House Rules and Clarifications for Beth’s Thorson Imbued Game

 

1. Combat and Initiative: I am choosing to abandon the somewhat wonky house rules we have used for initiative in the past in favor of the ones set down in the Hunter core book, page 189.  That is, you determine your initiative order by rolling a D10 and adding the result to your Initiative rating (Dexterity + Wits).  Also, players must declare their actions before acting (the person with the lowest initiative declares first, and you need to either succeed at a Willpower roll or spend a Willpower point to change actions after you declare it.  And if you can't think of anything to do, you forfeit your turn).

 

2. Damage and Soaking: Because I am a kind and benevolent GM, I will be using the “cinematic damage” rules from Mage Revised: that is, you soak bashing damage as normal (Stamina roll, difficulty 6) and soak lethal damage with Stamina against a difficulty of 8.  Of course, your enemies get to benefit from this rule as well...

 

3. Edges and Gambling Conviction: You need to have your second sight active in order to use edges.  You may only use one edge per turn, even if you take multiple actions.  Also, in most situations you may only gamble Conviction on edge-related rolls once per scene, and then only at dramatically appropriate times (i.e. when a battle’s outcome hinges on your use of the edge).  But in really life-or-death situations, all bets are off and I will let you gamble as much as you want – for example, when monsters are threatening your loved ones or when you face the Big Nasty.  If you're not sure if you are in such a situation after gambling once, just ask and I'll tell you if you can gamble again.

 

4. Willpower: During downtime, you regain Willpower at the rate of one point per full night of sleep.  While actively on the hunt, you can only regain Willpower by fulfilling your Nature.  I will try to inform you of any regained Willpower at the end of each game session at the same time I would assign experience (just yell at me if I forget).  Also, if you do something during a session that you think would cause you to regain Willpower, just point it out and I'll make the call.

 

5. Experience: Expect to receive 3 to 5 experience points per session: one automatically, one or two for lessons, one or two for good RP.  I also give one bonus acting point per session, and occasionally other bonuses for heroism (not stupidity!), creativity, being a plot whore, sucking up to the GM, and the infamous Spilled Milk Award.  And just for the record, experience can be spent only on Attributes, Abilities, Willpower, and to purchase merits or buy off flaws at their cost.  Even then, it will require roleplaying to raise these ratings (like working out to raise Strength or finding a tutor to raise Computer) and you have to inform me and ask my permission before you spend points.   Don't just spend experience on something because you think it would be cool to have – keep your choices realistic.  Backgrounds can only be raised through roleplaying.  (Remember, they can also decrease this way, so if you spend all your money, give away all your guns, or let all your Bystanders die you're shit out of luck.)

 

6. Changing Characters: If your character dies, you get to make a new one (duh).  I am also very receptive to character changes, so if you get sick of the one you're playing or just want to try something different, talk to me and we'll work it out.  Create new characters as normal, then spend 2/3 of the experience earned by your previous character as you see fit.  Sorry, no one gets extra Virtue points until at least one PC earns one legitimately.  Also, remember that all characters should remain true to the spirit of Hunter by embodying the idea of "Everyman" – that is, characters you could run across in everyday life and not be surprised to see them.  Asking to play Navy SEALs, hit men, mobsters, former ghouls, or other action heroes is a surefire way to piss off this GM.

 

7. The WoD Metaplot: Hey, experienced WoD players: All bets are off when it comes to me following canon in this game.  Some things in my WoD work the same, some things work differently, and some things I made up all by myself.  Consider yourselves warned.

 

8. Sticky: Here's where I have to get a little bitchy, and I apologize for that in advance.  For those who don't know, the gaming term "sticky" refers to the shared goals and interests that bind characters together and keep them on track in the game.  Characters who for whatever reason actively work against sticky in the party due to having radically different goals or difficult personalities are called "Teflon," and they make your GM a sad panda.  Sticky is vital in Hunter, but it has been absent from many of the games I have run and played in recently.  In this game, if you do not have sticky you will probably all die quickly and painfully, and I don't want that to happen any more than you do.  Because of that, if I notice that your character has become actively Teflon, I will take you aside for a little talk and ask you to make an effort to work with the party instead of against it, then give you a fair chance to change your ways.  If I have to talk to you about it a second time, you will be asked to retire your character and create a new one who works better with the group.  THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS.  I don't mean "don't play your character," or "avoid any sort of intra-party conflict" – I want both of those things in this game, too.  However, there is sometimes a fine line between playing your character and being a dick, and this rule exists to make sure everyone stays on the right side of that line.

