House Rules

[Guest]

Yes, I know you are all probably tired of hearing the house rules I use. That's not what this topic is about. This one is about what house rules everyone else uses for N&S and MC. Come on and share, don't be shy, I promise not to bite (hard at least).

[Natalya]

1. If the people using the special martial arts don't get two for living, no one else does.

Agreed. We do that too. All OCCs have "2 attacks for the living" replaced by a hand-to-hand skill/martial art, not added to.

Everyone, regardless of which book it comes from, has access to martial arts, they just cost graduating amounts of skill picks (one - H to H Basic, two - H to H Expert/Assassin/Generic Martial Art, three - non-Exclusive Martial Art, four - Exclusive Martial Art). We've fully integrated NSS martial arts into all Palladium settings that are run, and always use NSS, even if the person does pick H to H Basic or Expert.

All combat moves (meaning things like jump kick) cost one action, not two or more.

Auto-anything doesn't cost you an action, but you only get auto-"freebies" equal to the number of actions you have. Rolling with something costs an action if you don't have auto-roll. (These may be book rulings for NSS, but it's not for some of the other books, I'm not sure.)

We run chi just like we run magic and psionics - each chi ability costs one action, multiple chi abilities can be used in the same round, and a person can maintain multiple active chi abilities at the same time (i.e. hardened chi and body chi). Your only limits are a) you can't use positive and negative at the same time, and b) you are limited by the amount of chi that you have.

One finger chi has a limit as to the amount of chi you can put in it.

Since Kyokushinkai Karate automatically gives Tamashiwara, but never offers a body hardening exercise, we've decided that you also automatically get Iron Hand with it. (Doesn't make sense to be taught one without the other.)

We don't use Death Blow (the GM had a problem years ago with everyone declaring Death Blows since there are no drawbacks, and one night a player told him "From now on, every hit is a Death Blow unless I declare otherwise." He threw it out of the game that night.). As an extension, we don't use Fist Gesture.

We don't use AR. All damage is taken from armor/cover, until it falls apart. Chi-Gung has been rewritten to be similar to Chi-Gung Invocation (chi magic).

When someone plays a demon or fox spirit, anything that adds SDC to a normal person (like body hardening exercises, physical skills, martial arts) adds the same amount to these characters' chi (i.e., if it says +10 SDC, then we treat it as +10 Chi for a demon/+20 Chi for a fox spirit).

Wu Shih progress in their martial art (hey, if we're going to let BtS Arcanists and PFRPG Wizards take martial arts, then it's only fair). My Tao Shih was allowed to take any martial art I wanted, but since I explained to that GM that my character idea was based on the scrollwork, not the idea of Enlightened Immortality, I don't know if that's going to be an across-the-board ruling.

I think that's the bulk of them.

[Guest]

1. If the people using the special martial arts don't get two for living, no one else does.

Agreed. We do that too. All OCCs have "2 attacks for the living" replaced by a hand-to-hand skill/martial art, not added to.

Everyone, regardless of which book it comes from, has access to martial arts, they just cost graduating amounts of skill picks (one - H to H Basic, two - H to H Expert/Assassin/Generic Martial Art, three - non-Exclusive Martial Art, four - Exclusive Martial Art). We've fully integrated NSS martial arts into all Palladium settings that are run, and always use NSS, even if the person does pick H to H Basic or Expert.

All combat moves (meaning things like jump kick) cost one action, not two or more.

Auto-anything doesn't cost you an action, but you only get auto-"freebies" equal to the number of actions you have. Rolling with something costs an action if you don't have auto-roll. (These may be book rulings for NSS, but it's not for some of the other books, I'm not sure.)

Ick. Nothing personal, but I think both of these do more harm to the system than good. Roll with P/F/I costing an attack just makes it even more worthless as a usable combat move than it already is. Limiting automatic moves to the character's number of attacks likewise makes them less useful, since you might as well blow an attack to defend.

