Mike Hill wrote:
Who Plays Holmes?
Hi folks,
1) Who amongst us actually plays Holmes as their standard gaming rules set some or all of the time?
2) What, if any, house-rules do you have in place?
I'm hoping to run a game for my crowd sticking as close as possible to the rules as they are, but:
a) I'm going to pick one of the many options available here and elsewhere for light/heavy weapons
b) My players will baulk at the "no strength modifier" (it won't be an issue if everyone throws poorly for strength). If it is an issue I might run with a bonus equal to the constitution/hit points adjustment for fighting men only. Any thoughts on this and whether it should apply just to damage or strike throws too?
Many thanks
Mike
I've only ran Holmes once as an experiment. We played with the book as written, but I'd be interested in hearing about people's house rules.
ReplyDeleteI play Holmes/Blueholmes with my kid. This is not entirely by design—the kid really wanted to play something with a physical book that said "Dungeons & Dragons" on the cover, and Holmes was all I had that fit the bill. However, it's simplicity and focus on early levels made it a good choice. We started out rules-as-written, plus roll-under attribute checks. Our houseruling since then has mostly related to chargen—we whip up lots of playable races and class variations. And we've imported B/X for upper levels. Our games tend to be short and straight-forward: empty out a monster lair and count your treasure.
ReplyDeleteIf I were running Holmes for an adult group, I'd fiddle with weapon damage a bit (maybe import STR bonuses, but just for Fighter-types with large weapons?), and adopt some hexcrawl mechanics. I like death and dismemberment tables, so I'd include one of those. And I'd either eliminate or rework the thief, since I find their skill progression frustrating.
I finished the characters, combat & spells sections of my house rules (Levels Beyond Basic) available for nothin at my blog: http://primereq.blogspot.com/ (correct link edit!)
ReplyDeleteMy house rules work in most of Greyhawk, Blackmoor, Eldritch Wizardry & the 0D&D rules, up to 14th level, although some classes can go higher.
The combat rules work in a lot of variable weapon damage and some characters get multiple hits per round.
(Edit: Holmes' Parry rules are adjusted to accommodate small, medium and large weapons, since large weapons can still only strike every other round, they are allowed to parry on the odd round out.)
(I fiddle around with Dexterity score driven Initiative, but also offer Individual Initiative for epic fights, and Group Initiative for quick & dirty mass melees against hordes of monsters.)
(I work in multiple attacks by fighters of 4th or higher level against 1HD or less monsters, but 8th level fighters get even more attacks for taking on waves of mooks!)
(And still no skills or feats, but I am working on class related abilities when players want to try something related to their class(es)!) ;D
A lot of the rules are rooted in 0e or Chainmail, or even Swords & Spells. I'd suggest adopting variant rules in moderation or not at all. I often tell the players when certain rules are in effect, but this largely depends on the situation & setting.
Just ran a Holmes campaign out and we're switching to Swords and Wizardry as we level up. There was a touch of rules spread (mostly BECMI), plus my occasional decades old "roll a d20 under ," usually to see if somebody knew something appropriate to their class.
ReplyDeleteI GM it for some of my students. It was actually a great intro to D&D for them because it's so damned stripped down. I made these house rules:
ReplyDelete1. You recover all your hp and one spell after a short rest between encounters. Fewer "15 minute adventuring days."
2. Light weapons do 1d4 and attack 2x per round.
3. Medium weapons do 1d8 and attack 1x per round.
4. Two-handed weapons do 1d12 and attack every other round.
Attribute bonuses are beefed up a bit, starting at a score of 12 rather than 15.
Currently designing a campaign. Whether or not I get to play it is another question. I might have to convert it to another edition. That's not a problem as long as I can maintain the feel.
ReplyDeleteDo tell more Alan Bradley...
ReplyDeleteDoug Anderson: Now that I'm in a 5e game-store campaign, I have to admit that healing up after every encounter does encourage faster game play, and I'd endorse this rule for one-off or pick-up games. I like your weapon house rules, but a two-hand weapon that does 2d6 may do more damage than 1d12, statistically.
ReplyDeleteIn the longer campaign, I'd still enforce the regular healing rules to encourage players to pay attention to resource management and tactics; (I feel that this is a tool to help players manage their own real lives, even as adults - some of us do tend to forget the basics we were supposed to learn growing up), but, I also stock a lot more healing spells & potions available for the PCs, so they don't have to retreat every time the wizard gets a papercut.
I've never had a chance to play Holmes, but I hope to rectify that in the near future. There's a lot about it I love, and little I'd house rule. However, your question has inspired me to blog so I'll continue my end of the discussion over there.
ReplyDelete: )
I started with Moldvay Basic 30-some years ago but I also had a copy of Holmes Basic (I thought it was THE original D&D rules at the time). I soon graduated to AD&D and beyond never looked back...
ReplyDelete...until some 10 years ago.
Now, with a professional game design background, I appreciate simple, intuitive RPG rules. I also discovered Holmes' fantasy and SF fiction writing (such as the Boinger and Zereth stories) and other games that originally influenced him (like Warlock). I now incorporate these influences into my own house system that I should really finish writing up and publishing someday.
I've been running Holmes since getting back into the hobby in 2009. Have posted my experiences online here and there (most notably B2 "by the Blue Book" on DF http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=62994)
ReplyDeleteMy 2 main house rules are 1) variable weapon damage (of course) and 2) allowing cure light wounds to revive characters who fall to 0 hp or below (if it brings their total back up above 0). They need to roll on the resurrection survival table from Greyhawk to survive, are in bed for 2 weeks, and lose a point of Constitution.
Oh - and bring in the Dexterity parrying bonuses and percentile Strength modifiers from Greyhawk, as well - players love that.
Demos Sachlas, just started reading this great play report, thank you!
ReplyDeleteDemos Sachlas your play report makes for wonderful reading but B2 looks like just one battle after another. Not sure my crew would take to that. I suppose I'd better sit down and read it!
ReplyDeleteYes, indeed - I previously mused that B2 is more like a tactical wargame than anything else. Each of the caves is organically constructed to annihilate adventuring parties. Very different from the classic dungeon crawl...but it can be thrilling and players get hooked on the adrenaline.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed the play report. I wanted to hew as closely to Holmes as possible. That group is about to tackle the original Lost Caverns of Tsojconth...
I hope you'll continue the excellent reporting.
ReplyDelete