Some Dungeon Masters who are starting a Dungeons & Dragons campaign make use of house rules, but many heavily house-ruled games would often be better off using a different tabletop RPG system altogether. The rules of DnD have always aimed to capture a very specific style of fantasy adventure. The earliest editions focused singularly on exploring dungeons, hence the game’s name, and although DnD has expanded its scope, many of the rules still skew towards the original dungeon crawl design. The skills and systems surrounding detecting and disarming traps, or finding secret doors, all support a dungeon-centric style. Just as every classic dungeon features multiple combat encounters between areas where it is safe to rest, DnD assumes there will be several battles every day, challenging players through attrition instead of overwhelming force.

There are some DnD house rules every group should consider, like starting at level three, where subclasses make characters more unique. House rules designed to change the fundamental paradigm of DnD are a terrible idea, however. Though DnD adventures can feature urban intrigue or traveling the planes of existence, they still follow the original dungeon crawl structure and stay firmly rooted in combat-focused heroic fantasy. House ruling the game to make it something other than a heroic fantasy adventure is not a solution. There are certainly tabletop RPGs that provide gritty, highly lethal battle systems, unlike the DnD model where battles are designed to drain resources.

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Homebrew That Makes D&D More Gritty & Brutal Makes It A Different Game

Artwork for the Deadlands TTRPG, showing a skeleton man riding a horse.

A prospective DM would be better off looking to alternatives instead of trying to change DnD into something it is not. As early as mid-level, players have access to resurrection magic, meaning death is a setback akin to a status effect. Homebrew content, like Critical Role’s resurrection rules, make DnD death matter more, and those rules are simply a variation of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons’ harsher resurrection rules. The current 5e rules are a balance between 4e DnD's focus on ideally crafted gameplay, alongside nods to the history of the game, like the return of Vancian Magic and enchanted belts that grant specific Strength scores. The 5e rules are more forgiving than early editions of DnD by design, however, so DMs wanting to remove resurrection from their campaigns should simply run a different game.

As the recent 5e Ravenloft book shows, DnD can step outside its genre on occasion, as it often includes elements of horror. Ultimately, DnD is a game where the heroes overcome enemies in battle. DnD is not meant to be a Call of Cthulhu style game, where the bulk of the adventure is research and investigation, and the true enemies are all unfathomably powerful. The DnD house rules that DMs should absolutely avoid include inherently flawed concepts like Critical Failures on attack rolls, along with thematically inappropriate rules like the Dungeon Master’s Guide system for Sanity Scores.

There are tabletop RPGs that provide rules for lasting injuries, where characters in 5e DnD recover all Hit Points after a Long Rest. Adventurers may find themselves taxed over many battles during a single day in DnD, but they generally start fresh the next day without any lingering mental or physical wounds. The systems of DnD do not aim to capture the gritty feeling of A Song of Ice And Fire, or even the very specific vibe of The Lord of The Rings, despite it serving as a major inspiration for the game. Both of those fictional worlds have dedicated tabletop RPGs designed to embody their unique traits, but DnD has an identity of its own that conflicts with those settings.

Changing The Genre Or Tone Of D&D With House Rules Is A Bad Idea

Promo art for Legend of the Five Rings, a TTRPG influenced by Eastern fantasy.

For a post-apocalyptic game, the Fallout tabletop RPG is better than homebrew DnD rules. A DM should not add hacking systems or cybernetics to DnD when Shadowrun already provides a system that integrates cyberpunk and fantasy. A game that focuses on Eastern fantasy instead of Occidental fantasy would be better suited with Legend of the Five Rings, and Deadlands provides a better Weird West game than a gunslinger-focused DnD campaign. Instead of homebrewing a DnD class based on The Witcher, the official tabletop RPG based on the novels is ideal. Having a session or two that steps outside the heroic fantasy mold is fine to change things up, and formative DnD adventures borrowed heavily from science fiction alongside fantasy. If a DM wants to run a game where there is no magic whatsoever, however, DnD is off the table, and a game like Numenera could deliver what they need.

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The main goal of TTRPGs is for everyone involved to have fun, and some DM homebrew makes 5e DnD easier for new players. Some players are averse to learning new systems, particularly if they have invested time in thoroughly mastering DnD. Applying layers of homebrew to transform DnD into a gritty, magic-free game does them no favors, however, as they will have to disregard just as much of their skill set as they can use in such a game. The same guidelines apply with removing core DnD rules as with adding house rules. If a DM wants to run a game without healing spells or magical items, they should never use DnD, since many other tabletop RPG systems already provide exactly that.

To run DnD, the DM must accept that the game will have multiple encounters in one day to challenge the players. Magic heals wounds and restores the dead, and heroes accrue enchanted weapons and magic items to bolster their strength. If any of these do not fit the campaign’s tone, the decision of whether to use DnD homebrew campaign rules or a different system should be weighed carefully. If the DM wants to explore a different genre from heroic fantasy, or a hybrid genre game, they should always consider whether the DnD rules really deliver what they want, or if another tabletop RPG might be the perfect fit. There are dozens of quality RPGs and experimenting with different systems might also make players better appreciate the specific style of game DnD excels at. Dungeons & Dragons is a fairly flexible system, but it has its own identity, and it was never meant to be a universal rule set for any kind of tabletop RPG campaign.

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