So, a few threads have had some thoughts on things like drinking and getting drunk, on handling aged items, and so forth.

I thought I would ask what kinds of things you would like to see rules for that are fairly common but present.

for clarity, I want to note that this is not about changes to classes or subclasses, or changes to existing rules. It is about what simple rules are missing that would be handy to have rules for. It is likely to mostly involve stuff where it could be either a role play chance or a dice roll.

rules for maneuvering vehicles (boats, carriages, mounts,

Oooh, that's a good one. And something D&D has ALWAYS sucked at, lol.

I recall having developed something for that decades ago using some of the Steve Jackson Car Wars rules that were somewhat portable. It very much could use such -- especially for a decent chase sequence now that we have heists, lol

I wouldn't mind seeing some ideas about long-term injuries and lingering illnesses. Life and death in D&D has always felt too simplistic. Pass a saving throw and you're fine, fail and you're sick until your cleric gets their turn in initiative. If you get dropped to zero hit points from being crushed by a storm giant's hammer, or if you get Uncle Owen'd by a 9th level Fireball, and then you get just ONE hit point of healing, then all of a sudden you're immediately back to 100% effectiveness. That has just never really sat well with me. Sure, pretty much any injury can be instantly cured by even a halfway competent cleric, but considering what we all went through over the last few years, I think we can all recognize that things like diseases and plagues are at least as much a threat to the in-game population as any dragon or lich. 

That being said, in the game world I've created for my next campaign, whenever anyone drops to zero hit points and then gets brought back - by any means at all - they must roll a Constitution check. The DC is 10, and increases by 2 for each additional time this happens to them that day. On a success they're fine. On a failure they come back but with one level of exhaustion. It just represents the shock to the system that nearly dying does to you. 

I'd like to see a solid system for dungeon crawls. I know it was a thing back in earlier editions, so it'd be nice to see something that fits 5e.

For example, maybe a character can move a number of feet equal to 10 x their movement speed every 10 minutes. Players can choose to move quicker (maybe twice the speed) at the cost of being much louder, and therefore more likely to encounter a monster.

I think the whole reason a dungeon crawl system worked was likely because players didn't actually want to encounter monsters, because they only got XP from gold recovered.

5e's dungeon crawling is fine, but it lacks any sense of time, and therefore it's difficult to know when to roll for encounters and such. I'm trying to alleviate this a little in my Mad Mage game, by loosely keeping track of where monsters are, where they're likely to move next, and how they react to the players. Would still be nice to have a system for timekeeping, though.

They used to have rules about maneuvering when you were flying, with different maneuverability classes, and you had to move x squares forward in order to turn y squares to the right. Seems like you could adapt those if you like for vehicles. (I realize that’s a bit different than the poster wanted, just trying to be helpful). Also, there are rules in Saltmarsh for ship combat, but they are pretty bare-bones.

Also, there’s a lingering injury section in the DMG. 

And a section on movement.

Actually, I often suggest everyone take a spin through chapters 8 and 9 of the DMG. There’s a lot of optional rules in there that I often see people asking for. 

Quote from Xalthu >>

They used to have rules about maneuvering when you were flying, with different maneuverability classes, and you had to move x squares forward in order to turn y squares to the right. Seems like you could adapt those if you like for vehicles. (I realize that’s a bit different than the poster wanted, just trying to be helpful). Also, there are rules in Saltmarsh for ship combat, but they are pretty bare-bones.

Also, there’s a lingering injury section in the DMG. 

And a section on movement.

Actually, I often suggest everyone take a spin through chapters 8 and 9 of the DMG. There’s a lot of optional rules in there that I often see people asking for. 

I often will use a lot of the bits and pieces from those chapters -- which, really, in a lot of ways are kind of the actual purpose of the DMG, lol.

Part 1 is basically: go, create your own stuff.

Part 2 is : go, create a thing to do and people to see.

Part 3 is: yo, this is what being a DM is about. That is 8 and 9 as a whole.

5, 6, and 7 are pretty handy, but it is 8 and 9 that contain all the stuff that really kicks it off, imo.

Madness rules need a major rewrite in light of ableism, insofar as effects. 

Hero Points, Honor, Sanity, Fear, Horror, the Lingering injuries and massive shock stuff the rules for Morale (and, I mean, if you use bards and don't use morale, all I can think of is *why*).

These things are super useful in a lot of ways. And I use a lot of them -- however....

.... don't try to use them with DDB, lol. And I think that has a huge impact on slowing adoption with all the folks who joined the game the last 3 years.

