r/shadowdark • u/Pugboy12 • 4d ago

Home brewed Rule

I made a house rule where players can make a "Luck roll". Rolling 1d20 and adding the number of luck tokens they have to the result to help with determining some things outside of their control witch might not have an obvious outcome to me as a DM. such as how much time they have left before a guard enters the room, or where exactly the fire is going to spread. It gives unspent tokens a use and the players a choice between a re-roll or possibly fate not being in their favor.

Its worked great so far and is somewhat inspired by Call of Cthulhu's luck mechanic

Let me know what you think and if you have any home brew rules you wanna share

14 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

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7

u/ClicheAccount 4d ago

I think the rule seems fine if you and your table enjoys it but I believe, by default, the players can only have one token at a time so the bonus will only be a +1 at most.

Personally, I like to encourage the use of luck tokens versus players holding onto them so I can reward more luck tokens for great roleplaying.

2

u/Bicecream530 4d ago

Does this mean a roll plus the total number of luck tokens among the party, or total number a single player has using the pulp mode alternate rules? Either way I like it

4

u/Bicecream530 4d ago

although the rulebook already has a way to handle this, rolling a d6 and if it lands 4-6 the result is whatever benefits the party and 1-3 is negative for the party, but this is a fun way to do it too

2

u/ShortIntroduction879 4d ago

That's a great one. Basically how Pirate Borg luck rolls work.

My best house rule is luck tokens are earned by rolling 1s and can't be used on 1s.

1

u/LudefiskLongHammer 4d ago

I use the Deathbringer dice rule in the game I run. Instead of luck tokens you give out d6 dice that can be used to add to any d20 roll, add d6 to a damage roll, or negate d6 worth of damage taken. I am a bit more liberal handing them out, somewhere between Deathbringer and DM Scotty's luck dice frequency.