Daniverse House Rules

Daniverse House Rules in Effect

For all current campaigns, unless otherwise specified.
Pre-Rolls:
Each Player will record 10 (or more, if called for) unmodified checks on 3d6 prior to the start of the session (preferably the week before), to be used for secret GM checks on the Characters’ behalf. Unused rolls will be carried over to the next session.
Alternative Character Point Usage:
As described in Section II.
Colored Dice:
As described in Section III. Colors (White, Red, Black) shall be used on all pre-rolls (recording the color of the highest and lowest die, ties chosen randomly or arbitrarily), and during the game at the Players’ or GM’s discretion (whenever a little more “color” is called for).
Alignment:
Players may optionally assign their Characters a D&D “Alignment,” treated as a Quirk (for no point gain).
No “Cross-Dressing”:
I normally will not allow a male Player to play a female Character, or vice versa. Too damned confusing.
Permitted “Cinematic” Techniques:
Backbreaker, Dual-Weapon Attack, Piledriver, Roll with Blow, Pressure Point Strike; others, per campaign

Miscellaneous GURPS GM Rulings & Precedents

For all current campaigns, unless otherwise specified.

Miscellaneous rulings:

  • Damage to limbs or other locations is to be tracked separately, and not totalled. Listed effects for HP loss are assessed according to the worst location-based total, @GMD.
  • An unspecified target is always "Torso."
  • A miss on a specific body target may hit a "parent" location if the roll would have been good enough to hit the new location. For example, a miss against (torso) Vitals by two is still good enough to have hit the Torso itself, and should be counted as such, @GMD.
  • Splitting attention between 2 targets is a -4 penalty; Characters with Enhanced Time Sense are not subject to this condition.
  • Forward Observer Skill may “assist” Guns or Gunner when able to observe the strike of the round(s).
  • Bullets doing less than “blow-through” damage remain in the body.
  • Breakfall Technique may default from Parachuting Skill, applicable only to "appropriate" falls
  • Acrobatic Stand Technique may default from Soldier Skill (at TL7-8); in this case, a rifle, or similar gear, is considered standard equipment
  • The "Head" may be targeted at -4; on 1d6, hits to the "Head" = "Face" (1-4, from the front) or "Skull" (5-6, from front)
  • When fighting an off-handed fighter (FREX, left-handed, when you're right-handed; "natural" or otherwise), penalties resulting from that opponent's Deceptive Attacks and Feints are increased by -1, providing you have had no prior experience fighting off-handed fighters (treat as "Familiarity"; B169)
  • Visiblity/Cover in wooded areas is -1/5yds (max 50yds) in dense vegetation, or -1/50yds (max 100yds) in light vegetation. 1-"vegetation vis penalty" on 1d6=Clear Line-of-sight; Ref: Vehicles 3e

House Traits & Maneuvers:

  • New Maneuver: Move & Ready; DX-2 to avoid tossing the readied item; subject to other conditions; Reference
  • New Maneuver: All-Out Ready; Standard AoA rules, no DX check req.; Reference
  • New Perk: Ready & Aim; Allows a "free" Aim (doesn't count against limited rounds of Aim vs ST; Pyramid 3/33, "The Deadly Spring") during the final Ready maneuver before firing a bow; Reference

Alternative Character Point Usage

I developed this system after playing Deadlands, which uses poker chips for this purpose. I have had, in the past, the tendency to have nights when I am forsaken by Lady Luck, and I liked the idea of having a backup plan, allowing the use of points/chips/whatever to make up for Lady Luck’s inattention. As a GM, allowing CP usage in this manner also means that the Players will never truly be “stuck” by a situation where their failure, due to die-rolls (or lack of creativity), has left them unable to pick the lock, find the clue, charm the girl, etc. Using this system means that a bad dice night never has to ruin your game.

Use of CPs in this manner represents luck, in a way. In cases where usage changes something that has already happened, it doesn’t actually change the event, but causes a “lucky coincidence” to prevent the effects of that event (i.e., a bullet to the heart is miraculously stopped by a whiskey flask/cigarette case/Bible). Effects are to be described by the affected Player, @GMD.

In addition, this system might be replaced entirely by the Action Movie Cards described in the GM Tips & Tools section.