Yeah, those sections aren’t the most detailed, and don’t have implementation here, which is a whole ‘nother issue. And I agree 100% on needing a re-write on the madness rules.
When they were developing 5e, the Dndnext playtest, there were promises of modular rules you could bolt on to the 5e chassis. I think the DMG stuff was a down payment for that, but the follow through has been sporadic. They did give us piety in Theros, and guild membership in Ravinca, and patron rules in Tasha. So there have been some of these optional systems. Personally, I was expecting it to be a bit more robust. 

I guess there is talk of a base building system for 5.5. Crawford mentioned a “bastion” system. That’s something I’m really looking forward to. The only really good, official base building rules I remember were in BECMI. There has been some 3rd party stuff on that front, though. 

All of that is part of why i set up this thread, lol.

I am probably, deep down, a frustrated game designer, but I feel as if there needs to be more circumstance rules in 5e. I don’t mean the granular crap we ended up with in 3.5e (though I did love the old, old proficiency rules we used for 2e), I mean the useful stuff that makes both running and playing a game a lot less of a situation where everyone has to pause and think about how to do that.

since I don’t expect that WotC dev folks cruise throug these forums, lol, I figure I should ask and then, down the road, start doing what other threads are and start workshopping some solutions.

Quote from AnzioFaro >>

I wouldn't mind seeing some ideas about long-term injuries and lingering illnesses. Life and death in D&D has always felt too simplistic. Pass a saving throw and you're fine, fail and you're sick until your cleric gets their turn in initiative. If you get dropped to zero hit points from being crushed by a storm giant's hammer, or if you get Uncle Owen'd by a 9th level Fireball, and then you get just ONE hit point of healing, then all of a sudden you're immediately back to 100% effectiveness. That has just never really sat well with me. Sure, pretty much any injury can be instantly cured by even a halfway competent cleric, but considering what we all went through over the last few years, I think we can all recognize that things like diseases and plagues are at least as much a threat to the in-game population as any dragon or lich. 

That being said, in the game world I've created for my next campaign, whenever anyone drops to zero hit points and then gets brought back - by any means at all - they must roll a Constitution check. The DC is 10, and increases by 2 for each additional time this happens to them that day. On a success they're fine. On a failure they come back but with one level of exhaustion. It just represents the shock to the system that nearly dying does to you. 

 I'm pretty sure the DMG has rules for lingering injuries and such. It's a pretty interesting read. 

I'd like to see rules involving 'playing games' within the game. Gambling, card or dice games, etc. It would be fun to have some kind of mechanic involved besides "let's see who rolls 3d6 better" or w/e. 

Quote from VanZoeren >>

Quote from AnzioFaro >>

I wouldn't mind seeing some ideas about long-term injuries and lingering illnesses. Life and death in D&D has always felt too simplistic. Pass a saving throw and you're fine, fail and you're sick until your cleric gets their turn in initiative. If you get dropped to zero hit points from being crushed by a storm giant's hammer, or if you get Uncle Owen'd by a 9th level Fireball, and then you get just ONE hit point of healing, then all of a sudden you're immediately back to 100% effectiveness. That has just never really sat well with me. Sure, pretty much any injury can be instantly cured by even a halfway competent cleric, but considering what we all went through over the last few years, I think we can all recognize that things like diseases and plagues are at least as much a threat to the in-game population as any dragon or lich. 

That being said, in the game world I've created for my next campaign, whenever anyone drops to zero hit points and then gets brought back - by any means at all - they must roll a Constitution check. The DC is 10, and increases by 2 for each additional time this happens to them that day. On a success they're fine. On a failure they come back but with one level of exhaustion. It just represents the shock to the system that nearly dying does to you. 

 I'm pretty sure the DMG has rules for lingering injuries and such. It's a pretty interesting read. 

I'd like to see rules involving 'playing games' within the game. Gambling, card or dice games, etc. It would be fun to have some kind of mechanic involved besides "let's see who rolls 3d6 better" or w/e. 

 
oh, that is interesting to me because I am literally working on games for my setting right now, popping in here to free my mind a bit off and on.

I have tile games (dominoes and a custom), card games (four of them, including a poker variant), dice games (three, but all traditional), and even a custom tarot set up.  Nothing super fancy right now, as we play virtually and is hard to do that, so I just have a stack of half size index cards for each kind of deck with the names and such written on them and tell players their hands when we come across it.

the poker variant attracts the attention of a certain deity who watches for a dead man’s hand and is known to inflict bad luck.

