House Rules
for
"Order of the Stick: The Dungeon of Dorukan"

This game needs heavy modification. Here goes...

These rules are still open to discussion and change. Red text indicates the latest additions to this document. Green text indicates ideas that have not yet been implemented.

Problems with the game:

• The game takes too long.
• Player vs. player action rarely happens. (Two reasons: There's a lot of cooperation in the game (so people don't want to attack each other), and PvP makes it even longer.) This makes PvP shticks worthless (thereby screwing those characters who are "balanced" by having more PvP abilities).
• Overpowered characters can deprive other players of loot (intentionally or not) by not having to offer it in exchange for help. Certain important loot cards may never find their rightful owner. [The cooperative version below sort of fixes this by creating incentive to give away such loot even when help isn't needed.]
• Some shticks just suck.
• The Xykon's Lair sequence is unsatisfyingly short.
• Boosting Elan's Bard Song and Durkon's Healing Spell doesn't help them; it is arguably detrimental to them, because it reduces demand for those services. [The cooperative version below gives them some incentive for this altruism.]
• "Searching for stairs" is dull.
• Belkar's Leaping Attack interacts very badly with rules regarding Ranged Attacks.

So, a couple of easy fixes first (other simple house rules are at the bottom):

• Quick start (optional): Players start the game with all four of their red-bordered shticks in play.
• Six rooms per level instead of eight.
• Put Xykon at the bottom of the Xykon deck.
• The character who successfully rolls to find stairs may immediately unflip two of their shticks.
• Use common sense regarding Leaping Attack: Place Belkar into the room at the start of the Attack. Defending monsters can hurt Belkar, regardless of the attack's range. Belkar can claim his Loot if there are no other monsters in the room. (All of those are contradicted by the Ranged Attack rules taken literally, though the FAQ supports most of these revisions.) Belkar still may not make a ranged Leaping Attack if he has already moved that turn, nor may he continue to attack other monsters after a Ranged Attack. (This last is more for balance than common sense.)
• Ignore the shtick and loot requirements for descending into Xykon's Lair.

Now for the big one:

• The game is played cooperatively, with the goal being a total score that depends upon all players' performance, and/or the time taken. The following three numbers will be recorded after each game: Total score, score divided by time (in hours), and time taken to kill Xykon (if it is done). (Also record the number of dungeon levels, whether Quick Start was used, and any other factors that would affect comparison of scores.) Players may decide to play until a certain time limit, until they kill Xykon, or until they feel like stopping. They may aim to compete against their previous records in any of the three categories. (Players may choose to skip the race to the surface, sacrificing the points they would have earned for their escape, in order to finish faster. This should also be recorded if done.)
• All PvP battling is removed from the game. PvP shticks are improved or changed entirely.
• Any detrimental "Screw This!" cards in a player's hand must be played at the first opportunity for them to have an effect. (For example, "Goblin Pride Day" should be played as soon as someone is battling a goblin.) They should be shown face-up, so that other players can notice such opportunities. Decisions about how to play a detrimental card should be made randomly, if there is a danger of the card being played to minimal effect otherwise. (e.g., you may not choose to flip a useless shtick with "Dun Dun Dun!") ("Scream Like a Girl" is considered detrimental, because it's funnier if played on someone who doesn't want it. "Plan Q" is considered beneficial (because forcing it to be played (as a detrimental card) would only slow the game down).)
• The following cards are removed from the game entirely: Internal Monologue, No Sleep For You, Double-cross (x2), Karma-riffic, Saw It Coming.
• Players will randomly select monsters from their hand to play upon each other. Some characters will be given shticks that flip to allow them to pick which monster they play (but the following limit must still be obeyed).

• Limit to the above rule: You must play a supporting monster* if you have it. If you have more than one, choose randomly among only those. Similarly, if a room explicitly grants a bonus to one type of monster, that type must be played when possible. (In this case, Belkar cannot choose to block that monster type with "Poor Tracking Skills".)

  * Supporting a monster that has been played this turn.

Individual shtick changes and notes (initial brackets describe reasons for changing shticks):

• Vaarsuvius:

  Elven Senses... Tingling!

  [This was worthless to the player, but with the new reward for finding stairs, it at least has some value. We'll leave it for now.]

  Ambiguous Gender

  [PvP. Having it just affect monsters the way it did players would be like a very weak version of Hide; so, no.] Gives +2 Defense against humans.

  Secrets That Will Drive You MAD!

  [Replace the bonus against players.] The bonus applies also to undead.

  Penultimate Arcane Power (x2)

  [Partial PvP.] In addition, draw two cards from the battle deck into your hand when you defeat a monster with the Spellcaster ability. (You may discard a detrimental Screw This! card if you draw it this way.)

  Seldom-Used Quarterstaff

  [Worthless. Replace with:] Locate Creature Spell: Flip this shtick to select the monster that you play into a battle, or to choose which of two (randomly selected) monsters another player plays into a battle.

  Blackwing the Raven

  [Weak. Improve to 75% chance.] Works "On a roll greater than 3".

• Elan (who wants slightly better combat ability):

  Conscience Demon

  [Doesn't get used. Replace with a second:] Rapier.

