My House Rules for a bit more narrative control

[Engilbrand]

I'm DMing an Eberron game for 2 friends. One character is a Changeling Bard. The other is a Valenar Elf Ranger. They started at level 4. They're now level 7. They level up every 2 sessions. Combat is a secondary thing that I only use for them when it would have a point for the story.

I knew their issues with 4th edition before we began, so I came up with 2 "hacks" that they seem to love.

1. Preroll- Roll 10 combat rolls and 10 skill rolls. Distribute bonuses up to a total of your level. If the characters are 5th level, each set of rolls gets a +5 bonus spread among the numbers. (Still figuring out exactly when to stop this. +30 would be ridiculous.)

Why?- This allows the players to be good at what they're good at. Also, it makes combat incredibly more narrative. Their descriptions of what happens take into account hits and misses.

Problems?- The skill set might need to be redone. I have found myself being a bit static with regards to the skills that I ask for, and they typically succeed all the time. Ideas?

Player reactions- They love this. Especially for combat. They like that they don't usually crit against a minion or continuously miss a normal guy. Combats are even more dynamic and fun than they would normally be. They're usually assured to have a crit or two in each combat, and they find fun ways to miss.

My view- I'm perfectly fine with the way that the game normally works. For these guys, though, this has worked out really well.

2. Spiffy Points- Each player gets 5 of these per session. They allow more narrative control over events, typically in combat. They can be used to:
a. do an effect without the damage. Example: Lightning Lure. It can be used to lasso a friend who is falling and pull him to safety without injury.
b. do something extra. Example: The Ranger hit an enemy, spent a Spiffy Point, and cut down a cloth curtain on a tent to tangle up a foe and knock him prone. I had him make a standard melee attack vs Reflex to see if the curtain did what he wanted.
c. do something else. Example: I'm sure that it has happened, but nothing is coming to mind. When they ask to do the strange stuff, Spiffy Points are used.

Why?- Sometimes, you just want to do something extra. I know that page 42 allows for this stuff. I use the Points as a way for them to do stuff beyond what they normally do anyway in a turn. Also, this gives them a better chance at survival because there are only 2 of them.

Problems?- None. They're gradually getting more use to them. I would like to see them use them more often, especially on skill rolls.

Player Reactions- They like them. I had a raid on an Airship Cruiseship the other day, and the Changeling was altered into a literary character. Imagine every stereotype of the Scoundrel Pirate. Every stereotype. I told him that he had 8 Spiffy Points, and he should use at least one per round. There was much swinging, flipping, and controlling of Soarsleds. It was a blast.

My view- I like them. When used, they've added something fun and dynamic to combats.


Comments? Questions? Ideas? This is my first time really DMing anything more than a combat-fest, and it has been a blast. If you're wondering about the balance of these things, I'll be honest and tell you that it throws things off a bit. Then again, they still experience pain, and the story is developing dynamically.

I have used some form of the word "dynamic" too many times in this post.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Doesn't sound bad. Your spiffy points could potentially be awarded in some fashion. Drawing from other RPGs I'd say you could award them for character development, award them for activating some sort of character limitation (IE if a greedy character's player accepts some sort of limitation or penalty for being greedy he can get a point). The DM could also require the use of one to cancel out a situation where the player decides not to play to a character's limitations or normal propensities. Five per encounter seems like a lot, but its hard to say there is a specific number which is too much, it all depends on your game style.

Its hard to really easily say what the effect of the whole preroll thing is, except it is going to provide the players with a pretty large power boost. They can allocate just enough bonuses to pass a check, dump low numbers on trivial checks, etc. Some of it will depend on the amount of meta-gaming they do and how much information you give the players. What happens if they run out of rolls? Another issue would be roll dumping. It isn't too hard for a player to manufacture situations where they get to make a die roll but the result is really not important and they can just use it to sponge up low rolls. A final issue might be the overall impact on the player's choices of knowing how well they rolled for the whole encounter ahead of time. If they get a whole bunch of crummy die rolls then why continue the encounter? Better to withdraw and try again later.

Again it is all a matter of play style etc. Some players will heavily game a system like that, others may not.

 

[Engilbrand]

5 Spiffy Points per session.

My players don't really abuse the system. The goal is to have fun and tell a story. Like any movie fight, they intersperse hits with misses. When they run out of rolls, the make a new set of 10. What do they do if they have a bunch of crappy rolls? Try to get through them quickly in a combat. They're also more likely to use Spiffy Points so that they can burn off some rolls. If the combat is going to continue for a while, I usually let the Ranger roll a fresh set when he's down to about 3 rolls, most of which are probably misses. He's a dual wield Ranger, so he tends to go through rolls quickly.

The entire reason I created these is that these are players who are more about the story and less about the system.

Even knowing how their rolls look, they still move forward. What's the alternative? Fabricate an encounter to get rid of crappy rolls? That's not how we roll. Every combat has a purpose. I trust that they're not going to pick a random fight just to get rid a two 2s and a 5.