Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[Volt875]

Greetings all. Well seeing as how my first topic died (Alas poor Savage Stories...I hardly knew ye) I have thought of yet another discussion topic. House Rules! Love em, hate em, think the DM's a jerk cause of some of em, we all know em. So here's the topic.

What are some of the house rules you use? Also have you ever encounter any really good or just really odd ones. Doesn't have to be just Savage Worlds either.

Here's one I thought of at my last Savage Worlds game. Now when I run I don't form a discard pile I just let players keep the initative cards and deal out new ones. The rule is if your cards form a poker hand you get a free benny.
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"...If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. But sad or merry, I must leave it now. Farewell!"- Thorin Oakenshield; The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

[tigerguy786]

I like that rule, I might have to use that.

One house rule I use is additional Hindrances.
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TIGER, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

[Volt875]

Tigerguy786, what do you mean by additional hindrances? Just let players take as many as they want? Also, glad you liked it ha ha. As a note on that rule I do still take all the cards in when the joker gets dealt as to reshuffle.
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"...If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. But sad or merry, I must leave it now. Farewell!"- Thorin Oakenshield; The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

[Takeda]

I give out Notice free at D6. I also grant a free D6 in a suitable (non-primary) skill that fits with the character background.

What do I mean by "non-primary": No AB spellcasting, no Fighting, No Throwing or Shooting.

If a Joker comes out in the first hand or two I keep dealing initiative until the combat is over or the other Joker comes out. Fast! Furious! Fun! in my mind does not mean pausing to reshuffle the SW Monster Deck of Cards more than is necessary.

I've been tempted to give our a Bennie whenever the BigBadEvilGuy draws a Joker.

The other thing I've done is allow people to spend a Bennie for a coincidental but beneficial happenstance. I.E. They need to find a car to chase the BBEG and someone spends a Bennie to find the car keys under the visor or the valet key in the glove compartment of a car they break into. It gives the players some creative control over their characters which is really cool. If it's just not appropriate I'll simply veto ... if it's REALLY unlikely then it'll cost more Bennies from the player or players that are going to contribute.
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Dean: "Ya' know she could be faking."
Sam: "Yeah, what do you wanna do, poke her with a stick?"
[Dean nods]
Sam: "Dude, you're not gonna poke her with a stick?"
Supernatural Quotes

[Wibbs]

I give a player a small amount of narrative control if they get three raises on any roll.

[Boldfist]

I add or subtract the Size bonus to Intimidation rolls. If a Size +8 dragon Intimidates you he adds +8 to his roll and subtracts 8 from your Intimidation roll against him if you are Size 0 (normal human).
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Norm "No Relation" Hensley

[Kythkyn]

After standard character creation we give a "starting advancement".
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俺是一個挺累的狐蝠。

[Zadmar]

In my current campaign I don't award experience points, instead I award half an advance per session. Players can spend half an advance to raise one skill below its linked attribute, or they can wait until they've got a full advance. I also allow new skills to be purchased for half an advance rather than a full advance.

[Planecreek]

Neither strange nor cool, but some houserules are:

- Called Shot to the head is -2 to hit and +2 damage.
- Called shot to the leg causes agility roll or fall prone
- Size penalty/bonus to hit is +1/-1 and +2/-2 for large and huge
- the two handed weapon strength die bump
- Some around grappling - raises don't cause shaken, they allow a free grappling action that normally could be taken on the following round while grappling - damage, move, throw, etc

[tigerguy786]

[Drue]

Changed this
Failure: remains Shaken; may only perform free actions
Success: no longer Shaken; may only perform free actions
Raise: no longer Shaken and may act normally

To this
Failure: remains Shaken; may only perform free actions
Success: no longer Shaken and may act normally

[Averjoe]

I have a house rule that only applies to one of my games. The players are all part of a small time heavy metal band called Malignant Tumor, who frequently have strange encounters with the occult. It has a very Sam Raimi vibe to it.

So, since the game has a heavy metal music theme, if a player draws the ace of spades for initiative, it is treated as a joker, but only if they sing "Ace of Spades" like in the chorus of the Motorhead song. The person that draws the card must be the one do it and no one is allowed to remind them. If they fail to notice/remember, then it's just an ace.

My players love it.
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The opinions expressed in this post are just my two cents. YMMV

Averjoe

[Drue]

Healing, from one wound on a success plus one on a raise, to one wound for a success plus one wound for each raise.

[Volt875]

[SeeleyOne]

[Lord Stone]

I have several changes to the default skillset as a common houserule:

Athletics: Incorporates Swimming and Climbing, also used for running.

Socialize: Replaces Streetwise and also incorporates social reading, which is removed from Notice.

Investigation: Incorporates scene investigation, which is removed from Notice.

Manipulation: A new derived statistic equal to 2 plus half your character's Persuasion. This is the TN for social reading attempts on your character.

[Zadmar]

[Virgobrown72]

Depending on the setting, I may extend the professional edge Ace to including the Riding skill as well...
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"Anything smaller is just fiddly, and fiddly is not one of SvgW's three Fs..."

[pelwer]

BENNIES
• If a Player rolls snake eyes, the GM gains a Bennie. If GM rolls snake eyes, each Player gets a Bennie to give to any PC of their choosing.

RUNNING
• You may either roll your Running die or take half. Player must decide before rolling.
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"A little nonsense, now and then, is relished by the wisest men." - Willy Wonka

Currently playing Savage Worlds in the home-brew world of Shadora. ( http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/shadora )
We are looking for players! PM me if interested.

[Jonah Hex]