  Conscience Angel

  [Overpowered: It's just a constant +2 bonus to defense. Replace with:] Always Helpful. Elan may aid other PCs, even when resting or missing a turn.

  Wacky Hijinks

  [Hurts players. Replace with:] Pied Piper: Flip this shtick to select the monster that you play into a battle, or to choose which of two (randomly selected) monsters another player plays into a battle.

  Gratuitous Nudity

  [Its randomizing effect is the new default, but boosting Hide is still good; keep that.] There are some things monsters would rather not see. Flip this card to reduce the Battle Size by 1 and to boost your Hide shtick. (Battle Size cannot become zero.)

  Extra shtick idea

  Good Use of Dramatic Scene: +2 attack and defense vs unique creatures. (Maybe use this to replace Conscience Demon instead.)

• Haley:

  Second-in-Command

  Flip during your turn to unflip another player's shtick. (You may ask for a Loot card in exchange.)

  Swipe (x2)

  [No PvP use, so improve its use against monsters.] If you have not used up your movement for the turn, you may continue to move after a successful Swipe. (You can provoke a second battle in one turn this way, but you may not use Swipe to fight that one also.)

  Ridiculous Bluff (x2)

  [PvP. Replace with:] Find Secret Doors. Flip this card to move to any room on the same level instead of your normal movement. Boost: You may also take two spaces of your normal movement.

• Belkar:

  Schadenfreude

  [Keep this. It's funny, not directly harmful, and helps preserve Belkar's character.]

  Twin Daggers of Doom

  [The boost is PvP only. Change boost ability to:] Carnage. Once you kill a monster, all other monsters in the room suffer a -2 (morale) penalty per boost to both attack and defense, until the end of the turn. (This pentalty does not accumulate with subsequent kills.) Mindless monsters are immune to this effect.

  Doesn't Play Well With Others

  [PvP.] Kill Stealer! When you defeat the last monster in a battle stack that was created on another player's turn, and that player is still in the room, place this card with your saved monsters. [Usage is the same as the original card.]

  Probably Evil

  [Modify so its use is not entirely detrimental.] Each monster drops one extra Loot card when killed while supported by Belkar. [This is inspired by the +5 monster modifiers in Munchkin.]

  Deep-seated Emotional Problems

  [PvP. Replace:] This becomes a second Hated Enemy shtick.

  Keen Nose

  [Monster viewing not very useful now, so improve its other bonus.] Gives +3 to Evade traps.

  Poor Tracking Skills

  If a randomly played monster is of the selected type, a replacement is played from the same hand (to which the forbidden monster will return). Even supporting monsters of the selected type may not be played. (You may not select Goblins or Undead while in Xykon's Lair.) [Note that there is potential for abuse of this rule. Let's keep an eye on it, in case it needs changing.]

• Roy:

  Logic

  [PvP.] Flip this shtick to stop one monster on your floor from providing Support to another.

  Party Leader Veto

  [Replace with:] Party Leader Encouragement: Flip during your turn to unflip another player's shtick.

  No Rest for the Weary

  [PvP.] You may still aid other players while you are resting or missing a turn.

• Durkon:

  Clank, Clank, Clank

  Doesn't affect party members.

  Incomprehensible Accent

  [This is okay, even without the PvP use.]

  W.W.T.D.?

  [Mostly useless.] Flip this shtick at any time to discard one monster from your hand.

• The Official FAQ. Most of it is good.
• Because Xykon cannot be moved, and area effect attacks cannot be used if the top monster in a stack is immune, Poorly Planned Illusion cannot be used to move the stack of monsters under Xykon into a different room. [This is partly a guess, as Xykon may not technically be immune to the shtick, only to its effect. But moving monsters away is a cheesy way to weaken him (either by killing them first or by sending them to a different level), and so violates the spirit of Xykon as a badass.]
• Elan cannot offer help in exchange for Loot that he doesn't drool over. [Implied though not stated by the FAQ. Also balance issues: Fully boosted, Elan would give 0+4 for another character's one-drool-factor loot, and so that character couldn't compete to receive their own loot.]
• You can offer NPCs loot that you drool over, as long as no other PCs drool over it. [House ruled and then confirmed by the FAQ.]
• Eternal Gratitude affects all of the Loot offered to a single player. (This contrasts with the FAQ, which applies it to all of the loot offered to all players.) (Also, consider it a "beneficial" card.)
• The FAQ answer about getting a bonus against a monster type when using an Area Effect shtick makes little sense. Whichever monster is the hardest to beat, after accounting for any bonuses you get against that monster, is the one that you have to defeat to win the battle.
• When you start your turn in a room with a monster, and you fight it, you may choose whether to Attack or Defend. (This contrasts with the FAQ, but we've been playing that way: Sometimes, we essentially give up the initial defending turn in order to be able to Attack on the next turn. It seems like a valid and not unbalanced strategy, and also makes sense in the context of the game.)
• The FAQ ruling that a monster can support only one monster in each room should be applied only to the Horde ability. [This revision only really affects Area Effect attacks, in which playing according to the FAQ could cause a weak monster to rob a powerful monster of needed bonuses.]
• If a monster's only support ability is negated by "I Forgot They Could Do That," then creatures supporting it do not have to be played.

• Return to House Rules.

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