A number of Plot Points (PP) will be granted on a per-session basis, amount depending on the "cinematic" level of the campaign; normally three. These temporary points are lost at the end of a session if they are not used. Characters with the Luck Advantage (or related advantages) will get a number of extra PPs per session, in place of the listed re-rolls. The purpose of Plot Points is to allow the Players to dictate or bypass random results in critical situations, or other effects.
Non-Combat Success Rolls:
See GURPS Campaigns p347.
Action Success Rolls:
During Combat or Action scenes, 1 point may purchase a re-roll of any undesirable dice-roll already made by that Player. Effects listed for Success Rolls may be purchased during combat at double the listed cost.
Wound Reduction:
1 point may negate the effects of a Crippling wound (not reducing the actual wound count), return a Character to consciousness, or eliminate ¼HP/FP of lost HP/FP respectively (Crippling effects must be bought-off first before healing a Crippling Wound) to a minimum of one HP of injury (if the wound started at less than ¼HP it may instead be fully negated); AKA “Second Wind.”
Player Guidance:
See GURPS Campaigns p347.
Helping Others:
Players may donate any amount of their PPs to another player, as long as that Player has no remaining PPs. Points may also be spent to help important NPCs at any time, @GMD.
Cinematic License (Not Active in all Campaigns):
If the GM declares a campaign or adventure to be “cinematic,” 1 point may be spent to do something normally considered impossible (or at least, insane).  Examples include: jumping from or being dragged by fast moving vehicles while taking no damage; leaping to one side while firing two handguns, without injury; “emergency” purchase of skill, allowing the use of a skill not currently possessed (at the 1 point level); “editor’s mistake in your favor.”  This use does not assume an automatic success, but will allow an action normally not possible, at a “reasonable” difficulty.
Spending Limit:
Multiple points may be spent on one action, @GMD, including instances such as an automatic success on a purchased re-roll, or automatic success on a cinematic maneuver. Players may spend more points than they currently have, while in play. However, if at the end of the session a player still has a PP deficit, a disadvantage equal or greater to the deficit amount must be taken, as agreed upon by player and GM (leftover Disadvantage points are lost).
PP Awards:
The GM may award PPs to individual Players or the entire group, as awards or compensation, as he sees fit. If a Player voluntarily fails a Resistance check for a Disadvantage, Skill check, or other similar condition, at a truly inconvenient moment (@GMD; also, must have a real chance to succeed in the first place), he may be awarded 1PP in compensation.
For the GM:
The GM may veto any PP expenditure by "returning it" if its use threatens the story in any way. The GM may use any number of points, for any reason he deems appropriate (for up-front rolls, anyway); he has no limited pool of PPs to draw from. Rather, when the GM uses a PP in this manner, he will give one to the Players; this PP is made available to all Players, to be used by whichever wishes to use it first, or to a specific individual affected by the GM's PP usage.

Colored Dice

This concept was introduced to me through an article written by someone else (whom I would credit here, if I could remember who it was). In the absence of that article, I will summarize the idea it presented. Basically, in any situation where one is rolling multiple dice (of any denomination), one could use differing colors to indicate other aspects, saving an extra die roll. For instance, when rolling for damage, one might specify an off-colored die to indicate hit-location. Some game systems already incorporate this concept to a degree (the D6 system’s “wild die” or Feng Shui’s positive/negative dice is an example). This could be taken further, by giving each die its own color and “condition,” to provide more specific details as to what condition influenced success or failure. The following example is the one I use in my games: Dice of three different colors may be used when called for by the GM; normally white, red and black.
  • White = Mental (IQ, Knowledge, Perception, Vision (PR))
  • Red = Physical (DX, Skill, Precision, Hearing (PR))
  • Black = External (Luck, Outside Influences, Coincidence, Taste/Smell (PR))
The die that had the greatest effect on the success or failure of a check is considered to indicate the condition that most influenced the outcome (success is most affected by the color of the lowest die, failure is most affected by the color of the highest die); ties are either arbitrated or re-rolled, @GMD. For example, as a Character attempts to Dodge an attack and fails, and the “Black” die shows a 6 result (the highest), it would be determined that some sort of outside influence or bad luck was the cause of his failure…tripped on a rock, perhaps?  If the “Red” die were the highest, indicating that DX or Skill were the cause of his failure, then it could be said that he didn’t react quickly enough to the attack.  If the “White” die were the highest, it could be said that he didn’t quite see the attack coming in time. Any of these factors are merely semantic, and have no game effect on success or failure, except to provide a better “description” of what happened.

Checks, and Degrees of Success

General Difficulties:

GURPS 4e introduced its own difficulty definitions (B345-346), so I am currently using them. I have included my old system, here, for the sake of those who may not have access to 4e, or prefer 3e.