We run chi just like we run magic and psionics - each chi ability costs one action, multiple chi abilities can be used in the same round, and a person can maintain multiple active chi abilities at the same time (i.e. hardened chi and body chi). Your only limits are a) you can't use positive and negative at the same time, and b) you are limited by the amount of chi that you have.

One finger chi has a limit as to the amount of chi you can put in it.

Since Kyokushinkai Karate automatically gives Tamashiwara, but never offers a body hardening exercise, we've decided that you also automatically get Iron Hand with it. (Doesn't make sense to be taught one without the other.)

We don't use Death Blow (the GM had a problem years ago with everyone declaring Death Blows since there are no drawbacks, and one night a player told him "From now on, every hit is a Death Blow unless I declare otherwise." He threw it out of the game that night.). As an extension, we don't use Fist Gesture.

We don't use AR. All damage is taken from armor/cover, until it falls apart. Chi-Gung has been rewritten to be similar to Chi-Gung Invocation (chi magic).

When someone plays a demon or fox spirit, anything that adds SDC to a normal person (like body hardening exercises, physical skills, martial arts) adds the same amount to these characters' chi (i.e., if it says +10 SDC, then we treat it as +10 Chi for a demon/+20 Chi for a fox spirit).

Wu Shih progress in their martial art (hey, if we're going to let BtS Arcanists and PFRPG Wizards take martial arts, then it's only fair). My Tao Shih was allowed to take any martial art I wanted, but since I explained to that GM that my character idea was based on the scrollwork, not the idea of Enlightened Immortality, I don't know if that's going to be an across-the-board ruling.

I think that's the bulk of them.

Some interesting ideas overall.

[Natalya]

Auto-anything doesn't cost you an action, but you only get auto-"freebies" equal to the number of actions you have.

Limiting automatic moves to the character's number of attacks likewise makes them less useful, since you might as well blow an attack to defend.

I'll clarify that one, I think you may have misunderstood me. If character A has 4 attacks per round, then he gets 4 auto-actions (noted elsewhere) per round. So if he has auto-parry and auto-dodge, then he can parry and dodge 4 times without it taking a combat action. So he still has his 4 combat actions free for everything else (attacks, simos, combo parry/attacks, movement, etc). Since everything gives auto-parry as a basic defense, this means in practice in our games that as long as an attack can be parried, no one is blowing actions on defensive moves.

Oh yeah, I also forgot another house rule. We threw out weapon katas and all melee weapons and ancient thrown weapons are used with H to H/Martial Art bonuses. In essense, we made all weapon profiencies into weapon katas.

This rule is probably why the modern-time game (another GM in the group, not mine) is sword-heavy. Just about everyone's primary weapon is a sword, not a gun, in that game.

[Guest]

Auto-anything doesn't cost you an action, but you only get auto-"freebies" equal to the number of actions you have.

Limiting automatic moves to the character's number of attacks likewise makes them less useful, since you might as well blow an attack to defend.

I'll clarify that one, I think you may have misunderstood me. If character A has 4 attacks per round, then he gets 4 auto-actions (noted elsewhere) per round. So if he has auto-parry and auto-dodge, then he can parry and dodge 4 times without it taking a combat action. So he still has his 4 combat actions free for everything else (attacks, simos, combo parry/attacks, movement, etc). Since everything gives auto-parry as a basic defense, this means in practice in our games that as long as an attack can be parried, no one is blowing actions on defensive moves.

I didn't misunderstand you. I knew exactly what you were talking about. I was making an analogy. If you're limiting the number of automatic moves, you might as well waste an attack to defend since the end result from a defensive stand point is the same, you have a limited number of defenses despite your training. In actual practice all you've done is basically double the number of actions the character can perform. However, I'll grant you that it's better than this new nonsense about using attacks from your next melee round to defend (when that got incorporated into the RGMG, I wondered what crack people were smoking...since prior to that it was official that once you were out of attacks, you were OUT OF ATTACKS, and couldn't do anything which required attack, which was what made automatic moves so useful, since that was often the only way you could keep your character alive at the end of a combat round...not too mention that you might or might not be having the next round of combat, depending on several variable factors).

