OD&D: Gilles Deleuze’s House Rules

Apparently, the philosopher Gilles Deleuze used these house rules when running 3LBBs sans supplements ca. 1980.1

An interesting combination of LBB minimalism and the anti-capitalist focus of later additions, they are presented here for historical interest.•

  • Abilities rolled as highest 2 of 3d10, assigned freely.
    • Strength > 14: +1 to hit, +1 damage for Fighters
    • Intelligence > 14: +1 1st level Mage spell.
    • Wisdom > 14: +1 1st level Alien Hunter spell.
    • Dexterity > 14: −1 AC, +1 to hit with Alien pistols
    • Constitution > 14: +1 HP/HD, +1 to saves vs. Lycanthropy
    • Charisma > 14: +1 on reaction rolls•HD progression replaced with 1d6 HP/level for all classes, rerolling 3s.•
  • Player characters begin at 6th level.
  • Everything is a machine.
  • Player characters must declare actions before rolling initiative.
  • The Referee rotates on a per-session basis.
  • Casters who declare a spell but are hit before casting must shout out, “Don’t sow, grow offshoots!,” after which the spell is cast at half effect.
  • Casters must find scrolls, spellbooks, or friendly high-level philosophers to learn new spells.
  • Alien Hunters don’t need spellbooks.
  • Psychoanalysts must be Evil.
  • Each player must use a minimum of 3 characters at any time. However, if any of them die, then all of the others run away in terror, never to be seen again.
  • When rolling a natural 5, once must exclaim as follows: “That awful five in the evening! What a story! What heat! What a life!”
  • Magic items cannot be identified under any circumstances, potions must be tasted to identify.
  1. The majority of these are cited from the groundbreaking research conducted by Daniel Smith, “Playing on the Planomenon,” in Essays on Deleuze (Edinburgh University Press, 2012). ↩︎

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