Click Here to View the Old 3e Stuff

Exceptional Success (xSucc):
A final success of more than 5 may be considered an exceptional (but not Critical) success at GMs discretion.  On an exceptional success on a combat check, the GM may allow the Player to adjust the hit location by one step, add +1 to unmodified damage, or -1 to the defender’s active defenses against that attack.
Marginal Success (mSucc):
A final success of less than 2 may be considered a marginal success at GMs discretion. I don't have any concrete examples of what I might do in this situation—mostly just used for color, I expect.
Marginal Failure (mFail):
A final failure by less than 2 is a marginal failure at GMs discretion. For example, a marginal failure on a PR check might notice something but is quickly dismissed. A Marginal Failure may warrant a second chance (e.g. a catch missed by one “tips” the object in the air, allowing a second catch attempt on the next turn). On a Marginal Failure on a combat check, the shot may strike a random location rather than the intended one.
Exceptional Failure (xFail):
A final failure of more than 5 may be considered an exceptional (but not Critical) failure at GMs discretion. I don't have any concrete examples of what I might do in this situation—mostly just used for color, I expect.

Taking the Average:

AKA “Take 10.” When not under duress, if one's effective skill level is 10+, then that one is allowed to forgo a dice-roll and assume a minimal success. No extra time need be taken for that task, except as Time Spent (B-346) is used to boost the effective skill.

Taking the Maximum:

AKA “Take 20.” When not under duress, if one's effective skill is 20+, then that one is allowed to forgo a dice-roll and assume a maximal (non-Critical) success. No extra time need be taken for that task, except as Time Spent (B-346) is used to boost the effective skill.

Taking the Clock:

When conditions allow for subsequent attempts at a failed check, rather than re-rolling, one may use the Time Spent mechanics, as written, to boost the already-rolled result until available time is spent or the result becomes a success. Example: Check missed by 1 becomes a success after taking 2x time. Obviously, a failure by more than 5 can't benefit fully from this rule.

Abstract Chases, Races and Dogfights

I developed this ruleset for GURPS 3e. Since then, SJG has published GURPS Action 2: Exploits, which contains good rules for exactly this sort of thing, which has rendered this section effectively defunct. I highly recommend you pick up that book if you're using 4e. I have left the old stuff here, just in case.
Click Here to View the Old 3e Stuff

Other Rules Systems

Open Die Rolls:

I mention this here, in the event you (the reader) have not encountered this before, as I use them on occasion in some of my rules. In some systems, they use what is referred to as an “open” roll. This means that when you roll the die (whatever type) and come up with the “top” number, you roll again and add the next result to the total, continuing every time you roll the “top” number again (i.e. on a d6, you re-roll when it comes up a 6...if the next roll comes up a 5, you have rolled a total of 11 on one d6).

Long Turns

Sometimes one-second Turns are way too slow. In those instances, I use Long Turns. This is a standard set forth in several existing “abstract” rules-situations in GURPS, such as naval or space combat, expanded for more “mundane” use. I use LTs on any long “task” that could do with a bit more structure, but does not warrant the Combat Turn treatment. A standard Long Turn is ~5min, but will vary from instance to instance. How far a character can walk or run in one Long Turn is normally based on half the Move score over the specified time (considered “long distance”), and only one or two “long” skill attempts are normally possible (more at GMs discretion). If called for, the sequence of action-declaration in Long Turns goes from the lowest IQ score to the highest, giving higher IQ characters more time to think it over (in case of ties, normal combat sequence applies). Anyone declaring that they are taking orders from another character will go directly after that character’s Sequence, regardless of their own IQ. Long Turn Sequence affects only the declaration of action—the action itself is considered simultaneous for all participants. Certain Advantages or Disadvantages may change a character’s Long Turn Sequence (ordered by IQ for multiple instances); some examples include the following:
  • Characters with Impulsiveness always go first.
  • Characters with Careful or Common Sense always go last.
If a PC enters combat, or action requiring the use of Combat Turns (hereafter referred to as an Engagement), only the involved parties go to Combat Turns, while others are frozen until either combat is resolved or they become involved (at GMs discretion). The Engagement ends when all combatants either cannot or will not attack, or when the overall action changes (i.e. all combatants are running somewhere that will take several turns to reach, or are hunkered down waiting for another to make a move).

Swinging

This section is rendered defunct for 4e by entries GURPS Martial Arts and GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 2. I highly recommend picking up either or both of those books. I would only make this addition to those rules, that one's speed during the swing will generally be equal to one's Move used going into it (except on really long swings), and will take a logical number of Turns to complete the swing based on that Move. I have left the old 3e rules I worked up here, just in case.
Click Here to View the Old 3e Stuff
© D Raymond Lunceford, 2009
Last updated 22 December, 2011