House Rules - Feel Free To Share Your Custom Rules Here

[Solomani666]

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I know that many of you have some great ideas for your own house rules so I am starting this thread so that everyone can benefit from your version of MGT+!

Feel free to share your rules modifications and enhancements here.

I am suggesting that each house rule precede with a Title: so that it can easily be identified and stand out from other comments.

Please try to stay on topic by either contributing your own house rules or by commenting on (or giving praise about) someone elses rules.

Please stay positive and resist the urge to get into long-winded or gear-headed debates.


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[Solomani666]

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Player (Not Character) Experience Points:

* XP's are awarded individually to players at the referees discretion but can not be taken away once granted.
* XP's are expended like credits and can be used only once.
* XP's may be used during character generation.
* The character must be present for the player to be able to use XP's in a given situation.
* XP's may not be shared among players for individual tasks but may be shared for group tasks.
* Exp's may be used as a negative DM against enemy tasks.
* The following may be purchased with experience points:
- Re-roll a die roll. (1 XP)
- Add or subtract 1 to any die roll before the dice are thrown effecting the players character (1 XP)
- Add or subtract 1 to any die roll after the dice are thrown effecting the players character (2 XP)
- Deus ex machina. Save a character from certain or probable death. (3 XP)
* XP's may be stacked. (Ex: Two XP's may be used for a +2 on the next die roll, etc.)
* Optional rule: XP's may be exchanged between players on a 2 for 1 basis.


I feel that it is important for the players to know how and when they may use their XP's but not so important that they know how they get them. The exception is that excellent in-character roleplay is always rewarded.


I use the following as a general guideline for awarding XP's:
* Start of a new campaign with new characters. (3-5 XP's)
* Excellent in-character roleplay by a player. (1 XP)
* In-character / slightly out-of-character roleplay that pauses the game because everyone is laughing so hard. (1 XP)
* Succeeding in a highly improbable task. (1 XP)
* An amazing die roll. (1 XP)
* Heroic deeds. (1-2 XP's)
* Successfully completing an adventure or chapter in a campaign. (1-3 XP's)
* Successfully completing a major campaign. (3-5 XP's)
* Any situation where I feel they deserve it. (1-2 XP's)


I find that this helps to keep players in-character and focused on the game.


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[Solomani666]

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Effect of +0 In Combat:

* All attacks with an effect of +0 do only half damage.
* This rule is applied to both personal and starship combat.


This rule makes even more sense when you read the task description for an effect of 0.
It also adds flavor by allowing the occasional grazing wound.

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[Solomani666]

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Ships Operating Power During Jumps:

* A ship during jump utilizes part of the power supplied to the jump engines to operate the ships systems.


This rule extends the operational endurance of all starships by one week.

Note: Without this rule a far trader will be unable to make 2 sucessive jump 1's.


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[CosmicGamer]

Many of my house rules are things that are clarifications, enhancements, or details to the rules. I won't get into all that.

Here are house rule changes to the chargen tables.

Chargen Marines
- Change the Marines Service Skills Table Tactics (any) to Zero G.
- Change the Marines Advanced Education Table so that the second of the two Medic skills is now Tactics (any)

Chargen Army
- Change the Army Service Skills Table Athletics (any) to Zero G
- Change the Army Personal Development Table Medic to Athletics (any)

Reason for rules:
Know why those asteroids and other no or low gravity places are so wild and crazy? No army, and no typical ground or support marines can operate there! I feel the troops should be capable of going to all types of worlds.

Similar issues with Scouts. A courier gets Zero G and vacc suit but explorers and surveyors only set foot places where atmo and gravity are optimum? I haven't decided how to tweak the scout tables yet.

 

[Solomani666]

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Missile and Torpedo Damage Modifications:

* The positive effect of a missiles or torpedoes hit roll is used as a damage die number multiplier.
* An effect of +0 halves the missile or torpedo damage.

Ex: If a missile hits with an effect of 3 than 3 times the number of dice are rolled for damage.


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[Solomani666]

Modifications to Army and Marines Service Skills Table:

Many of my house rules are things that are clarifications, enhancements, or details to the rules. I won't get into all that.

Here are house rule changes to the chargen tables.

Chargen Marines
- Change the Marines Service Skills Table Tactics (any) to Zero G.
- Change the Marines Advanced Education Table so that the second of the two Medic skills is now Tactics (any)

Chargen Army
- Change the Army Service Skills Table Athletics (any) to Zero G
- Change the Army Personal Development Table Medic to Athletics (any)

Reason for rules:
Know why those asteroids and other no or low gravity places are so wild and crazy? No army, and no typical ground or support marines can operate there! I feel the troops should be capable of going to all types of worlds.

