Dungeon Crawl Rules Notes

Notes about the rules I'm using for my Keep on the Borderlands campaign.

Characters

I started building the characters using the rules from Swords and Six-Siders. Then I started making some tweaks.

• I don't record all their attributes. I only make note of any exceptional ones that give bonuses or penalties.
• I don't roll for hit points. Instead, I give fighter types 3 hp and the others 2 hp.
• I record the attack and damage bonuses direct from the rules
• I don't bother with buying equipment; I just assume that they can get most of what they want. I do roll for armor. For example, Aldric the fighter could start with medium armor on a roll of 4-6. (He failed).
• I record armor and weapons but I don't bother with all the doo dads. If something is needed, I'll assume they have it. If it is unusual, I might require a roll.
• One thing I do record are bandages. They can be used to heal wounds after a fight. The Party started with 3 bandages and can add D3 when visiting the Keep.
• Damage resistance comes direct from the rules.
• I've added LUCK as a party resource. The party can trade it to negate a wound. They start with 1 per character and can add 1 at the end of a successful mission.

Game Play

• I use the monster stats from S&SS, specifically AC, damage resistance, and damage bonus.
• I don't track individual hit points for swarms of minions. Instead, I have a total HP pool. When it is 0, the enemy is defeated. I usually give them 4-6 hp. For individual monsters, I use hp = monster level. I may add hp for particularly tough monsters.
• Characters attack as per S&SS - roll >= AC to hit.
• I do a damage roll - 2 or less = glancing blow (no hp loss), 3-5 = 1 hp damage, 6+ = 2 hp damage. Damage bonuses and damage resistance modify the roll.
• Monsters do not roll to hit. Instead, characters make a defense roll. They need to roll the enemy's AC or better, modified by any defense bonuses.
• Characters gain defense bonuses from shields or dexterity. As I think about it, I will need to give a bonus based on level as well.
• Against swarms, each character must make a defense roll. They only roll once, even if outnumbered.
• Big monsters can make 2 attacks per turn.