Laying Waste my favorite crit rules ever!

[CannibalKitten]

This may not belong in this thread and i apologize if that is so. A few months ago my friend came back from an anime convention and he brought me this book (Laying Waste the guidebook to critical combat by TPK games) back as a souvenir. I didnt start using it right away as it is full of tables and i wasnt entirely keen on the idea of trying a new crit system, however im glad i finally changed my mind.

I've always disliked the old confirmation reroll rules and had always played with people who disliked it as well so it was houseruled out and we auto-confirmed crits. We also never used fumble charts just relying into the DM to think of an appropriate fail for the occasion.

This book however changed all of that! With its multiple tables for different severitys of crits for different weapon types and very cool and interesting crit/fumble descriptions it's has made our games more enjoyable for sure. I had a fellow DM discourage the use of stuff like it saying it really slowed down the action economy to have another book to flip through and more dice then the normal rules to roll for crits, but I haven't seen some of my players as excited about critting as i have since using the book, I even had a player volunteer as the crit book keeper and it's always at his side lol.

I'm mostly just giving love to what I think is an awesome book. Curious to see who agrees and maybe other people's house rules for crits/fumbles as well?

[Endzeitgeist]

Totally agree, CannibalKitten - waiting with baited breath for the sequel-book!

[CannibalKitten]

*gasp* is that a real thing?

[Endzeitgeist]

It was a stretchgoal in the first KS - if there is enough demand, there'll be a KS-campaign for book 2, covering alchemical items, energy, magic, etc.

[BPorter]

Laying Waste is hands-down, the best crit/fumble system I've ever run and that includes other crit-heavy systems like GURPS and the granddaddy of crit/fumble glory, RoleMaster!

Crits and fumbles are now EVENTS at the table rather than just #s. And the way they factored skill into determining crit severity allows everyone that loves crits to have the detail while still pacifying the "swinginess" of crits that crit-detractors always take issue with (the big babies). ;)

I too, hope that the rumored magical criticals & fumbles book is in development!