Twenty Quick Questions: Rules

Taken from here.

Either 3d6 and arrange freely, or roll 3d6 in order, but for one ability score you may roll 5d6h3.

Characters are unconscious at 0 HP, and every round they are at 0 HP or lower they must save versus death at -1 for every point they are below 0 HP or die.

After combat, characters can have wounds treated to restore 1d4-1 hit points and stabilize the character from most sources of continuing damage (e.g., bleeding), but not above the HP the character had before the combat began. If the character is still below zero, they must still save versus death daily until they return to consciousness or die.

Drinking strong drink can give a character a form of “Dutch courage” and restore 1-5 HP. Roll on a d6, and restore that many hit points except on a roll of 6; in that case, the character takes a point of damage.

Power to perform miracles such as Raise Dead is legendary and practically unheard of in these times. That does not mean that it is impossible, of course, but… you have to seek it out if it even exists.

It is often whispered in tales that there are locations, devices, and strange groups or entities that can offer restoration to life (or something similar), often at a cost.

In B/X it's really, really fast to roll up new first level characters, y'know?

Players are encouraged to keep a stable of characters and play often so that they aren't dropped all the way back on a character death, but you still can't play more than one character at a time. It's also possible you could take over one of your retainers on a successful post-death morale check.

Initiative (and surprise), determined by the stats of the expedition leader / caller. Typically, the expedition leader is whoever organized the game session, which may or may not be the one with the best chances for / against initiative and surprise.

No. Combat is already abstract and players get butthurt when monsters get criticals against them.

There are times where you may end up with special wounds or even maiming based on an attack, or perhaps could even do the same. I guess that could be considered a type of critical hit.

If you're armored and you don't wear the helm or cap that came with your armor (or a suitable replacement) you receive a penalty of -1 to AC; of course, wearing a helmet makes it harder to hear… it's a trade-off, like everything else.

Of course! Don't you ever hear about the collateral damage from drive-by shootings?

Players have no plot immunity, players can go anywhere, and even in places perceived as able to be handled by your level of characters there will be things you can't handle. Players need to decide what they can handle, and can get in over their heads, certainly. That's part of playing in a sandbox.

Yes! But, maybe not just monsters…

Absolutely. Wear your big girl pantaloons under your armor.

Encumbrance is tracked using a system adapted from Lamentations of the Flame Princess.

Common ammunition is abstracted to save the whole counting it during fights and spare us all the “can I recover some ammunition?” questions. Each quiver / bundle / pack is represented by a particular die. Each time a combat ends or you roll maximum damage for the ammunition in combat, you roll that die to check your ammo supply. On a roll of one, that ammo is exhausted.

Food, torches, oil, etc., are all strictly tracked. It's important to the exploration part of the game.

While training is not required, downtime is. You must take at least one week per three levels (rounded up) of downtime. Look at it as an opportunity to play a secondary character for a while.

Also, while training is not required you can do some training to spend some of that hard-earned gold to convert it to XP to reach a new level.

Typically, no, you do not get spells automatically. Spells are either found through play, bought or gifted from NPCs or researched.

Killing monsters and taking their stuff.

Well, okay… you get 100 XP per HD for killing monsters, plus an extra HD for special abilities. It's a lot at first, but not a whole lot once you pass third or fourth level.

You get 1 XP per 1 GP that you spend that was earned by adventuring. If you get a bunch of gold and hoard it, you don't get any experience for it until it's spent. If you decide to shuffle cargo between towns for money, you don't get XP for it.

Also, you get XP for exploration. Being the first one to find a legendary place or thing can confer experience, and some things are so awesome and inspiring that everyone who sees them will get some XP to reflect how it shapes their view of the world.

Also, you get XP for carousing. At times you can also get consequences for carousing!

You describe what you are doing and looking for and I describe what you find. There's no sort of perception rolls, and the thief skill is for removing traps, not finding them.

Retainers are definitely encouraged! More meat to absorb the damage, right?

Morale works, basically, like it does in B/X, more or less. Retainers will also do checks between adventures to see if they stay in your employ, so treat them well!

Experimentation is the tried-and-true method. Knowledge of arcane lore helps, or sages and historians can figure it out. Speaking of arcane lore, it is often said that certain supernatural and underworld creatures may be able to identify magical items. There may also be spells or rituals that reveal such things…

There aren't MagicMart™ stores, if that's what you're asking, but there may be places where one can pick up enchanted gear, auction houses selling items of antiquity that may have certain dwoemers, etc.

Yes, but it requires a lot of knowledge, time and power that could often be better spent adventuring.

However, magic users and clerics can do the whole Holmesian scroll scribing thing: 100 GP and one week per level of spell.

Go ahead. As I said before, in B/X it's really, really fast to roll up new first level characters.