House Rules

These are new rules that don't exist within the WWN book that will be in play for the campaign.

Hacking Out Treasure

This is a rule meant to represent someone being unable to loot an item of value and taking anything they can grab, a common trope in the Arabian Nights.  Think of it like Indiana Jones popping a jeweled eye out of a massive statue or someone cutting off a finger from a solid gold idol, etc.

This allows a disrespectful 'hero' to reduce 1d6+level % of the total value of a treasure into a single inventory slot.  However, the remainder of the piece will have its value reduced by 10x this amount due to the defacement.  Yes, you can render a treasure worthless via this method.  Example: a 5,000 gp altar is hacked at by a 3rd level Warrior.  Rolling 3 on their d6 allows them to take 6% (300gp) worth of embossed silver and marble from the altar and cram it into one inventory slot.  However, what's left of the altar is now worth only 2,000 gp.

A Hot Meal

WWN only allows for natural healing via sleep/rest - similar to a Long Rest.  To add something more akin to a Short Rest, I will be adding a 'lunch' mechanic because I love Dungeon Meshi.  Once per day, the group can take a rest for about an hour to decompress and cook a meal for themselves and at the end of that hour, everyone present can heal for 1d6+level HP.  Simply consuming rations will stave off starvation, but not allow for a recovery via A Hot Meal - though rations can be used as ingredients.  The cooking process is fairly simple: if the characters have something edible on hand, there is a 1-in-6 chance that they can convert into something tasty or at least interesting.  This chance is raised by 1-in-6 for each other following that the group has access to: fire, utensils, pots and pans, spices, water.  If unique or magical ingredients are used, the meal will provide additional benefits beyond just healing.

Troupe Play

A mainstay of old-school games, WWN included, is relatively common character death, especially at low levels.  While this certainly has its place as a method of conveying the danger of the adventuring life, it also has a habit of grinding all narrative development for PCs to a halt.  To attempt to keep a sense of danger while still allowing a story to develop, we will be using a troupe-style party.  This means that each player is not stuck with a single character.  Instead, everyone will have a 'main' character, who will have slightly better stats and abilities than a normal PC and will allow for more customization.  Additionally, everyone will have a 'secondary' character who is more normal, and will be more or less randomly generated.  This character will be replaced if killed - either via rolling a new character, or promoted from the ranks of the minor characters.  At the start of each session (and any other time it makes sense), players can pick which PC they want to play as for the night.  If they want, a player could also choose to play as all the hirelings/retainers/level-0 grogs that are accompanying the party for their current adventure instead of one of the core PCs.

• Heroic character: stats rolled as 4d6 drop lowest, rearrange however you like.  Choose background and then choose any of the three development options.  Choose race, class and foci normally.  Gain the Heroic Resilience Universal Heroic Ability on pg357, adding an additional Heroic option to spend a point of System Strain to reroll a failed Saving Throw, replacing the Heroic Determination ability.
• Normal character: stats rolled as 3d6 rearranged as the player wishes.  Roll for background and choose development option.  Choose or roll for race, but choose class and foci normally.

This does mean that some characters could be far from the main base of the other characters in the middle of dungeon crawl/heist/etc and time will have to pass for both groups separately until everyone can meet back up.  This is pretty standard for old-school games.  Gary Gygax even has some pretty strong feelings on the topic:

Death and Dismemberment

When reduced to zero HP, characters do not die immediately. Instead they become Frail as normally and then roll 2d8 plus an additional d8 for every point of System Strain the character has. These additional dice are known as Death Dice. Total the highest three from the whole pool and consult the table below. The human racial ability can never drive this pool below two dice, as it only affects the Death Dice.  Their HP remains at zero.

