Do You Actually Put All Your House Rules in Writing?

DougRed4

As the question says: do you spell out your house rules in writing? Or do you just continually tweak and adjust rules, so that everybody in your games just knows how things are done over time?

For house rules in this (and other RPGs), I like to have them written and also printed out, so they're in actual black and white, for anyone who wants to look at them during a session. Not to mention that it makes it easier for me to double-check them if I need to when I run the game. I believe it helps especially with consistency.
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

CRMcNeill · Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2022 2:25 pm Post subject:

Even when tweaking, having them in writing becomes more and more important as the rule set becomes more and more complex.
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garhkal · Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2022 3:51 pm Post subject:

YES. I even send an email to the players, OF all my house rules.. Especially for adnd!
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Dr. Bidlo · Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2022 7:28 pm Post subject:

I write out my house rules for my sake only, and verbally teach them the rules as needed. Only one of my players has ever read the rules and he is more often a GM than a player. I have found players tend to play much more authentically when they don't fully understand the mechanics, so they aren't aware of the ways to cheat the rules legally and know exactly what every result means. It's like the Wizard of Oz is still safely behind his curtain that way.

ThrorII · Lieutenant Commander Joined: 12 Jul 2019 Posts: 203

When an issue comes up in play that requires a house rule, we will implement it as a test, then after the game discuss the patch. If we agree it is a good house rule, it gets listed in the house rule document.

Sometimes the game starts ("session 0") with house rules.

We keep house rules documented so we know what we decided, and everyone knows what to expect.
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Whill · Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2022 8:04 pm Post subject:

Having them in writing is important. I'm in the process of getting them all down. It's a long, slow process.
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Darklighter79 · Captain Joined: 27 May 2018 Posts: 529

Written and printed. If they are crucial and often used, they get incorporated go "GM screen 2.0 supplement".
But the "draft house rules" must pass the implementation period = must be tested in game first.
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DougRed4 · Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2022 5:22 pm Post subject:

That's a good point. There's times that stuff comes up during play, or even something that I come across here (like the various changes to Scale) that will be 'temporary' house rules for us. We try them out (sort of like when the NFL introduces a new rule that is provisional for just a year), and if we agree after some play that it is working, then it gets documented and written down.
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

pakman · Commander Joined: 20 Jul 2021 Posts: 430

garhkal · Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2022 12:48 am Post subject:

Agreed. One of the guys i gamed with for 4 years down in norfolk, had like 8 house rules.. COULD all fit on one page.
THEN Another group entirely, had almost a full DOZEN PAGES of house rules...
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schnarre · Commander Joined: 08 Oct 2007 Posts: 333

...I keep House Rules written down--both for my players' sake, & my own as well!
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KageRyu · Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2022 9:11 pm Post subject:

I have not gamed in a very long time, though when I was gaming prolificly I always tried to keep written logs of house rules and modifications. I generally preferred 3 ring binders or spiral notebooks initially, but at one point started using Mead Pocket Notebooks to keep rules notes during a game, and then transition more polished drafts to spiral notebooks or 3-ring binders. I have a lot of notebooks with lots of rules, notes, campaign ideas, source material, and backdrops for a large variety of games ranging from AD&D 2E, to Call of Cthulhu, to DC Heros, to Cyberpunk, even to Palladium. I had wanted to someday type it all up... but never seem to get it done.
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garhkal · Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 2:08 am Post subject:

I keep mine in word doc format, so if i need to, i can email them to my players.
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

DougRed4 · Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2022 6:36 pm Post subject:

I do mine in a Word doc as well, so I can easily add, delete, change or modify as needed.
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

Mamatried · Commodore Joined: 16 Dec 2017 Posts: 1855 Location: Norway

I do some notes on the most

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