T&T houserules - taking on Rappan Athuk

Since I posted my musings about a new campaign I've become more and more enthusiastic about the idea of running Necromancer Games' megadungeon Rappan Athuk with T&T. Some of the first things I'm thinking of is house rules and tweaks.

I'm thinking of using these

• Shields shall be splintered
• Hirelings will be splintered
• EP for gold - like it used to be in older editions of T&T
• Experience points for exploration - and activities to that effect
• Ablative armour - like it used to be in older editions of T&T

Especially the last one is important. I want all classes, not only the spellcasters, to have to pay continuously for their equipment. More reasons to seek out treasure could only be a good thing.

But things like cool options for combat, like the first one, is always a good thing. Ablative armour would be cool for that reason as well. You will have to think of when you can afford a combat. Hirelings? Well, I just liked the idea of tempting the players to make use of it, knowing how it will be seen back in town. Hard choices are good choices.

Then we enter the realm of Weird Stuff.

I think the Beliefs and Instincts from Burning Wheel look kind of cool. But, in that game I see them become fuel for the game in a way that might not gel that well with continuously crawling a megadungeon. Still, Instincts have a very cool way to make a character come alive. "I have an arrow on my bow at the least sign of danger" could lead to more than a little hilariousness, which I think should be emphasized.

The other idea I have is to have a Long term Goal and a Short term Goal. Maybe that's better developed through play, but I'd like my players to think about it. We'll see.