Quote from VanZoeren >>

Quote from AnzioFaro >>

I wouldn't mind seeing some ideas about long-term injuries and lingering illnesses. Life and death in D&D has always felt too simplistic. Pass a saving throw and you're fine, fail and you're sick until your cleric gets their turn in initiative. If you get dropped to zero hit points from being crushed by a storm giant's hammer, or if you get Uncle Owen'd by a 9th level Fireball, and then you get just ONE hit point of healing, then all of a sudden you're immediately back to 100% effectiveness. That has just never really sat well with me. Sure, pretty much any injury can be instantly cured by even a halfway competent cleric, but considering what we all went through over the last few years, I think we can all recognize that things like diseases and plagues are at least as much a threat to the in-game population as any dragon or lich. 

That being said, in the game world I've created for my next campaign, whenever anyone drops to zero hit points and then gets brought back - by any means at all - they must roll a Constitution check. The DC is 10, and increases by 2 for each additional time this happens to them that day. On a success they're fine. On a failure they come back but with one level of exhaustion. It just represents the shock to the system that nearly dying does to you. 

 I'm pretty sure the DMG has rules for lingering injuries and such. It's a pretty interesting read. 

I'd like to see rules involving 'playing games' within the game. Gambling, card or dice games, etc. It would be fun to have some kind of mechanic involved besides "let's see who rolls 3d6 better" or w/e. 

Hilo

Each player bets on the number of the next roll of a single die. They can choose to also bet the number will be Low (0, 1, or 2) or High (3, 4, or 5). After bets, one person rolls. That person cannot bet, and usually serves as the Hole. Winnings are divided by both exact number sharing half, and high/low sharing half. Some variations do not allow a high low, but this mostly in poor places and with unskilled players. After each roll, the Hole moves to the right.

Kasina Hilo

In gambling houses, they roll multiple dice, with each die getting a bet – and the Hole winning whenever the total of the rolled dice is 6. This variant is called Kasina.

Bidbet

Two dice are used here, with the Hole allowed to bet alongside everyone on the first die, but not on the second die which is done in a second roll. The Hole passes t the right after every second roll.

Sevenses

In this game, two, four, or six dice are used, in three colors. Bets are placed on the Hole rolling one, two, or three Sevens on matching dice. One can also bet on how many sevens will be rolled, including none. The Hole gets to roll Seven Times, then it passes to the right.

Also, while I need to clean up the write up, I created a tile game since this world has no chess:

(note, the whole thing is done in game, and the speaker is what they call an incarnate, who was reincarnated there from a world called Crucius)

Kress

Where I came from, we played a game called Chess. Kress is very much like chess. It is played on a board that has a large, square, central area from which just two narrow areas one segment narrower than the board. The board is divided into a grid of equal size, 12 spaces to a side, 144 spaces in total, with the protrusions having two rows that are ten spaces wide and two spaces deep.

Each side is color coded, and up to four people can play at once. The most common colors are Black, Blue, Brown, and Red. Starting is always determined by the color chosen: Red first, Brown second, Black third, Blue last. The tiles, themselves are two sided, and each player receives 20 tiles.

Tiles are round, marked with a symbol on one side and a different symbol on the other. One face of the tiles is always a white, the other is always a light yellow, with the symbols being emblazoned in the colors for each side.

Each side gets one Crown, one Queen, two Bishops, four Knights, and two Towers. These are the Hearth pieces. Each side also has Field pieces: two Squires, two Merchants, and six Pawns. The Hearth order is always T/K/B/K/Q/C/K/B/K/T. The Field order can be any.

The Crown can move one space. The Queen can move anywhere as long as she is not blocked. Bishops move diagonally. Knights move in a peculiar L pattern of two forward and one to the side. Towers can only move in a straight direction. Squires can move to any square within two of them. Merchants can move to any square within three of them, but not the ones immediately attached to them. Pawns can move one space in any direction.

Crowns are defeated by any Pawn or Queen, they defeat any other piece. Queens are defeated by any Merchant, Knight, or Bishop, they defeat any other piece. The rank of the others determines their defeat or success, with highest first: Bishop, Knight, Squire, Merchant, Pawn. On a defeat, the victor can choose to Hold, or Turn. On a hold, they claim the piece. On a turn, they gain what is on the yellow side. However, if a Turn piece reveals an Envoy, the defeated player gets an additional turn immediately.

