Rules of the house.

Unified Dice Modifiers

If an ability modifier applies a bonus or penalty to a roll, in most cases it is applied thusly:

This changes the rules for opening stuck doors, initiative adjustments, reactions, and XP modifiers, among other things.

Advantage and Disadvantage

Rolls can have advantage (ADV) or disadvantage (DIS). With advantage, roll an additional die and keep the better result. With disadvantage, roll an additional die and keep the worse result. Advantage and disadvantage stack and cancel each other out, one-for-one.

Impaired and Enhanced

Rolls can be impaired (IMP) or enhanced (ENH). Impaired rolls use better dice. Enhanced rolls use worse dice.

Dice Ladder

When a rule or the referee instructs you to improve or worsen your dice, move up or down the rungs of the dice ladder:

d4 → d6 → d8 → d10 → d12

If a die would be lowered below a d4 or raised above a d12, gain advantage or disadvantage (depending on if the move was caused by ENH or IMP).

Average Modifiers

When it is not clear whose initiative or reaction modifier should be used, the average of everyone in the party is used instead.

Skills

Each skill starts at 1-in-6. The chance of success can never be increased beyond 5-in-6. In some cases (open stuck doors, for example), an ability modifier may be applied to the chance of success of a skill (in that case, Strength).

At first level, characters start with a number of skill points equal to their Intelligence modifier (if positive), to a minimum of one. They may assign these points to increase the likelihood of success on a skill. Each point increases success by 1-in-6.

Gaining skills beyond first level requires spending gold and successful downtime actions. The gold cost is 500 per downtime action, the downtime action chance of failure is 10% times the level being raised to, and the number of required downtime actions is equal to the level being raised to.

The following are considered skills:

Dungeon Skills

• Detect Construction Tricks (such as slanting passages, new construction, shifting walls, et cetera)

• Find Secret Doors (can also be used to find hidden treasure)

• Find Room Traps

• Open Stuck Doors

• Listen at Doors

Wilderness Skills

• Navigating

• Searching

• Scouting

• Foraging

• Hunting

• Tracking

Learning Spells

If a character attempts to learn a spell and fails they cannot attempt to learn the same spell again until they’ve gained a level.

Retrying Rolls

In most cases, except for when doing so would be impossible due to the consequences of failure, rolls can be tried again. Each attempt costs time, resources, or both.

Encumbrance

Encumbrance dictates movement speed and is based on armor worn. Decrease speed by one step if significant amounts of treasure are carried. Increase speed by one step if armor worn is magical.

Dungeon and encounter speed are in yards instead of feet when outdoors and above ground.

Silvering Weapons

The cost to apply silver to a weapon is three times the weapon’s weight in gold coins. In general, the process takes one week.

Poison

Failing to save against poison doesn’t result in instant death unless the poison is exceptionally strong. Instead, the character falls unconscious until the poison can be treated (or whatever other effect is stipulated by the poison’s description).

Energy Drain

Instead of reducing a character by one level, the character loses one level’s worth of experience points, imposing an experience deficit.

Retreating from the Dungeon

The party has a 1-in-6 chance of successfully retreating from the dungeon.

The following increase the chance by 1-in-6 each, to a maximum of 5-in-6:

• The way has been cleared of monsters, traps, and other hazards.

• Doors along the way have been wedged open.

• Doors leading off the way have been wedged shut.

• The party has mapped well enough to accurately describe their escape route.

• The party is unencumbered by treasure.

• The party has adequate light (and food, if applicable.)

If the party fails to retreat, each player must roll on the following table (if a result isn’t applicable, reroll):

You Died. Now what?

Your XP belongs to you the player—not your characters. You “invest” XP into the character you are playing as they gain it. But each time one of your characters dies, that XP reverts back to you, minus 20%. You can then invest that XP into a new character.

Your new character is…

• An heir, who “inherits” from the previous character magic/named items and 90% of their wealth.

• An available retainer (who you may name as your heir—see above), into whom you must invest at least enough of your XP to bring them up to their current XP (no free XP from retainers—if you don’t have enough XP to invest, you cannot claim the retainer as your character).

• An unrelated new character (not an heir), who starts with a random roll on Treasure Type V.

Wilderness

The wilderness is organized into six-mile hexes, each with a specific kind of terrain.

Terrain Mile Cost and Difficulty

Each hex costs a certain number of miles to enter and has a difficulty, depending on its type of terrain.

Becoming Lost

There is a chance of becoming lost, dictated by the current hex’s difficulty, when the party attempts to move into a new hex or perform a wilderness task. When lost, the party remains in the current hex and must spend another turn and more miles to attempt to find their way again.

To avoid the risk of becoming lost, follow a road or trail, a river, a landmark, hire a guide, et cetera.

Hazards

Bypassing hazards requires a wilderness turn and a number of miles spent. The cost is the same as the terrain cost based on the challenge of the hazard, and the chance of failure is the same as the terrain’s difficulty.

Wilderness Tasks

Wilderness tasks require spending a wilderness turn and the current hex’s mile cost. Often, they also require a roll.

• Navigating: Avoiding becoming lost or finding your way again.

• Scouting: Discovering the terrain in the six adjacent hexes.

• Searching: Finding hidden features.

• Foraging and Hunting: Finding or hunting for food.

• Tracking: Following tracks.

Time and Turns in the Wilderness

Wilderness Turn

When exploring the wilderness, time is tracked in wilderness turns. A wilderness turn lasts four hours and uses the following procedure:

1. The party decides on a course of action—moving into an adjacent hex, performing a task in the current hex, et cetera.

2. The referee rolls for weather, losing direction, and random encounters.

3. The Referee describes what the party sees as they travel and asks the party what they do, switching to the dungeon turn or encounter turn (or combat round) as required.

4. The referee updates time records, paying special attention to supplies, spell durations, and the party’s need to rest.

At least two consecutive wilderness turns per day must be spent sleeping and resting.

Day

For long-distance travel by road or trail, time is tracked in days and follows the procedure outlined in the rules, modified by the Terrain Mile Cost and Difficulty above.