Oh yeah, I also forgot another house rule. We threw out weapon katas and all melee weapons and ancient thrown weapons are used with H to H/Martial Art bonuses. In essense, we made all weapon profiencies into weapon katas.

Unfortunately that means you leveled the playing field between styles specializing in weapons use and styles specializing in unarmed combat.

This rule is probably why the modern-time game (another GM in the group, not mine) is sword-heavy. Just about everyone's primary weapon is a sword, not a gun, in that game.

I was watching Chronicles of Riddick the other day (I thought it was actually more exciting than Pitch Black) and it reminded me of something I've seen in quite a few books, movies, anime, etc. Despite the existance of guns (even contemporary guns) many characters (heroes, villains, and everyone else) often prefer to fight with melee weapons instead of firearms. Using what weapons are at hand aside, I found this to be an interesting commentary on the social-cultural influence on action-adventure scenarios.

[Sentinel]

Okay:
Everybody gets two attacks. I don't care if that means TKD gets 6, +1 from boxing. Deal with it: I'm the one who has to come up with opponents to challenge that.
Automatic actions don't take an action.
There is no such thing as "Automatic Kick Attack", I don't care what the Rifts' book says.
Combination Moves get the same bonuses as regular moves. It makes no sense to me to train in a move like Parry/Strike and not get bonuses.
If you roll a Natural 20, it's critical damage.
Leap Attack, Power Punch, Jump Kick, Flying Jump Kick, Flying Reverse Turning Kick, and others (the special attacks of Taido come to mind) all take two actions/attacks to perform, not "All Actions/Attacks". What, so as I advance in level and get more attacks the same moves take up all my actions no matter how much faster I get? Crap.
Dedicated Martial Artists get skills. Mostly Cultural and Domestic Skills, but also Technical Skills like Lore and Religion and Languages.
Aikido practitioners can take WP Staff as a wepaon kata.
Te practitioners can take WP Nunchaku and Manriki Gusari (chain), Kama (axe), Sai (forked), Tonfa (blunt) and Bo (Satff) all at first level, paired if appropriate. If the player known about other Okinawan weapons such as the Eaku or the Nunte-bo, than I will allow a substitution for such.
Roll with P/F/I costs one action, unless you have Automatic Roll. Maintain Balance and Breakfall also cost one action each. Success in either means you don't lose initiative (if you had it to begin with), don't take damage (if appropriate) and don't lose an action for being knocked down. Breakfall cannot be used against punches or kicks: it's only for knockdowns and body flip/throws. Maintain Balance is only good against knockdown attacks.
If you roll a Natural 20 on a disarm attempt you DO gain possession of the weapon.
Iaijutsu allows the practitioner to draw, ready and strike all in one action. If you are using Vibrating palm and have to parry an attck, if you have Zanshin then you may do so without disrupting the Vibrating Palm.
If you get more than one Chi multiplier, then you can use them both. So, if you choose two martial arts that double chi at level one, then you use both.
All martial arts OCCs get 6D6 PPE, the same as HUII characters. In Rifts, such characters get 6D6 or whatever the Conversion Book says, which ever of the two is greater.

[Guest]

Okay:
[SNIP]
Automatic actions don't take an action.
There is no such thing as "Automatic Kick Attack", I don't care what the Rifts' book says.
[SNIP]
If you roll a Natural 20, it's critical damage.
[SNIP]

Uh, how are those house rules?

Te practitioners can take WP Nunchaku and Manriki Gusari (chain), Kama (axe), Sai (forked), Tonfa (blunt) and Bo (Satff) all at first level, paired if appropriate. If the player known about other Okinawan weapons such as the Eaku or the Nunte-bo, than I will allow a substitution for such.