A game board will have 144 tiles. The white side will be marked according to the Sides, the obverse will be marked with a random assortment, but always include five Envoys, who never appear on the white side. Yellow sides have two additional pieces, Corsair and Envoy. There are always five Corsairs and Five Envoys. Corsairs can defeat anything but a Knight or a Merchant. Envoys can defeat any piece but a Merchant or a Bishop. The rest of the yellow side pieces are going to be Knights, Merchants, or Pawns. 14 of them will be Knights, 15 will be Merchants, 5 will be Flowers, which halt that piece, as they cannot move, defeat, or be defeated. The rest will be Pawns (100). Each bag will have 2 of each of the Hearth for each color and two each of the Field for each color. The rest of the white faces will be pawns. The markings on the yellow are random within the following limits: no yellow may duplicate its white, no Crown may have a yellow other than a Pawn or a Flower, no yellow/white may duplicate another yellow/white except for Pawns, no Crown may be on yellow, and no white Knight may be a yellow Flower. The making of the tiles is almost always a secret among those who do – and none of them do their tiles in the same way except as per above rules.

Play continues until only one player remains or until only one Crown is left on the board. Notably, there is no checkmate, though there can be a draw, even if it is rare. Kress boards fold up into small boxes that hold the bag with the tiles.

Dragon Poker

Its just like regular poker but it has 200 pages of situationally variable rules.

Quote from TheGnome5786 >>

Dragon Poker

Its just like regular poker but it has 200 pages of situationally variable rules.

 Rule One: The bigger Dragon Always wins.

1a> Except when...

Also - most of us are fairly capable of homebrewing rules and mechanics for situations that may arise in the game that aren't covered in the rulebooks. Sometimes it's because there's only so much you can fit in a rulebook. But sometimes it's because the company has decided (rightfully so) that there are certain things best left out of the rulebooks, for legal reasons. I've tried to make my campaign world feel lived-in and believably three-dimensional. So there are some slightly R-rated elements to the game world (as there are in our world). For example - there are drugs in the game world. And obviously, I would never expect WotC or Hasbro to create rules for stuff like that because they would quickly find themselves in a legally actionable position for endorsing or condoning such destructive behavior. 

Now don't get me wrong, they don't play any central importance to the plot, and they are absolutely a fringe element that the players may or may not ever actually interact with. (I'll let you know - the campaign starts in two weeks). I only created them because - well - I have a bad habit of sometimes getting a bit bogged down in the small details when it comes to worldbuilding. The common names I know them by are: Pixie Dust,  Mello Yellow,  Jack,  Void,  and Dragonweed (black, blue, red, gold, faerie, and shadow). Each also has other names that they are known by in different areas of the game world. 

As far as the mechanics, if a character ingests one of these, I ask the player to make two rolls, and I also make two rolls. First, the player rolls a saving throw, to see how their body and/or mind reacts to the substance. Effects will vary depending on whether they beat the substance's DC or not, and whether they succeeded or failed by 5 or more on the save. (So the results could be Very Bad, Bad, Good, or Very Good).  Then the player rolls percentile dice, because each substance has a varying chance of creating a dependency in those who ingest it. As the DM, I make two quick rolls to determine the onset time and the duration of the effects. I have also written specific charts for each substance that explain what the Very Bad / Bad / Good / Very Good effects are, and what the after-effects look like. So if they meet an NPC who has dilated pupils, is sweating profusely with maybe a slight drool, and who appears calmly dissociated from their surroundings, they might be able to make an Insight or a Medicine check determine that the NPC has recently ingested some Mello Yellow.

Sometimes it's best if the company doesn't create rules for certain things. For legal reasons. 

Without doubt that is true for a family friendly game -- and given my game includes teens through seniors, I sorta stay aware of that.

However, that doesn't settle for all the rules, and some folks want more, so why not collect some ideas.

Quote from AEDorsay >>

Quote from TheGnome5786 >>

Dragon Poker

Its just like regular poker but it has 200 pages of situationally variable rules.

 Rule One: The bigger Dragon Always wins.

1a> Except when...

 Actually Dragons do not play. Its far to simple for them. And the cards are way to small for them to hold so they do not want to be embarrassed even trying to hold them. They are quite vain.

Example.
One eyed jacks are wild if the dealer is facing south. Except if its Tuesday, then its suicide kings.

Once per game a north facing player can change the wild cards. Except in June, then its the east facing player.

The first and most important rule is. Its the players responsibility to know ALL the rules. Your allowed to reference the book of rules at anytime, as long as its your book.

Quote from TheGnome5786 >>

Dragon Poker

Its just like regular poker but it has 200 pages of situationally variable rules.

 Sounds a bit like mahjong, except for that is essentially rummy with 200 pages of situationally variable rules.