House Rules

what's different at this table, and why it matters to you

We run 5e's character rules as written — this is about how the world around your character behaves. Old-school instincts, modern character sheet.

Talking Comes First

Not everything wants a fight.
If you talk, threaten, bluff, or posture before violence starts, that matters — sometimes a lot. How well it lands depends on the situation and how you play it, not a fixed skill check you can always rely on.

Enemies Can Break

You don't have to kill everything.
NPCs and monsters have their own breaking point. Heavy losses, a fallen leader, or something genuinely terrifying can make an enemy flee or surrender. Watch for it — chasing a beaten foe to the death is a choice, not a requirement.

You Can Always Run

Retreat is never off the table.
It may cost you — dropped gear, a chase, a wound on the way out — but you are never locked into a fight to the death by the rules themselves. If a fight looks unwinnable, leaving is a real option.

Resources Matter

Torches, rations, arrows — track them loosely.
We won't count every torch-minute, but running dry in the wrong place — deep in a ruin, days from the nearest village — is a real problem. Plan ahead, especially before a long descent or a hard road.

The Wild Doesn't Wait

Danger checks while you travel or camp.
Every watch spent traveling or resting in dangerous country carries a chance something finds you. Fewer stops and shorter exposure lowers the risk — but rushing has its own costs.

Hired Help

You can hire retainers in town.
Torchbearers, guides, and men-at-arms are for hire in most settlements. They have their own loyalty, separate from your Charisma — treat them well, share the reward, and don't spend their lives carelessly, and they'll stick with you.

Advancement

XP comes from getting what you came for.
Write down why your character took up this life — greed, revenge, a debt, a compulsion, someone you failed once. When a contract ends and your actions genuinely served that reason, you earn XP for it. Make the case at the table; the GM confirms it.
Resolving the contract earns XP too.
However you resolve it. A clever negotiation or a quiet bit of diplomacy counts exactly as much as a fight won outright — nobody levels up for body count here.
Your reason can change.
If three contracts in you realize it was never really about the money, say so and write the new one down. That's a character beat, not a rules problem.

Magic Items Speak for Themselves

Nothing gets auto-identified.
You'll learn what an item does by carrying it, using it, and paying attention — not from a five-minute ritual that hands you a full readout. Magic is rare enough here that this is usually part of the story, not an inconvenience.

Everything Has a Slot

Your Strength score is your carrying capacity.
Total slots equal your Strength score — the score itself, not the modifier. Go over it and you're encumbered: slower, no running, worse odds at anything needing speed or grace. Go over double it and you aren't going anywhere until something gets dropped. The full list of what each item costs is on your character sheet add-on.
Your Dexterity modifier is what's within reach.
That many items can be "at the ready" — drawn, worn, or otherwise instantly usable. Everything else is stowed, and swapping something stowed into your hands costs your turn's object interaction.
Treasure costs slots like everything else.
Coin runs 100 to a slot; gems and jewellery a handful to a slot. A chest or an idol is several slots and both hands, and carrying an unconscious friend out costs six. Deciding what to leave behind is part of the job.

Darkness Is Actually Dark

Darkvision needs some light to work with.
In true absence of light — a sealed chamber, a moonless night underground, magical darkness — even darkvision doesn't help. Bring a light source. This is one of the few places where forgetting a torch can genuinely end badly.

Light and Noise Get You Noticed

Loud and lit travels farther than you think.
An unshielded torch or a noisy fight makes you easier to find in dangerous country. Sometimes the safer move is the dark, quiet one.

Travel Pace

Fast is risky, slow is safe, normal is the default.
Push a fast pace and you'll cover more ground, but you'll be easier to miss things and to find. Go slow and cautious and you're better protected, but you'll burn more time and supplies getting there.

Downtime Carousing

Spend your pay, take your chances.
Between sessions, you can blow coin on drink and excess in town. Roll for it — most of the time nothing much happens, but sometimes you'll pick up a useful rumor, a debt, a grudge, or a problem that follows you into the next contract.

Static Initiative

One roll, not one per round.
At the start of a fight, the GM sets a difficulty number for the encounter. Roll a Dexterity check against it — beat it and you're in the fast round, miss it and you're in the slow round. That holds for the whole fight; within a round, act in whatever order makes sense.

Rests Come in Three Sizes

Short rest — 20 minutes.
Spend one Hit Die, as long as you've had a drink of water.
Long rest — 4 hours.
Spend any number of Hit Dice, as long as you've had food and water.
Safe rest — 12+ hours, somewhere secure.
This is the one that fully restores you — all HP, half your total Hit Dice back — but it needs real safety: defensible or hidden ground, and a proper watch. Skimp on either and it doesn't count, no matter how long you sleep.

At Zero

Dropping to 0 HP is a choice, not just a roll.
On your next turn, pick one: Hand of Fate — one death save, succeed and you're stable, fail and you're gone. Permanent Injury — you stabilize automatically, but lose 2 points from an ability score for good. Blaze of Glory — one last attack or spell, guaranteed to land true, and then you go out on your own terms.