House Rules Feedback

[aerialdarkguy]

Hey all,

I've ran a few one shots of clockwork and chivalry and been experimenting with what I liked and didn't liked and wanted to get feedback from others who ran a game before I start a full blown campaign. I just have these 2 as my main questions but if you are interested in my full list, you can check my document here and can comment on those.

Witches

I'm not a fan of making all Satanic Witches just inherently evil and having unaffiliated witches or Devil's Horsemen have a penalty. IMO it breaks away from the theme of the book that people aren't characatures of their beliefs. That and I believe Satanism should have as many sects as Christianity and infighting over how to worship Satan the "right way". That way it makes it easier to justify why a Satanic Witch player might be working with other players. I was gonna house rule that Satanic Witches aren't inherently evil, Unaligned Witches can increase Magic rating without dealing with Satanists but requires discovering ancient Celtic Druid rituals, they can also use non beneficial spells without penalty, and that Unaligned witches/Devil's Horseman are able to start with same number of spells as witches (horsemen must choose one of them as For Domination of Horse). I've also been experimenting with adding witch factions, ranging from doomsday cults wanting to bring hell on earth to satanists that are more counter culture to esoteric cults who obsess over obscure items in the name of satan but otherwise harmless like 20 sided dice, devil's lettuce, clockwork powered pinball machines. Are there any mechanical gameplay issues I should consider with these changes?

Alchemist

I get the idea that philosopher stones are tied directly to an alchemist to give that exclucivity effect that makes it different from clockwork engineering that's suppose to be usable by anyone with skill. But I think that can be boring to loot alchemists. I was thinking of house ruling that philosopher stones aren't tied to its creator and can be used by anyone with the proper skills. Are there any game breaking issues I should consider with this change?

Edited June 25 by aerialdarkguy

[Butters]

I wouldn't make these changes honestly as they mess with the world setting too much, a period where religious issues were the cause of many conflicts. Playing a Satanic Witch as a scheming character subtly tempting others can be fun. And the Devil's Deal is a cool classic trope, you can stay unaligned or sell your soul for Power, and is a great story arc for a Player. And it's the same for the Alchemist the Philosophers' stones are tied to their creator and are not just a generic power source. Game-wise it stops Alchemists from being too powerful and making them horde their resources, after all creating another Stone is fairly easy and adds some fun results depending on how the Players roll. Alchemists can have interesting loot just by giving them potions which also allows the G.M. to help the Players depending on what they may need currently. Your suggestions don't mechanically break the game they just make it a little easier, power without consequence, and it takes away a little from the universe the game is set in but that's just me and what works for you and your Players trumps all.

[aerialdarkguy]

On 7/5/2024 at 8:01 AM, Butters said:

I wouldn't make these changes honestly as they mess with the world setting too much, a period where religious issues were the cause of many conflicts. Playing a Satanic Witch as a scheming character subtly tempting others can be fun. And the Devil's Deal is a cool classic trope, you can stay unaligned or sell your soul for Power, and is a great story arc for a Player. And it's the same for the Alchemist the Philosophers' stones are tied to their creator and are not just a generic power source. Game-wise it stops Alchemists from being too powerful and making them horde their resources, after all creating another Stone is fairly easy and adds some fun results depending on how the Players roll. Alchemists can have interesting loot just by giving them potions which also allows the G.M. to help the Players depending on what they may need currently. Your suggestions don't mechanically break the game they just make it a little easier, power without consequence, and it takes away a little from the universe the game is set in but that's just me and what works for you and your Players trumps all.

Thanks for your feedback! You convinced me on locking philosopher stones to the specific alchemist. I forgot about potions and should make more use of that. Plus rereading Kingdom and Commonwealth 2, potions seem what Royalists relied more on for giving to common soldiers and scaling production on that.

Witches I'm probably sticking with the change as I am fine with having religious conflict around Satanism like in Warhammer Fantasy having to hide their nature and I don't mind a player playing a witch like a trickster hiding their nature from the public, but I'd rather have that behavior be their choice and not be forced. The book does give major themes of war changing a person so i dont see why a Satanic Witch witnessing the horrors of war wouldn't decide to apply Satanism in a different direction. Plus I do want to have more nuanced Witch factions that give a similar counter culture vibe like the Levellers/Diggers that the book alludes to with changing attitudes. That doesnt mean I'm making society accepting of Satanism and will still incorporate the tension into my game and players who unwisely reveal their witch powers to the public will escalate tensions if not handled with tact. I just want from a gameplay perspective the differences between Unaffiliated and Satanic Witches/Devil's Horsemen to be societal/fluff rather than mechanical (besides starting skill care package). Plus I do want to incorporate ancient Celtic Druid ruins/rituals in my game so i figured that could be used as a reward for Unaffiliated Druids.

But I do get the appeal of Devil's Deal trope and why folks would prefer the rules as usual, and that i have a different view/vision for the setting than what the author probably intended. So i will definitely be giving those opportunities throughout the game outside of chargen.

 

 

Edited August 2 by aerialdarkguy