I could see giving them W.P. Chain for things like Suruchin and the various okinawan flails, but Manriki Gusari are Japanese, not Okinawan.

Roll with P/F/I costs one action, unless you have Automatic Roll. Maintain Balance and Breakfall also cost one action each. Success in either means you don't lose initiative (if you had it to begin with), don't take damage (if appropriate) and don't lose an action for being knocked down. Breakfall cannot be used against punches or kicks: it's only for knockdowns and body flip/throws. Maintain Balance is only good against knockdown attacks.

See my comments under Naty's post.

If you roll a Natural 20 on a disarm attempt you DO gain possession of the weapon.

Now that's an interesting idea, but maybe you should go for PB's Natural 19 or 20 (though why that's required for a defensive disarm in Palladium's non-N&S games is still a mystery)...and only allow it on offensive disarms.

Iaijutsu allows the practitioner to draw, ready and strike all in one action.

That one I did a long time ago.

If you are using Vibrating palm and have to parry an attck, if you have Zanshin then you may do so without disrupting the Vibrating Palm.
If you get more than one Chi multiplier, then you can use them both. So, if you choose two martial arts that double chi at level one, then you use both.
All martial arts OCCs get 6D6 PPE, the same as HUII characters. In Rifts, such characters get 6D6 or whatever the Conversion Book says, which ever of the two is greater.

Where did you come up with the 6D6 PPE?

[Sentinel]

Okay:
[SNIP]
Automatic actions don't take an action.
There is no such thing as "Automatic Kick Attack", I don't care what the Rifts' book says.
[SNIP]
If you roll a Natural 20, it's critical damage.
[SNIP]

Uh, how are those house rules?
Automatic Dodge from N&SS for one. And (although I can't recall which) I had seen "Critical Strike rolls don't apply", to something. To which I said "Crap."

Te practitioners can take WP Nunchaku and Manriki Gusari (chain), Kama (axe), Sai (forked), Tonfa (blunt) and Bo (Satff) all at first level, paired if appropriate. If the player known about other Okinawan weapons such as the Eaku or the Nunte-bo, than I will allow a substitution for such.

I could see giving them W.P. Chain for things like Suruchin and the various okinawan flails, but Manriki Gusari are Japanese, not Okinawan.
You got me: I got the names on the weapons wrong, but you got the idea.

Roll with P/F/I costs one action, unless you have Automatic Roll. Maintain Balance and Breakfall also cost one action each. Success in either means you don't lose initiative (if you had it to begin with), don't take damage (if appropriate) and don't lose an action for being knocked down. Breakfall cannot be used against punches or kicks: it's only for knockdowns and body flip/throws. Maintain Balance is only good against knockdown attacks.

See my comments under Naty's post.
If Roll doesn't take an action, then what's the point of Auto-Roll?

If you roll a Natural 20 on a disarm attempt you DO gain possession of the weapon.

Now that's an interesting idea, but maybe you should go for PB's Natural 19 or 20 (though why that's required for a defensive disarm in Palladium's non-N&S games is still a mystery)...and only allow it on offensive disarms.
I'll consider that.

Iaijutsu allows the practitioner to draw, ready and strike all in one action.

That one I did a long time ago.

If you are using Vibrating palm and have to parry an attck, if you have Zanshin then you may do so without disrupting the Vibrating Palm.
If you get more than one Chi multiplier, then you can use them both. So, if you choose two martial arts that double chi at level one, then you use both.
All martial arts OCCs get 6D6 PPE, the same as HUII characters. In Rifts, such characters get 6D6 or whatever the Conversion Book says, which ever of the two is greater.

Where did you come up with the 6D6 PPE?

Heroes Unlimited II.

[Guest]

If Roll doesn't take an action, then what's the point of Auto-Roll?

Ah, that's easy, a normal Roll with P/F/I can only be used against one attack per melee round action phase (i.e. once through an attack for everyone who gets one that phase), Automatic Roll can be used against any and all attacks for that melee action phase.

Heroes Unlimited II.

