The Hargrove Protocols

Writing, Design, and © 2020 by James D. Hargrove

Art by Maciej Zagorski of The Forge Studios

These rules are intended to be used in conjunction with older

editions of the World’s Most Popular Fantasy Roleplaying Game.
Most of what is contained within is merely sound advice, rather
than actual rules content. Where actual rules content is present,
much of it has been adapted from earlier publications of mine, two
of which were focused on modifying the Original Edition Fantasy
Roleplaying Game (and which are no longer available for sale).

Defining Character Goals

When creating a character, players should define three goals
for their characters. These should be short-term goals (e.g,
research a particular spell, earn enough gold to pay off a
gambling debt, slay the foxes terrorizing local chicken coops,
etc). As a rule of thumb, short-term goals are things that can be
achieved in a game session or three.
Keep in mind that the more quickly a character achieves their
goals, the more quickly they’ll gain levels. That said, goals
should still be meaningful to the narrative, not merely devices
to be levied for mechanical benefit. The referee has the right to
deny any goal that she deems bereft of narrative significance.
 Goals should be about what a player wants out of the game for
their character, signaling such to the referee. If, for example,
a player wants their character’s narrative to be about a hopeless
gambler with a redemption arc, they should define goals in service
to that narrative. The referee, for her part, should do her best
to work these goals into the campaign.

How To Equip Characters

Don’t shop for equipment. Characters begin play with any
equipment deemed appropriate for their character concept. The
referee can veto any player who overreaches.

How To Resolve Action Attempts

If no risk or direct opposition is involved in an action
attempt, simply narrate the results as appropriate. For example:

If an object is hidden in a room, don’t make players roll to

search for it. There is no risk here. If they say they’re
searching the room, let them search and find the hidden object.

That said, complex tasks may require the expenditure of more

effort than easy tasks. For instance, returning to the example
above, finding an item that is hidden carefully may require more
time than finding something hastily hidden.
Further, action attempts whose outcomes are certain (i.e.
guaranteed successes or failures) are never rolled. Again, simply
narrate the results as appropriate. For example:

A player states that they wish their player to jump over the moon.
In most settings, this is impossible and the outcome of such an
attempt is certain – failure.

If risk or opposition is involved in determining an action

attempt outcome, roll dice as prescribed in your system of choice.
Should your system of choice not have a default method of
resolving an action attempt (e.g. the Original Edition Fantasy
Roleplaying Game had no mechanics for resolving non-combat action
out of the box), I recommend using the following rules.
 Roll 1d6. If the action is not related to the character's
race, class, culture, or other defining features, the player needs
to produce a roll result of 5+ on the die to succeed. If the
action is related to the character's race, class, culture, or
other defining features, the player needs only to produce a roll
result of 3+ on the die to succeed. In the event of opposed action
attempts, the character with the highest roll wins and ties are
re-rolled until a victor is determined.
Finally, referees, if a character’s rolled action attempt
succeeds – it succeeds.
Don’t deny a successful roll under any circumstances. If an
action is impossible, see the rules discussed previously for
resolving actions with outcomes that are certain. Don’t have
players roll for such things. Letting a player roll for an action
infers that they can influence the outcome. If they can’t, don’t
make that promise then fail to deliver on it.

How To Apply Character Knowledge

If it’s on a player’s character sheet, the character knows
it. Period. If a character has knowledge related to a given
question posed, then they know the answer, be it through scholarly
studies, hearth tales, urban legends, etc. For example:

If a character has ranks in the knowledge skill “Arcana” and a

question about the arcane origins of something arises, they know
the answer.

If more than one character possesses the same knowledge skill

relevant to the mystery being probed, they all know the answer
(i.e. it’s common knowledge amongst such folks).
If different characters possess different skills that could
conceivably reveal different bits of information about a question,
describe such information as appropriate. For instance:

One character has ranks in “Arcana” and another has ranks in

“Religion” - both schools of knowledge reveal different
information about an object being examined, and such information
is described as appropriate.
 If your chosen game has no defined skill system, simply have
players define three areas of knowledge (not skills) for their
characters at character creation. For example:

Biology, Mathematics, Religion

These areas of knowledge work as described on the previous

page, but references to ranks of skill are ignored.
And what happens if an area of knowledge isn’t represented on
a character’s sheet? Then they don’t know it. Period. Sometimes
characters need to rely on others for answers.

Who Does What, When, In Conflicts

Conflicts are broken down by turns, as is typical but, to
begin, the referee decides what character goes first in a given
conflict, based on the flow of the narrative (e.g. if a team of
non-player characters ambushes the player characters, the referee
states that one of the NPCs takes their action first in the
conflict turn).
After this, the player of whichever character just acted
(this includes characters controlled by the referee) chooses the
character who takes action next. This continues until all
characters have taken action during a conflict turn, after which
a new conflict turn begins.

How To Determine Attack Damage

Weapons and attacks come in Light, Medium, and Heavy
varieties. When successfully striking with a Light weapon (e.g.,
Fist, Dagger, Short Bow) in combat, roll 2d6 to determine damage
and take the lowest result. When successfully striking with a
Medium weapon or attack (e.g., Man-Sized Claw, Long Bow, Sword)
in combat, roll 1d6 to determine damage. When successfully
striking with a Heavy weapon or attack (e.g., Dragon Breath,
Halberd, Two-Handed Sword) in combat, roll 2d6 to determine damage
and take the highest result.
How To Level Up Characters
Instead of characters leveling by gaining experience points,
characters created using these house rules level when they achieve
their goals as defined in character creation. When a character
achieves three of their short-term goals, they gain a level.
Whenever a character achieves a short-term goal, their player
needs to define a new short-term goal to take its place.

How To Advance Hit Points

When a character gains a level, their player rolls the
prescribed number of Dice for Accumulative Hits or Hit Dice for
their new level as shown in your core rule book, taking any
modifiers for abilities into consideration. Players do not add the
result of this die roll to their character’s current hit point
total, however.
Instead, if the new total generated is greater than the
character’s current hit point total, they replace the old total
with the new total. If the new total generated is less than their
character’s current hit point total, they ignore the roll result
and the character’s hit point total is unchanged. For example:

The player of a 1st Edition Level 1 Fighter with 8 hit points would
roll an additional Hit Die for hit points upon ascending to Level
2 (so, two 10-sided dice). If the adjusted roll total exceeds 8,
then this would become the character’s new hit point total. If the
adjusted roll total does not exceed 8, however, the character’s
hit point total would remain unchanged.