Rules – EpicSavingThrow.com: A Grognard's Notebook

Role-Playing Mini Codes Of Honor

June 5, 2019 mstanton

I once wrote up playing card-sized OD&D character sheets that included three guidelines to remember when role-playing that character. Some were distilled down from the

House Rules For Modern 5e

August 11, 2018 mstanton

Some rough ideas on using the Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition ruleset for other genre games.

T.I.M.E Stories Rules

February 12, 2017 mstanton

A summary of basic rules to Space Cowboys’ “decksploration” board game.

Adventures In Middle-Earth 5e

December 19, 2016 mstanton

Some early notes on the D&D sourcebook / conversion of THE ONE RING role-playing game.

D&D5e: Inspiration Hack

November 30, 2016 mstanton

An alternative method for determining when and how a character gains Inspiration during play.

D&D5e: Downtime Activities

November 25, 2016 mstanton

Notes about what characters may do between adventures. More roll-play than role-play but nice to have some guidelines for DMs and players to set expectations.

D&D5e: Magic

November 25, 2016 mstanton

Notes about spellcasting, magic items and guidelines for effects and limitations in play.

D&D5e: Skill & Tool Use

November 25, 2016 mstanton

Notes about ability checks and various proficiencies, plus clarification on the “Hide” action.

D&D5e: Combat & Health

November 25, 2016 mstanton

All kinds of notes about running combat, “to-hit” rolls and damage, hit point loss and recovery and class abilities.

D&D5e: Time & Travel

November 24, 2016 mstanton

Recap of rules and house rules for travel by land, air or sea.

Hack: Defusing Bombs/Traps

November 24, 2016 mstanton

An RPG mechanic for solving short codes such as defusing sequences for bombs or traps.

Cypher System

August 25, 2016 mstanton

A hack to the “buying down Difficulty” rule in Monte Cook’s Cypher System Rulebook.

D&D5e Range Chart

November 20, 2015 mstanton

Comparison of some range distance limits in Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition.

Call Of Cthulhu 7th Edition

October 31, 2015 mstanton

An expanded version of Matt Puccio’s Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition cribsheet.

Fantasy Forensics

March 15, 2015 mstanton

BlogOfHolding’s fantastic post on how magic changes criminal investigations in a fantasy world.

D&D4e: War Challenges

May 1, 2014 mstanton

Repost of “Skill Challenges of War” by Michael Brewer, Jonathan Jacobs, and Quinn Murphy.

AD&D1e Fast Treasures

March 23, 2014 mstanton

A collection of treasure items a party might have in its possession during an adventure.

Alternatives To Death

July 22, 2013 mstanton

So, a character has died. Now what? here’s ideas to avoid a player having to “start over” with a wholly new character.

Hit point loss could be meat, OR condition of armor OR self-confidence, focus and resisting shock in combat OR ability to ignore nuisance effect like dirt in eyes or awkward stumbles OR lots of things…

Pre-Rolled Dice

June 11, 2012 mstanton

Lists of dice rolls in a random order repeating multiple times for each die type.

Pre-Rolled d20s

June 11, 2012 mstanton

Lists of modified d20 rolls to make attack and saving throw rolls easier for DMs managing multiple opponents.

AD&D 1e Skills

December 14, 2011 mstanton

A summary of the original “non-weapon proficiencies” allowed to player characters, sometimes called “secondary skills” in rules by Gary Gygax.

AD&D1e Equipment Lists

December 14, 2011 mstanton

A list of items, services, prices and weights.

AD&D1e Age Ranges

May 22, 2011 mstanton

AD&D1e followed short lifespans for rapid-population-growth humanoids and ridiculous Tolkien-based ages for elves.

Microlite20

December 2, 2010 mstanton

Microlite20 is a super-simple RPG rules set created by Robin Stacey back in 2006 and widely modified by fans ever since. It is meant to

Area Threat Levels

October 22, 2009 mstanton

Suggested degrees of “local danger” found in various types of locations.

Prices In A Fantasy Setting

April 22, 2009 mstanton

A collection of benchmark standards for use as a house rule for most traditional fantasy marketplaces.

nWoD Vampire Powers

December 1, 2007 mstanton

Lists of supernatural powers for “new World of Darkness” Kindred characters per Vampire: The Requiem.

World Of Darkness Rules

December 1, 2007 mstanton

Notes, summaries and a few house rules from The World Of Darkness Storytelling System Rulebook (2004 edition, aka “nWoD”).

Magick Vs. Paradox Guidelines

October 8, 2006 mstanton

Instead of “vulgar” and “coincidental” labels, instead look at the effect and and consider what a mundane would say if he directly witnessed the event.

Foreshadowing Mage Magick

October 8, 2006 mstanton

The big limitation on magical powers in Mage comes from paradox driven by the counter-belief of non-mage observers. A little creative description can get around that issue…