Got a page number?

[Sentinel]

If Roll doesn't take an action, then what's the point of Auto-Roll?

Ah, that's easy, a normal Roll with P/F/I can only be used against one attack per melee round action phase (i.e. once through an attack for everyone who gets one that phase), Automatic Roll can be used against any and all attacks for that melee action phase.

Heroes Unlimited II.

Got a page number?

Not with me: I am at work.
But in HUII, it does say that unless stated differently, all Heroes get 6D6 PPE. (mages would clearly be an exception.)

[Natalya]

Combination Moves get the same bonuses as regular moves. It makes no sense to me to train in a move like Parry/Strike and not get bonuses.

Umm, you mean the book says they don't???
Guess that's our house rule too.
(See what happens when you apprentice under a long-time GM instead of reading a brand new system from scratch...)

[Sentinel]

Combination Moves get the same bonuses as regular moves. It makes no sense to me to train in a move like Parry/Strike and not get bonuses.

Umm, you mean the book says they don't???
That's right. Some of them don't even allow damage bonus.
Guess that's our house rule too.
(See what happens when you apprentice under a long-time GM instead of reading a brand new system from scratch...)

I always try to read up on a book every so often just refamiliarize myself with the reasons why I do things the way I do.

[Sentinel]

If Roll doesn't take an action, then what's the point of Auto-Roll?

Ah, that's easy, a normal Roll with P/F/I can only be used against one attack per melee round action phase (i.e. once through an attack for everyone who gets one that phase), Automatic Roll can be used against any and all attacks for that melee action phase.

Heroes Unlimited II.

Got a page number?

Page 12, HUII, in the description of PPE.
The "Average Superhuman" has 6D6 PPE.

[Mantisking]

House Rules
1.) All martial arts bonuses stack.
2.) You may exchange one skill program for one martial art.
3.) Imported firearms rules.
4.) Imported damage location tables.

[Sentinel]

House Rules
1.) All martial arts bonuses stack.
can you go into a little detail? Do all the attacks per melee stack? Chji modifiers? What about using TKD attack moves with a defensive style like Aikido?
2.) You may exchange one skill program for one martial art.
Is there a limit? How many times can a character do this (particularly if that character has a lot of available programs)?
3.) Imported firearms rules.
From which books in particular?
4.) Imported damage location tables.

[Prince Cherico]

I also use all martial arts bonuses stack

by this I mean all bonuses chi attacks, pluses
to strike every thing.

If you spend 20 plus years of your life at some thing
you better be better at it then any one else.

Tai chi costs a skill package for psyics and mages
the chi doubling doubles PPE and ISP instead of chi.
Instead of chi powers you get spells/ minor psy powers

If your not a MA you dont get the skills that come along
with the Martial art.

[Guest]

Interesting, the vast majority of house rules we've seen listed so far seem to consist of combat and martial arts house rules. No one really uses house rules for other stuff?

[Sentinel]

Interesting, the vast majority of house rules we've seen listed so far seem to consist of combat and martial arts house rules. No one really uses house rules for other stuff?

Don't really need to. Character generation is fairly easy enough. Skill checks are simple enough.
The real breakage in the rules is in combat.

[Natalya]

Interesting, the vast majority of house rules we've seen listed so far seem to consist of combat and martial arts house rules. No one really uses house rules for other stuff?

What we did for other stuff was to make it all megaversal. Like combining all the skills from 7 (?) books, and rewriting the skill programs to account for the variations in the skill programs from those books. We threw in the educational table from HU2, and anyone rolling under the educational table has access to the gizmoteer, medical, espionage, and military programs. (But we kept the old way of the Language skill covers both language and literacy.) We also standardized the starting percentages (which is a pain, because they drop in the newer books).

We changed the rate for casting of Chi Magic and Celestial Calligraphy to bring it in line with the changes we made for invocation magic. Regular Chi Magic is 1 spell=1 action, a Celestial Calligraphy scroll is a flat 5 seconds to grab & burn (1/3 of actions, rounded down).