Similar issues with Scouts. A courier gets Zero G and vacc suit but explorers and surveyors only set foot places where atmo and gravity are optimum? I haven't decided how to tweak the scout tables yet.

This totally makes sense. I am definitely going to use this.

Thanks!


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[Old timer]

Some house rules i use;

Missiles, discussion on these in another thread, but in MTU basic missile (smart or otherwise) do 2d6 damage, nukes do 4d6 damage. Makes missiles a bit more usable.
Torpedoes, basic, do 4d6, nukes 8d6, and bomb pumped 6d6.

Fuel efficiency, i use the rules suggested in the first traveller companion book, which vastly increased the efficiency of fusion power plants.

For small craft (99 tons or less) i only allow armour of a max of 10% hull (so a max armour of 12 at TL15) as i dont like fighters as well armoured as capital ships.

Changed beam laser back to 2d6 as in the core rule book, and are currently seeing if making pulse laser some form of auto weapon works (auto 4), and getting rid of the silly -2DM that made then just about useless even with 2d6 damage.

Made numerous other tweaks as well (often to ship designs), probably too many to list here.

 

[Golan2072]

Alternative Low Berth Rules (for an Aliens feel)
Under standard procedure, preparing a passenger for low passage takes 1-6 hours and requires the presence of a medic (but no task roll). Reviving a low passenger is a Medic, Endurance, 1-6 hours, Easy (+4) task using the passenger's Endurance DM. In both cases one medic could simultaneously work on up to 20 low berths, but the medic has to make a separate task roll for each passenger he or she attempts to revive. A failed revival roll results in 3d6 normal damage rather than instant death.

In emergencies, however, it is possible to quickly freeze a passenger, taking only 10-60 seconds and not requiring any medic to be present. This emergency procedure is automatic and may even be initiated by the passenger himself or herself using an override switch inside the low berth. Reviving a passenger frozen in this manner is subject to a -2 DM.

It is also possible to quickly revive a low passenger using the emergency revival procedure, which is a Medic, Endurance, 1-6 minutes, Average (+0) task using the passenger's Endurance DM. This can either be done by a medic or by triggering an override failsafe mechanism of the low berth (which is treated as if it had Medic 0 for this purpose). A failed emergency revival task causes a roll on the Injury table (TMB p.37); damage is permanent unless treated in a hospital of TL10 or better (using the costs listed on TMB p.37). If a low berth is cut from external (ship) power, its internal backup batteries sustain the passenger for six hours; if no external power is restored before the end of that period, the above-mentioned failsafe mechanism is triggered, thawing and waking the passenger.

 

[alex_greene]

Jump Fuel Consumption

Jump drives consume one unit of Jump fuel per parsec Jumped - a Jump-2, two parsecs, consumes two Jump units. So do two consecutive Jump-1s.

The mass of one Jump unit's worth of fuel is 10% of the drive's mass.

 

[Golan2072]

Ship Maintenance
The ships of my universes are designed for prolonged frontier operations and thus require maintenance once per year rather than once per month. System degradation (TMB p.138) starts only if the yearly maintenance date has passed with no actual maintenance performed, though the degradation DM is still calculated per month past the missed yearly maintenance date.

 

[CosmicGamer]

Ship Maintenance
The ships of my universes are designed for prolonged frontier operations and thus require maintenance once per year rather than once per month. System degradation (TMB p.138) starts only if the yearly maintenance date has passed with no actual maintenance performed, though the degradation DM is still calculated per month past the missed yearly maintenance date.

This isn't a house rule to me. It's how I interpret the rules. I'm aware of no rule this changes or breaks.

The closest thing indicating otherwise is the fact that maintenance costs are broken up into a monthly amount. This, to me, is just an installment plan to keep it from being a unmanageable once a year payment.

It's a subtle thing but I see a difference between
Monthly Maintenance Cost
and
Maintenance Cost (monthly)

Just like
Life Support Cost (monthly)
You might stock up more often, like after each jump or you might stock up for a long voyage into the unknown.

 

[Golan2072]

Ship Maintenance
The ships of my universes are designed for prolonged frontier operations and thus require maintenance once per year rather than once per month. System degradation (TMB p.138) starts only if the yearly maintenance date has passed with no actual maintenance performed, though the degradation DM is still calculated per month past the missed yearly maintenance date.

This isn't a house rule to me. It's how I interpret the rules. I'm aware of no rule this changes or breaks.

The closest thing indicating otherwise is the fact that maintenance costs are broken up into a monthly amount. This, to me, is just an installment plan to keep it from being a unmanageable once a year payment.

If I recall correctly, MGT stated that you have to put your ship through maintenance once a month; my house-rule is that you only eed to do it once a year, but at a year's cost.

 

[CosmicGamer]

If I recall correctly, MGT stated that you have to put your ship through maintenance once a month

Like I said, I'm aware of no rule that specifically requires such.

