Any set of house rules will always be better than the official rules because they are written by and for the people actually playing the game.
I don't know if the following house rules are better than the official rules, but I believe that my changes will address some of my concerns regarding campaign game balance and steer gameplay in a direction that my gaming group will appreciate.
We'll give these rules a test run this weekend as we play through the '
Hunt for the Golem' mini-campaign. We are all using starting warbands so I doubt that the underdog rules will come into play, but that's fine. It will let us focus on the my modifications to the more basic elements of the game.
I'm going to keep track of the xps and treasure tokens generated by both my rules and the official rules to see how they compare.
Koyote's House RulesGAME LENGTH & VICTORY CONDITIONSThe cataclysmic spell that doomed the ancient city of Felstad has waned, but the tumultuous skies above Frostgrave remain unpredictable and lethal. Propelled by hurricane winds, ensorcelled cyclones periodically blast the city with snow and subzero temperatures. The arrival of the sorcerous storms cannot be predicted by magical or mundane means, so those who venture into the accursed city must be forever alert to even the slightest change in the weather. For when the temperature drops and the winds begin to howl, any living creature that does not take shelter is doomed to join the company of the city’s frozen dead.Random Game Length:The Random Game Length rules determine game length, unless:
• the scenario’s rules determine game length; or
• the last Treasure Token is carried off the table; or
• no model from any warband remains on the table; or
• all of the models on the table (excluding uncontrolled Creatures) belong to a single warband
Unless one of the aforementioned conditions occurs, at the end of Turn 5 the last player to activate a model rolls a D20. On a roll of 6-20 the weather holds and a 6th Turn is played. On a roll of 1-5 the scenario ends.
At the end of Turn 6, roll a die. On a roll of 16-20 the temperature begins to drop, but there is still time, play a 7th Turn. On a roll of 1-15 the scenario ends.
At the end of Turn 7, the winds begin to howl and the warbands must flee the battlefield or perish. The game ends.
Victory Conditions:Unless the scenario states otherwise, the warband that recovers the most Treasure Tokens wins the scenario. If both warbands recover the same number of Treasure Tokens, the game is a draw. In multi-player games, if two or more warbands ‘tie’ for the most Treasure Tokens recovered, then these warbands ‘draw’ and the remaining warbands lose the scenario.
Carried Treasure Tokens: If a model on the table is carrying a Treasure Token when the scenario ends, the Treasure Token is dropped. For the purpose of calculating experience points for ‘Exploits’ (SEE below), a Treasure Token dropped in this way counts as being ‘held,’ but for all other purposes this Treasure Token is treated as an unrecovered Treasure Token.
Last Warband Standing:If a scenario ends because all of the models on the table (excluding uncontrolled Creatures) belong to a single warband
and one or more unrecovered Treasure Tokens remain on the table, then the remaining warband recovers one of the unrecovered Treasure Tokens (chosen by the player controlling the remaining warband). This Treasure Token is treated as if it was recovered during the course of game play and it is removed from the table before experience points for ‘Exploits’ are calculated.
UNDERDOG BONUSESWhat doesn’t kill you makes you stronger:”I love being the underdog, sometimes.” –The last words of the wizard, Graaver The WiseImmediately after deployment, each player with a Wizard on the table declares his or her Wizard’s level. If the levels differ, then each player, in turn, determines his or her individual
Level Difference by subtracting his or her Wizard’s level from the level of the highest level Wizard on the table. Next, each player consults the following chart to determine if his or her Wizard will receive bonus experience points at the end of the game.
Level Difference : 0-5 = No bonus experience points
Level Difference : 6-10 = 150 bonus experience points* to lower level Wizard
Level Difference : 11+ = 300 bonus experience points* to lower level Wizard
*Add another 100 experience points to this bonus if the lower level Wizard wins the scenario
This bonus applies to only those Wizards who directly participating in the scenario. If a Wizard ‘sits out’ the scenario because of an injury from the
Survival Table, the absent Wizard cannot qualify for this bonus nor is the absent Wizard’s level taken into account when determining
Level Difference.
The gods love children and fools:As the members of the defeated warband limp back to its base they stumble upon a strongbox half buried in snow and rubble. When the strongbox is pried open, the disheartened warriors see something that makes them smile.If a Wizard qualifies for an experience point bonus from the
’What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’ rule
AND the qualifying Wizard’s warband
lost the scenario, then the defeated warband is granted one additional roll on the Treasure table. The defeated warband receives this additional roll, regardless of how many Treasure Tokens it recovered during the scenario. The defeated warband does not gain experience points for this additional roll on the Treasure table, nor is it used to determine the scenario’s victory conditions.
Please note that a ‘draw’ does not count as a ‘loss’.