We're still working on compiling the cybernetics system and matching it to HU Revised and HU2, but it is in progress.

We have compiled all the vehicle information from NSS, HU Revised, and HU2, and have a master "vehicle creation" list. We also took a fair amount of stuff from the robotic section of HU2 and made those vehicle-friendly (everybody needs a mini-fridge and microwave oven in their car, right? ). A vehicle worksheet is still on the to-do list.

We compiled the agency creation rules from NSS, VU, and Boxed Nightmares, and tweaked the points to cover all the specialty sections each book gave. We also created an agency worksheet to go with the master list.

For leveling up, we add a flat +5% to skills, rather than look at individual variations. Also for leveling up, everyone gets 2 skills per level, all mages get 2 spells per level, all psychics get 2 psionic abilities per level, anyone using PPE gets 4D6 per level, anyone using ISP gets 4D6 per level, and anyone using Chi (i.e. Chi Mastery) gets 4D6 per level. HP goes up 1D8 per level.

Mutant animals get OCCs (which explains my mutant emerald boa Tao Shih).

We don't use a multi-tier PS system (normal, extraordinary, whatever, supernatural). We switched it to linear, expanded the attribute bonus chart, and simply give more physically powerful creatures more points.

Going back to combat, we dropped ROF. Thrown/arrows/bolts also take from regular combat actions (simplicity sake, rather than try and figure out how many actions a person should have if s/he fires two arrows, then jumps into hand-to-hand range).

Called shots are successful only if you roll a natural 15 or higher on the die. 5-14 is a main body hit.

Weapon damages have been increased. For example, a standard katana (nothing spiffy) does 4D6. A 9mm bullet does 4D6.

Martial arts can be gained (at level one proficiency) upon leveling up. Due to some recent abuse of this privilege by a couple of power gamers, we are currently discussing/rewriting it, but right now it looks like it's going to involve sacrificing one of the leveling up skill picks for a couple of levels before actually being awarded the martial art. Martial Artist OCCs will have a shorter skill sacrifice/wait time and more maximum styles.

Everything above are all between three GMs (including me). For my game alone, since it is PF time period but I'm creating my own continent, I divided it into regions, divided the martial arts up (one group per region) and said that characters must be from a specific region or level up in a specific region before they have access to a martial art from that region.

Ummm......I think that's it. Not really sure though. Maybe I ought to write this down and put it in our compilation book at some point.

[Sentinel]

Ummm......I think that's it. Not really sure though. Maybe I ought to write this down and put it in our compilation book at some point.

Probably a good idea.

[Natalya]

Ummm......I think that's it. Not really sure though. Maybe I ought to write this down and put it in our compilation book at some point.

Probably a good idea.

Yep, just gotta do it.

Just looking over what I've typed, I guess our rule of thumb is simplicity; the more we can streamline things, the happier we are. Ironically enough, the compilation project that has me saying words that I never thought I'd say is also for simplicity - it's a pain compiling it, but once it's done, I don't have to look through a dozen books for leveling up and I don't have 6 or 7 books on the table at my elbow for reference, just one.

[Sentinel]

I like having 6-7 books on the table: it gives me a makeshift screen to hide behind, in case I need to make secret rolls, or keep NPC villain sheets out of sight.

[Natalya]

I like having 6-7 books on the table: it gives me a makeshift screen to hide behind, in case I need to make secret rolls, or keep NPC villain sheets out of sight.

Okay, gotta 'fess up. We create our own gameshields here.
Allows for secrecy, on the GM side, has needed reference information, and on the players' side, has notable quotes from previous games. These are quotes that stopped everybody, including the GM, while we laughed ourselves silly.

But the 6 or 7 books was from when I was a player ("Okay, those two for the magic spells, and these three for the skills, and that one for the demon stuff, and this one for the guns...") Since everyone was that way, we got tired of it.