 

[Golan2072]

If I recall correctly, MGT stated that you have to put your ship through maintenance once a month

Like I said, I'm aware of no rule that specifically requires such.

From the SRD:

Repairs and Maintenance: A ship needs maintenance, which costs 0.1% (1/1000th) of the total cost of the ship per year and requires a shipyard. Maintenance should be carried out each month. If maintenance is skipped or skimped on, roll 2d6 each month, with a +DM equal to the number of months skipped. On an 8+, the ship takes damage to a random system. Roll on the system degradation table for the number of hits.

 

[alex_greene]

Repairs and Maintenance: A ship needs maintenance, which costs 0.1% (1/1000th) of the total cost of the ship per year and requires a shipyard. Maintenance should be carried out each month [Note: Try not to use red - it's the traditional mod voice]. If maintenance is skipped or skimped on, roll 2d6 each month, with a +DM equal to the number of months skipped. On an 8+, the ship takes damage to a random system. Roll on the system degradation table for the number of hits.

There really has to be a rule here that says something along the lines of

"A successful Average(+0) Engineering roll made once per month by the Chief Engineer, representing the entire Engineering crew, and consumption of 1 ton of available spare parts per month missed, eliminates the negative DM for one month; then the cycle begins again. The ship must put into a shipyard for annual maintenance or accumulate a cumulative -1 DM which can only be eliminated with facilities available at a shipyard."

Ships would stockpile spare parts in the cargo hold if they knew they were going to be a long time between shipyard visits.

That "once a month" thing really could be expanded to, say, three months for instance. But no more than once a year.

 

[CosmicGamer]

From the SRD:

Repairs and Maintenance: A ship needs maintenance, which costs 0.1% (1/1000th) of the total cost of the ship per year and requires a shipyard. Maintenance should be carried out each month. If maintenance is skipped or skimped on, roll 2d6 each month, with a +DM equal to the number of months skipped. On an 8+, the ship takes damage to a random system. Roll on the system degradation table for the number of hits.

Thanks. I was able to search on the text and find this in the pdf rules too.

The mechanic makes be scratch my head though. For almost anything else the target is an 8 and you want to roll over, not under.

 

[Solomani666]

Missiles, discussion on these in another thread, but in MTU basic missile (smart or otherwise) do 2d6 damage, nukes do 4d6 damage. Makes missiles a bit more usable.
Torpedoes, basic, do 4d6, nukes 8d6, and bomb pumped 6d6.

My rule allows a standard missile to do a maximum of 6d6 damage and a standard torp to do a maximum of 24d6 of damage.

Changed beam laser back to 2d6 as in the core rule book, and are currently seeing if making pulse laser some form of auto weapon works (auto 4), and getting rid of the silly -2DM that made then just about useless even with 2d6 damage.

Now pulse lasers do 1d6+4 points of damage without that crippling -2DM. Sweet!

I've been testing this using the personal combat burst and auto fire rules and my conclusion is that this is a great idea! In fact I'll be using it from now on.

I am still going to apply the -2DM, but only when using pulse lasers for missile defense.

I may even add some overheating rules for multi-turn auto (not burst) fire.
What are your thoughts on this?

When all is done, I'll post the rule here and give you credit.


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[Solomani666]

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New Fuel Types:

Unrefined Fuel (100 Cr per ton)
* As stated in the Core Rule Book.

Refined Fuel (500 Cr per ton)
* As stated in the Core Rule Book.

Super-refined Fuel (1000 Cr per ton)
* Hydrogen fuel doped with quantities of deuterium.
* Available at class A starports.
* Available at class B starports on a roll of 9+ (Check once per week).
* All fuel consumption is halved.

Ultra-refined Fuel (2000 Cr per ton)
* Hydrogen fuel doped with quantities of tritium and deuterium.
* Available at naval bases and select scout bases.
* Available at class A starports on a roll of 9+ (Check once per week).
* All fuel consumption is quartered.
* Leaves fuel tanks mildly radioactive until flushed at a class A or B starport.


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[Infojunky]

Right now I am beating on ship combat, The base meme is bringing CT's Book 2 combat to MgT trough the lens of Book 5, Mayday and other appropriate (read steal-able bits) from other editions.


Ideas on the table;

Retained is MgT's scale, with the strong suggestion of using centimeters as the unit measure.
Missile combat as Special Supplement 3 (jTas 21) [using the assumption of 1 hit = 1d6 of damage]
Replacing programs of ship's computers with the Die Mod mechanic from Book 5
Using the turret/barbette rules from T5's ship construction Quad turrets in specific.
Adding a hull limitation of one 50 dTon bay per 500 dTons and/or 1 100 dTon bay per 1000 dTon rule. (i.e. going back towards Book 5 including the Turret exclusion rule)