When I was having trouble getting a new tabletop game going, I started to grumble that it would be a lot easier to get a game going online. Instead of telling me to quit whining, a few friends encouraged me to get to work on starting one. I started poking at notes for a setting and stories, but I kept not doing anything about it, because I couldn’t find software I liked to actually run the thing online. Finally, my friend Nick got sick of my inaction and found suitable software. I announced in March 2011 that we’d start play soon. Then I did nothing again for a few months, but the game finally started happening in November 2011.

We played every other Saturday for about two years before (for various reasons) the same set of players began playing Basic D&D instead, moving into my Beyond the Temple of the Abyss campaign.

I kept a journal of game recaps.

System

We played Mazes & Minotaurs (Revised) the 1987 (but really 2007) old-school RPG of sword and sandal adventure. The rules are available free online, and you can print it at your local copy center for a few bucks, if you like paper.

Mazes & Minotaurs is a very simple system, with a feel something like early AD&D, but with a lot more “roll a d20 based on your attributes” than that. Characters have six attributes, a bunch of derived bonuses, a class, and that’s about it. If you’re a really complicated character, you might have a list of spells.

Of course, I also have a bunch of house rules.

Tools

We played using two main tools: Mumble for voice chat and Roll20 for maps, minis, and dice. They worked pretty well.

Setting

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Alar was set in the massive city of Alar, one of the largest cities in the sprawling and powerful Castaigne Empire. In recent months, the city had become more and more crowded with refugees fleeing the mysterious spire that erupted from the earth, bringing with it terrible creatures and a spreading chaos. Alar had been left cut off from the seat of the empire, and the situation had grown even more tense and dangerous than usual as players on all sides – including the player characters – tried to use the situation to their advantage.

House Rules

(I have provided some links for origins of house rules below, but surely missed some.)

Close-Quarters Combat

Missile weapons are not meant for use in melee combat. Doing so causes attacks to occur at the same time as melee attacks, and also invites a free attack by flanking enemies.

Carousing

I use Jeff’s rules for carousing. In brief, characters can spend a lot of gold on debauchery and convert it into experience. This runs the risk of drunken mishaps, however, so drink responsibly. I put the current rules for carousing in Alar into git.

Critical Hits & Fumbles

A natural 20 on the ‘to-hit’ roll indicates a critical strike. Roll damage. If the damage die shows the maximum value, roll again and add it. Repeat until the die’s result isn’t the maximum. If the first die shows less than the die’s maximum, use the die’s maximum value. A natural 1 indicates a fumble, and something bad happens.

Friends, we are gathered here today to mourn the passing of Bob’s cleric. What was his name again?

When an adventurer dies and the party is unable (or unwilling!) to have them raised from the dead, a promoted sidekick (see above) may opt to give the corpse a Heroic Sendoff. This requires at least 24 hours and something cool like a bigass funeral pyre, the raising of a burial mound, or a funeral ship floated down the river. The corpse must be armed and armored for combat, as appropriate to the class of the character. Each party member may donate up to 100 sp times the level of the stiff as additional grave goods, the amount being spent is converted to bonus XP for the donor. Each party member may also donate one magic item to the grave. Scrolls, potions, and other one-shot items net a bonus of 100xp, while more permanent items get you 500xp. Magic items that would have been unusable by the deceased do not count.

Shields Shall Be Splintered!

This rule comes from Trollsmyth. With this houserule, you get the usual +1 to your EDC with a shield. However, any time you take damage, you can opt instead to say your shield absorbed the force of the blow. The shield is shattered and must be discarded, but you don’t take any damage from that hit.

Stunts and Called Shots

If you want to do something totally awesome, you can shift down the threshold for a critical hit by shifting up the threshold for a critical failures. In other words, you can say that you’ll crit on a 18-20, but then you’ll fumble on a 1-3.

Role-Playing XP Bonus

Characters progress faster when they do what they’re best at. Be an exemplar of your class and get a 10% - 20% bonus to your experience for the session.

Clerics: Pick a Faith

Priests must have a declared allegiance to of the setting’s deities.