[Sentinel]

I like having 6-7 books on the table: it gives me a makeshift screen to hide behind, in case I need to make secret rolls, or keep NPC villain sheets out of sight.

Okay, gotta 'fess up. We create our own gameshields here.
Allows for secrecy, on the GM side, has needed reference information, and on the players' side, has notable quotes from previous games. These are quotes that stopped everybody, including the GM, while we laughed ourselves silly.

But the 6 or 7 books was from when I was a player ("Okay, those two for the magic spells, and these three for the skills, and that one for the demon stuff, and this one for the guns...") Since everyone was that way, we got tired of it.

I didn't mind for myself too much. It only got old for players because invariably, some one would want to borrow my book, and I gerw tired of subsidizing their game collections by being the only one buying the books.

[Guest]

Interesting, the vast majority of house rules we've seen listed so far seem to consist of combat and martial arts house rules. No one really uses house rules for other stuff?

Don't really need to. Character generation is fairly easy enough. Skill checks are simple enough.
The real breakage in the rules is in combat.

Yeah, actually you do. Equipment, weapons, super vehicles, skills, vision, lighting, environmental hazards, hearing, perception/spot/listen checks, non-book agencies/organizations, cybernetics, and a whole bunch of other things aren't covered exceptionally.

[Sentinel]

Interesting, the vast majority of house rules we've seen listed so far seem to consist of combat and martial arts house rules. No one really uses house rules for other stuff?

Don't really need to. Character generation is fairly easy enough. Skill checks are simple enough.
The real breakage in the rules is in combat.

Yeah, actually you do. Equipment, weapons, super vehicles, skills, vision, lighting, environmental hazards, hearing, perception/spot/listen checks, non-book agencies/organizations, cybernetics, and a whole bunch of other things aren't covered exceptionally.

I just take what I need from the rest of the Megaverse: I don't consider it a "house rule" if I use canon material from a different book. As a result I get stuff from BtS, HUII, and other places as I need it, but it doesn't require re-writes: just book-hopping.

[Guest]

Interesting, the vast majority of house rules we've seen listed so far seem to consist of combat and martial arts house rules. No one really uses house rules for other stuff?

Don't really need to. Character generation is fairly easy enough. Skill checks are simple enough.
The real breakage in the rules is in combat.

Yeah, actually you do. Equipment, weapons, super vehicles, skills, vision, lighting, environmental hazards, hearing, perception/spot/listen checks, non-book agencies/organizations, cybernetics, and a whole bunch of other things aren't covered exceptionally.

I just take what I need from the rest of the Megaverse: I don't consider it a "house rule" if I use canon material from a different book. As a result I get stuff from BtS, HUII, and other places as I need it, but it doesn't require re-writes: just book-hopping.

Except the rest of the Megaverse is likewise lacking in those things.

[Yendor]

Skills. If you pick 2 skill programs, and each (for example) gives Radio-Basic, Program A at +10%, Program B at +5%, you get Radio-Basic +10%, and one skill from the same category at +5%. If you have all the skills from that category, or if it doesn't fit your character concept, you can pick one skill from any category (within reason) at half the bonus, rounded up (so +5% would be +3%).

Critical Flip/Throw and similar are ignored, as anyone who rolls a natural 20 scores a critical (whether throwing a punch, kick, headbutt, etc.). I will have to think about making those specific ones drop the required roll by 1 (Critical Flip/Throw would be a critical on a natural 19 or 20 for example).

Combo moves get full bonuses.

Taido gets full attribute bonuses (I heartily disagree with the 'so complex you don't get bonuses' note listed with it). If you're more agile, nimble, etc., you're going to show that in your MA.

Dedicated Martial Artists get 3 martial arts, Worldly 2 (akin to the old N&SS book), especially since the random NPC villain table listed later gives a Dedicated 3 MAs.

HtH-Karate, etc. from Rifts-Japan only cost 3 skills (rather than 4 as I had them listed; just a note about changing my own house rule )

Some MAs that are listed as Exclusive are waived (Capoera<sp> from Rifter #7, etc.)

