STORYGAME - Wisdom: Missile Attacks, Awareness, & Ward Saves

Wisdom is the character’s ability to not only sense, but to perceive - and to have confidence in perceptions of their reality. High Wisdom gives bonuses to missile weapons attacks, avoiding surprise, and the Ward saving throw.

STORYGAME - Grand Adventures I & II

Grand Adventures are optional frameworks the GM may use to build STORYGAME campaigns with a cohesive and genre-specific central tension. Each is inspired by a popular piece of classic fantasy and is intended to span the many, many sessions of an entire campaign, loosely following a structure based on the Campbellian monomyth (aka the "hero's journey").

Each Grand Adventure consists of:

• Common elements, shared between the potential variations of the Grand Adventure.
• Variable elements, each with 1d3 interchangeable - and trope-filled - options. 

STORYGAME - Defense, Saves, & Grit

Heroes in classic fantasy stories may not always acquire increasingly protective armor, or have the best natural reflexes or resistances, but they usually all have one thing in common: that special something that helps them succeed in the face of the greatest and most fantastical of odds. 

Whatever you call it - perseverance, determination, or grit - characters in STORYGAME are no exception.

STORYGAME - Plot Armor, Wounds, & Healing

One goal of STORYGAME is to be creating character moments and side arcs all the time - and from everywhere - especially the tropey moments that we all recognize from our favorite classic fantasy stories. 

Plot armor and wounds are absolutely part of that goal.

D&D BECMI/Rules Cyclopedia - House Rules

A living document containing the current house rules for our ongoing Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia game.

Player-Facing Defense Rolls in Basic D&D - Bonus: Grit for Crits

We've been playing without Critical Hit effects of any kind for the first stretch of our current Rules Cyclopedia game.

At first, the players were more than ok to see the occasional damage burst go away as long as they were no longer subject to the same damage bursts from NPCs as well. When you have 3 HP, every attack is pretty critical already!

However, there was a knock-on effect caused by an interaction with another rule we've also been using for a bit now:

Grit, from Frontier Scum by Karl Druid.

Player-Facing Defense Rolls in Basic D&D - Part II: DEF Bonus & Attack Ratings

GM: You’re up, Randy! The goblin stands in front of you, clutching its spear and snarling - what do you do?

Randy: I step forward and aim for it’s neck with my blade!

GM: Great, roll to see if you hit!

… 

GM: The other goblin didn’t like that, Randy! It thrusts its spear at you - what do you do?

Randy: I pull my shield up and try to swat the spear away!

GM: Great, roll to see if you defend!

How is the game just not played this way by default? It just makes so much sense!

Luckily, smarter minds than me have figured it out for their own games, and so we can take it and use it here in Basic D&D too.