2	An incredibly unlikely close call. Somebody up there likes you	13	You just got fucked up, bruh. A random Attribute takes damage equal to your current System Strain, then gain +3 System Strain and a Fatigue
3	You’re cut, bruised, scraped or some other minor wound. Gain +1 System Strain and a cool scar	14	Take a Major Injury to the 1: Arms, 2: Legs, 3: Core. Additionally, gain +3 System Strain
4	Drop a held item as you absorb the blow. Gain +1 System Strain	15	Your psyche breaks under the stress of war. Roll d6 and gain +2 System Strain. 1: Run, 2: Hide, 3: Paralyzed and gibbering, 4: Faint, 5: Rage out, 6: Scream. Just so much screaming
5	Gnarly hit, but they barely missed the vein. Save or Shaken for d4 rounds and gain +1 System Strain	16	Something is definitely broken or punctured. You’re a Dead Man Walking and will die in 5d20 hours if not stabilized with First Aid
6	They got you pretty good. Gain +1 System Strain and Slashing – Stunned for 1 round, Piercing/Ballistic – Gain +1 System Strain, Bludgeoning – Knocked prone, Fire/Acid – Shaken for 1 round	17	Blood is spurting to the point of being a trip hazard. You’re a Dead Man Walking and will bleed out in 5d20 Turns if not treated with First Aid
7	A solid hit. Gain +2 System Strain and +2 Fatigue	18	Your intestines have moved to a new zip code. And I'm pretty sure they winked at you.  You’re a Dead Man Walking and you’ll die ignobly in d8 rounds without First Aid
8	Knocked prone, disarmed, in a terrible position and gain +2 System Strain	19	Your insides are feeling much gooeyer than normal. You’re a Dead Man Walking and will drown in your own blood in d6 rounds. A trained medic could probably heal this as if Patching an injury, but it seems unlikely
9	Take a Minor Injury to the 1: Arms, 2: Legs, 3: Core. Additionally, gain +2 System Strain	20	Your body has gone into shock due to its wounds. You’re a Dead Man Walking and will die in d3 rounds unless a trained medic devotes a Main Action to stabilizing you until the end of the encounter then Patches your miserable corpus afterwards
10	Take a Minor Injury to the 1: Arms, 2: Legs, 3: Core. Additionally, gain +2 System Strain	21	Immediate and brutal death. Allies must Save or be Shaken for d6 rounds
11	That could have been the end of you. Save or gain a phobia of whatever just happened. Additionally, gain +2 System Strain	22	Describe the absurd and unlikely way you just died
12	Existential crisis. Gain +2 System Strain and Save or be Shaken until the end of the encounter	23+	Your body is obliterated as you polymorph into red mist. Also, you’re super dead

Status Effects
• A Shaken character must give up their movement or Main Action each round
• A Stunned character must forfeit both their movement AND Main Action each round
• An injured character is inhibited by their wounds. If they only have a Minor Injury, something equivalent to a sprained knee or arm that's out of the socket, then any action using that part of the body is made with disadvantage. If it’s a Major Injury, likely a broken bone, punctured lung or severed ligament, that body part is completely unusable – Arms: No attacks, Legs: No movement and exploration movement for group is at half speed, Core: Cannot exert or carry items, etc. If a character suffers the same Minor Injury twice, it is upgraded to a Major Injury. Each time another injury is taken to a body part already suffering a Major Injury, the character must Save or Die.  When a character gains a Major Injury, they also gain the Frail status.
• Once a character is completely beat to hell, they’re A Dead Man Walking. Any time a Dead Man Walking makes a roll on the Death and Dismemberment table, they must first Save or Die before determining the effects

Healing from Grievous Wounds
After a proper overnight rest, clear all Minor Injuries and remove the Dead Man Walking status. By taking a Turn and making a Heal check, an ally can attempt to Patch a Minor Injury. This will clear the detrimental effect, but not heal the injury itself – leaving it open to be upgraded as normal. This check has advantage over a Hot Meal.
  

Check Result	Effect
7 or less	No effect OR Patch the injury and add +1 System Strain
8, 9, 10	Patch an injury
11 or more	Patch an injury.  Additionally, if the medic has Heal-0 or more, remove -1 System Strain

Any character that has received a Major Injury cannot heal their Fragility through normal means.  They remain Frail until they have been given 2d6 weeks of bed rest in a safe location with at least some amount of first aid, splints, etc.  If attained through becoming a Dead Man Walking, the character must get professional medical treatment for those 2d6 weeks to clear the Fragile status.

Errata

Because of how certain house rules interact with WWN as written, some abilities will have to be changed to fit.

Vital Furnace
Healer Art, pp 81 now reads: Your tremendous life energy can be used to instantly regenerate any non-mortal wound you have received.  Commit Effort for the day as an Instant action to negate the damage from an injury you just received that did not reduce you to zero hit points.  Alternatively, you can Commit Effort for the day as an Instant action to ignore the effects of one roll on the Death and Dismemberment table from a critical hit you have received that did not reduce your hit point total to less than one.  Aside from this ability, the first time you are reduced to zero hit points each day you may ignore the automatic roll on the Death and Dismemberment table.  You must rest overnight following the normal rules for warmth, shelter, etc to regain use of this function of Vital Furnace.  This Art cannot undo damage you intentionally inflict on yourself via some power or magical exchange.