'You scoundrel!': “That scoundrel deserves to be kicked in the butt by a jackass, and I’m just the one to do it.” – Merchant Prince, Hugo the Muleskinner
If the player who began the scenario controlling the highest level Wizard on the table believes that an opponent did not make a sincere attempt to win the scenario or at least play to a draw, then he or she may
veto (i.e. cancel) one or both of the scoundrel Wizard’s underdog bonuses. In the event that two or more Wizard’s qualify as the highest level Wizard, then the decision by only one of these players is sufficient to cancel underdog bonuses.
EXPERIENCE POINTS”Experience is the most brutal of teachers, but by the gods you do learn” – Cortland Andrus, Arms Master of House DeschainCasting1The Wizard or Apprentice casts a spell from his or her own school: 15 xp
The Wizard or Apprentice casts a spell from an aligned school: 20 xp
The Wizard or Apprentice casts a spell from a neutral school: 25 xp
The Wizard or Apprentice casts a spell from an opposed school: 30 xp
‘Taking Out’ Enemy Models 2Enemy Soldier: 20 xp
Enemy Apprentice: 40 xp
Enemy Wizard: 100 xp
‘Taking Out’ CreaturesStarting Health 01-05: 10 xp
Starting Health 06-10: 20 xp
Starting Health 11-15: 40 xp
Starting Health 16+: 100 xp
+10 xp if the creature type is immune to non-magical weapons
+10 xp if the creature was controlled by an enemy warband when it was taken out
3ExploitsEach Treasure Token recovered by the Wizard or a member of the Wizard’s warband: 50 xp
4Each Treasure Token held by the Wizard or a member of the Wizard’s warband at game’s end: 25 xp
5Each unclaimed Treasure Token on the Wizard’s enemy’s half of the table at game’s end: 25 xp
6Notes:1. A spell or spell effect that is “cast” automatically by any type of magic item is worth 0 xp.
Also please note that Spellcasters do not earn experience points for casting ‘out of game’ spells.
2. If a Wizard X takes control of a creature or a member of an enemy warband and the controlled model ‘takes out’ a creature or a member of an enemy warband, then the Wizard X receives the experience points for ‘taking out’ a model, not the controlled model’s original owner.
3. This includes creatures that are treated as a permanent member of an enemy warband (e.g. summoned Constructs).
4. If Wizard X takes controls a creature or an enemy model and Wizard X makes the controlled model leave the table with a Treasure Token (SEE FAQ), then Wizard X earns the experience points for recovering the Treasure Token, not the controlled model’s original owner.
5. A Treasure Token is ‘held’ if at game’s end the Treasure Token is being carried but it has not been taken off the table (i.e. recovered).
6. A Treasure token is ‘unclaimed’ if at game’s end the Treasure Token is not ‘held’ and has not been taken off the table (i.e. recovered). In multi-player games, the players should mutually agree beforehand on the boundaries that define the ‘enemy’s half (portion) of the table.’
’We Are Immortal Until Our Work On Earth Is Done’: When rolling on the
Survival Table to determine the nature of a Wizard’s injuries, replace the ‘Dead’ result with the following injury:
You Should Be Dead - The Wizard suffers two injuries from the
Permanent Injury Table and the Wizard may not participate in the next game.
If at any time during a campaign a Wizard suffers a second ‘Lost Eye’ result, reroll the injury until the result is something other than a ‘Lost Eye.’
An
Elixir of Life may be used to completely negate the effects of a
You Should Be Dead injury.
RANDOM ENCOUNTERS’More Monsters!’: (optional)The denizens of the accursed city are drawn to the sounds of battle and the smell of bloodshed like a troll is drawn to the smell of stale ale on a dwarf’s beard. And the longer the battle continues, the greater the likelihood that the melee will be joined by the creatures that dwell among tumbled stone and frozen ruins of Felstad.
When a Treasure Token is picked up for the first time the player who controls the model that picked up the Treasure Token rolls a D20 and adds the current turn number to the die roll. If the modified roll is a 17 or above, a random creature (or creatures) has been encountered. Thus, if a Treasure Token is picked up for the first time during Turn 1 a random creature will be encountered on die roll of 16 or above (16 + 1 = 17). On Turn 2, a die roll of 15 or above will trigger a random encounter. On Turn 3, a die roll of 14 or above will trigger a random encounter and so forth.
Not So Random Encounters: (optional)If the players mutually agree to use the Random Encounter rules, then the level of each encounter is not determined randomly. Instead, the level of the encounter is determined by the level of the Wizard whose warband triggered the encounter. If a warband’s Wizard does not participate in the scenario due to an injury from
Survival Table, then that warband’s level of encounter is its Wizard’s level divided by two (rounding up).
Level 1-5 Wizards: Level 1 Encounter
Level 5-15 Wizards: Level 2 Encounter
Level 16+ Wizards: Level 3 Encounter