring, he will lose 10% of his current adventure point total. When this causes him to drop below that required for his current level, he drops to the level below it and must subtract the points equal to the level lost (in the same ratio they are gained) from his stats. One of the level bonus options must be selected and applied in reverse.

No amount of practice can fully substitute the kind of "kill or be killed", "sink or swim", "Do or DIE" type of training received in real-life adventuring - but, if the retired character practices his craft at least twenty hours each week, every week without fail - he will only lose 5% per year.

"But, hey! Wizards are not physical characters. Why should they go soft the same way? They often hole up in towers and study spell books.. that's what wizards do." Well, adventuring wizards are different than the typical solitary, sagely sorcerer. They actively go out and hone their skills "in the field", just as a warrior. They are just different skills. The above still applies for them, but they are more likely to continue studying their craft once they have stopped adventuring so usually they will only lose the 5% per year.

Note: My "Going Soft" program (Qbasic) will automate this process for delvers who have been out of action for extended periods of time.

Examples: