6 TTRPG Rules You Should Steal - Running RPGs

Part of Game Mastering is creative thievery. Here's 6 rules from 6 different RPGs you should consider stealing for your own game.

If you want to know more about the games I discuss, check out my reviews and overviews for Call of Cthulhu, Traveller, Kult: Divinity Lost, Righteous Blood Ruthless Blades, and Alien.

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Guest Starring The Gang

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#ttrpg

00:00 Intro
01:27 Bonus/Penalty Dice
02:41 Inspiration
04:14 Pushed Rolls
05:51 Connections Rule
09:18 Relation Inspiration
11:46 Talking & Analysis Phase
13:46 Story Points
15:04 Closing

[JKevinCarrier]

The old DC Heroes RPG had a thing called "Omni-Gadgets", meant to reflect how characters like Batman always seem to have the exact gadget they need at any given time. Instead of spelling out specifically what gear you're carrying, you can have a number of Omni-Gadgets, which have general stats for how powerful they are, and what categories of abilities they can have. But it's not until you actually use it that you decide whether it's a smoke bomb, or a lockpick, or a tuna salad sandwich (hey, those Gotham stakeouts can be pretty long!). It's sort of like spell slots for techies.

[IamKnucks]

Every time a screen capture of rules appear, I can't help but pause and read the entire rule. That might be a forever DM trait.

[randydoffing]

My RPG group moved to Traveller after finishing a long D&D campaign. When one of my players does some cool or awesome, my reaction is to reward them inspiration. And then I catch myself "oh, wrong game". After watching this, I'm like why am I doing that? Next game session I'm totally going to give out inspiration to travellers!

Thanks again for the great ideas!

[hatandhistea]

I learnt from my game master the rule of the candle. Before the game starts, GM asks all players a question or description of what their characters are thinking or something from their story one by one, by holding a candle and passing it amongst the players. It's a nice way of sharing their backstory or to see what their character thought about last encounter.

[luketfer]

The clocks system from blades in the dark. It gives players a very obvious timer as you fill in the segments for just how much time they have left.

[SSkorkowsky]

Heads up. Because I talked about it in the video I wanted to share that there a killer Humble Bundle going on for Mongoose 2e Traveller. It's got the Core Rulebook, Central Supply Catalog, several adventures, the Pirates of Drinax campaign (which includes the Trojan Reach sector guide), some novels, and a soundtrack. Only 2 days left on it, but definitely worth it.

[SabreXT]

The connections rule from a third party Savage Worlds pulp game. Once per session someone in the party can declare they know a guy in the area. This NPC is limited in the help they can give, and can even hate the PCs. Things like an ex girlfriend or a guy they knew in college. It's like Escape from New York where Snake keeps bumping into people he knows. As a game mechanic, it's a handy way to get back on the rails if the players are short on essential supplies or don't know what to do.

[Snyback]

The rule I stole from Traveller is the idea of the task chain :D It just allows for so many more different skills to come up and the players always feel great about helping each other out and on top of that it encourages them to think "how?" their skill checks are performed and how somebody might be able to help them :D

[synthweaseljw]

In Kevin Crawford's "Number" games (Stars Without Number, Worlds Without Number, Cities Without Number) there is a rule that I'm a huge fan of that ties XP to goals (both short and long term) that the players decide on their own. I really dig it and feel it encourages the players to come up with motivations for their characters and also plot hooks that the GM can flesh out that the players will have incentive to actually follow up on. Also, having a unified long term group goal helps to keep the party focused.

[TherealTenmanI]

I'd like a part two, where uou explore the other ones you left on the cutting room floor. These were great

[connordarvall]

A cool one I got from RuneQuest was augmenting. If you're about to do something that you're not very good at, you can roll for a different skill, ability or trait to gain a bonus on the roll. E.g. If your character is a researcher who needs to craft rope, they may use their Plant Lore skill to give a bonus by finding fibrous plants to use as rope. On the flip side, failing will add a penalty to the roll so players only use it when it really counts.

[dylanramsey]

I absolutely love Bennies from Savage Worlds as currency the players can spend to reroll things that matter to them, get back resources they need, and otherwise effect the narrative. Good reward for roleplaying and jokes and cool ideas, and one I definitely feel naked without when running some other games.

[IANRoberts-ugsq]

Part of the Rogue Trader RPG for 40K has an interesting system for character generation. They use a flow chart where you chose the classification of your home world at the top, then work downwards through the layers going either straight down or 1 step to the side each time. Each level give you a title such as 'Survivor' or 'Stranded' the give you bonus skills and prompts you to make thatnpart of your back story. And if multiple people get the same result that's hiw your characters met.

[andrewburgess]

to "yes and..." the Traveller connection rule for late additions. Traveller links skill gains to characters on backstory of the other Travellers. "That old Marine Sgt you have a rivalry with? Its her that taught me ...X" Ties into the party even faster, possibly with complications.

[cadenceclearwater]

I like Hero Coins (it's like inspiration) but, I'll give it a Cthulhu Luck twist.

You forgot spare ammo?
_Spend a Hero Coin to remember_

Rocks fall and everybody dies?
_Spend a Hero Coin to spot a foxhole no one noticed and escape_

[AGrumpyPanda]

Before watching the video, the things I've stolen from different RPGs: Fronts from Apocalypse World, running factions from Godbound, campaign cards from Wrath and Glory, minions from D&D 4E, and Fate Points from the FFG Warhammer 40'000 RPGs. I don't use all of them all the time, but they're each tools that have a proud place in my toolbox.

Edit: I also want to add on to what Seth said at the start; don't just run a system rules as written, run it the way it wants to be run. My first impression of L5R wasn't amazing because the GM was running it more like 5E and less like a drama game. Fortunately, we could all see the potential of what the game could be and I ended up running a few one-shots and short campaigns that really rammed home for me how much I love the system, but it had to be run the way it wanted to be for me to really enjoy it.

[mr.pavone]

I'm a fan of the "wild die" from WEG's Ghostbusters and Star Wars RPGs.
Those systems used buckets of d6s. Whenever you rolled any dice, even one, one of them was a different color, size or whatever. If you rolled a 1 on that die there was a complication even if you succeeded. A 6 on that die was a bonus, even if you failed. So something could always go a little wrong or in your favor.
It's an interesting twist that I have carried over into many games.

[Frank-Voight-Kampff]

The momentum pool from Möedipius Games. I liked it in the Conan RPG but it blew my mind in Star Trek Adventures because it was perfect for a team of Starfleet officers aboard the same ship working together. The ability to "store" your extra succecces in a pool that the whole group has access to for their own rolls was for me the best representation of working together as a group since Team Karma from Marvel Superheroes (TSR).

[therasslintheatre]

I'll add a suggestion: Cyberpunk 2020's Reputation and Face-downs. It's a great way to scare off fodder goons that would be more waste of ammo and not worth the effort
Plus its always hilarious to see a boostergang lord being scared off by a Netrunner otaku with high COOL stat and decent rep.

[Unormalism]

The Talking and Analysis phase is such a cool way to integrate specific weaknesses in a combat, while also rerolling initiative to make combat fresh every round, or every other round if that's too frequent. Amazing idea in my mind.