Anyone, at the cost of a skill program, can take a martial art, provided you meet the requirements, but those who are not N&SS or MC classes can only pick one. HU classes though, depending on the class, are not allowed (I mesh HU, N&SS, BtS, and similar '20th century' settings into one).

Martial Art costs in years are reduced, within reason (I use the secondary cost for most martial arts, although some are stuck at the full cost, depending on the martial art in question).

Everyone gets a life savings and inheritance roll (lifted from BtS), in addition to their starting funds, as well as 'starting equipment' listed in HU2 (basic minor possessions, etc.). Yes, even Dedicated MAs (though most of the frills are gone, just basic possessions).

You can learn additional skills, as listed under HU2 (the older version).

[Sentinel]

I use perception from BtS2 and Nightbane, Super Vehicles from HUII and anywhere else special vehicles are found (Rifts, AU, etc.), I make up agencies using the Agency creation rules from N&SS and VU, Equipment from BtS 1st ed (for now), HU GMG, and anywhere else I can find it. I can extrapolate things like lighting, and some (admittedly not all )Enviornmental hazards from HUII, PUI, AU, AU:GG, etc.
They're there: it is a pain looking for them.

[Mantisking]

Originally posted by me.
House Rules
1.) All martial arts bonuses stack.

Originally posted by Sentinel.
can you go into a little detail? Do all the attacks per melee stack? Chji modifiers? What about using TKD attack moves with a defensive style like Aikido?

Attacks don't stack, Chi bonuses do. You can mix and match fighting techniques from all the styles you know.

Originally posted by me.
2.) You may exchange one skill program for one martial art.

Originally posted by Sentinel.
Is there a limit? How many times can a character do this (particularly if that character has a lot of available programs)?

The limit is the number of skill programs you have.

Originally posted by me.
3.) Imported firearms rules.

Originally posted by Sentinel.
From which books in particular?

We use the firearms rules from Tri-Tac games, along with the damage location tables from the same company.

Originally posted by Kuseru.
Yeah, actually you do. Equipment, weapons, super vehicles, skills, vision, lighting, environmental hazards, hearing, perception/spot/listen checks, non-book agencies/organizations, cybernetics, and a whole bunch of other things aren't covered exceptionally.

We use the environmental modifiers from Tri-Tac Games. Perception is a house system. Equipment is from real world sources or from the setting books (We generally play a sci-fi campaign.). Cybernetics are taken from Cyber-Space by I.C.E. Vehicles and agencies tend to get ignored, we concentrate more on the characters.

[Guest]

I use perception from BtS2 and Nightbane, Super Vehicles from HUII and anywhere else special vehicles are found (Rifts, AU, etc.), I make up agencies using the Agency creation rules from N&SS and VU, Equipment from BtS 1st ed (for now), HU GMG, and anywhere else I can find it. I can extrapolate things like lighting, and some (admittedly not all )Enviornmental hazards from HUII, PUI, AU, AU:GG, etc.
They're there: it is a pain looking for them.

That's pretty much what I do, though I think digging out all those damn hidden saving throws is the real pain. (Finding the ARs of different materials was easier to do.)

[Sentinel]

I use perception from BtS2 and Nightbane, Super Vehicles from HUII and anywhere else special vehicles are found (Rifts, AU, etc.), I make up agencies using the Agency creation rules from N&SS and VU, Equipment from BtS 1st ed (for now), HU GMG, and anywhere else I can find it. I can extrapolate things like lighting, and some (admittedly not all )Enviornmental hazards from HUII, PUI, AU, AU:GG, etc.
They're there: it is a pain looking for them.

That's pretty much what I do, though I think digging out all those damn hidden saving throws is the real pain. (Finding the ARs of different materials was easier to do.)

I try to always write the stuff down and make a comprehensive table at a later time. I used to go book-hopping every time, but I now have too many books for that.