 

9. Taking Turns: This goes along with the previous rule.  This group has 8 players at the moment, which is hovering right on the edge of being too large for me to manage.  So in order for all of us to have a good time, we will all need to demonstrate even more respect and cooperation than we would usually.  One of the easiest ways to do this is to try not to monopolize the GM.  I have been criticized in the past for getting so wrapped up in the actions of individual players that I don’t realize the uninvolved players are bored off their ass.  THIS CANNOT HAPPEN HERE OR THIS GAME WILL NOT WORK.  This means that I need my players a) to keep the game moving by not splitting the party or wandering off alone unless absolutely necessary and b) if the party splits, to realize that other players are waiting their turns while I am talking to you and wrap up your business as quickly as possible, and to be patient and not interrupt if you are waiting to talk to me.  As a rule I want to try not to talk to any individual player without the involvement of a substantial portion of the rest of the group for more than 5 minutes at a time, and all of us (me included) need to work hard to uphold that rule.  If you know that what you want to do will take more of my time than that, please ask me for a blue-booking session (see below).  And if you ever think I’m talking too long with one player, please tell me right away so I can end the narrative and get on to something that involves everyone.

 

10. Character Interactions: Nonetheless, there may be times when my spending a longer amount of time with one player or a small group of players is unavoidable.  But when this happens, the game does not stop.  If you should ever come to a portion of the game in which your character is not involved for whatever reason, I STRONGLY encourage you to remain “in character” and seek out other players to hold in-character conversations until the whole group comes together.  Not only will this make the game more fun and meaningful for you, it gives you something to do to fill that time.  Hell, you can even do this sort of thing out of game if you want to.  I don’t have to be involved or even know the specifics of what was said, though I would appreciate learning about it eventually if you decide or do anything that could affect the story as a whole.

 

11. Bluebooking: For those of you who may not be familiar with this concept, this refers to one-on-one roleplaying that takes place outside the bounds of a normal session.  Good things to bluebook include longer one-on-one conversations with NPCs (or PCs – just set it up on your own!), work toward individual goals, relationship stuff no one else in the group cares about, and even solo hunts if you can come up with a really good reason to do them (and are stupid enough to want to take on monsters alone).  Though my time for bluebooking is often limited, I always like it when people approach me to do it and I will do my best to incorporate it into my weekly schedule – just ask, and you shall receive (I hope).  Also, if your bluebooking does not involve lots of conversation and is only a to-do list (i.e. shopping, research, financial management, stuff at work, stuff with your character's family), you can just email it to me and I'll respond that way.

 

12. A Word of Warning: Hunter: The Reckoning is as a horror game.  This means that some really shitty things will almost certainly happen to your characters, their families, and their friends.  In fact, I fully expect most of you to experience the untimely death of one or more of your characters before this campaign draws to a close.  This does not mean that I am out to get you or that I hope you fail at accomplishing this campaign’s goals (actually, I hope just the opposite).  It just means that this is the best way to demonstrate that your duties as hunters have genuine dangers and that your actions as characters can sometimes have devastating consequences.  But however much I want to make the characters sweat, I want to be sure it happens in an environment in which the players always feel safe.  If there are subjects you would rather not have me include in your character’s experience because they make you, the player, so uncomfortable that to confront them would result in the game not being fun for you, please talk to me about this privately as soon as possible.  Take preemptive action and inform me of it before I have a chance to unwittingly bring the subject up.

 

13. Me as a Storyteller: Though this list may give you the opposite impression, generally you will find me to be a pretty easygoing GM.  In fact, there are only two things I want to accomplish by running this game.  The first is to have fun (duh – why would we be doing it otherwise?).  The second is to tell an exciting and entertaining story.  In other words, I am willing to bend or outright break just about any rule in the book or on this list if I think it will make the story better or make the game more fun.  If anything that happens in the game, anything you find in the rules, or anything you find on this list rubs you the wrong way, all you need to do is mention it to me, and we'll work out a compromise.

 

Inherit the Earth!

 

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