This section presents various rules adjustments and updates recommended for running a Skies of Escarnum game.
Patches
Escarnum is intended to be played with a few rules adjustments which are strictly functional in nature, intended as “fixes” to areas of the rules we find inadequate. They aren’t meant to tweak the feel or flavour of the core D&D4e game, but rather to balance or streamline play game in the absence of further official development.
If your group has also found that the rule in question seems unfair, inadequate or unnecessarily complicated, you may find these useful even for non-Escarnum games. For this reason, we keep rules patches and errata at The Square Fireball, our general 4e development site.
Variants
These adjustments are tweaks to make 4e even better suited to the sort of romantic combat stories we seek to tell in Escarnum. Unlike the patches, these aren’t strictly in the name of balance or tidiness; they are actively trying to change the feel of the game, if only in small ways.
In general, these variants will skew the game away from survival and toward spectacle. If your group wants to smash through walls or jump up cliffs without magic getting involved, these variants will probably suit you nicely. On the other hand, if your favourite gameplay revolves around things that would trouble real-world adventurers—like travel, ammunition, supplies, weather, and day-to-day expenses—then you would be better served by not adopting these rules.