Dominion Rules

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Dominion Rules (DR) is a role-playing game system for historical and fantasy role-playing. It is distributed for free as a PDF document from the web site http://www.dominionrules.org. The current version of DR, version 3.0, was published online in April 2008. The system was originally distributed by Dominion Games from their now-defunct web site, http://www.dominiongames.com.

DR is notable in the history of role-playing games for being the one of the first RPGs, if not the very first, to be released under an open source (or open gaming) licence, the Dominion Rules Licence,^[1] and to use the phrase "open gaming". Development of the game followed an open source model whereby contributors, known as the Dominion Games Development Team,^[2] made improvements or additions to the game and published them on the internet (often through the Dominion Games web site) under the terms of the Dominion Rules Licence.

1 Features
2 Game Mechanic
3 History
4 The Dominion Rules Licence
5 References

[edit] Features

Combat
The DR combat system is based on several combat-specific skills, including strike, parry, feint, dodge, block and disarm. Combat usually ends with one opponent defeated rather than killed, though players have the option of making killing blows.

Priestcraft
Priest-style characters in DR have access to a number of priest-specific skills such as bless, consecrate, curse, defile, heal, smite, wrath, and work miracle. Unlike Dungeons and Dragons and other fantasy RPGs, priests in DR do not cast spells. Instead, they channel priestly powers from their deities. Priests in DR must take care not to fall out of favour with their deities (known as being "forsaken") or they may lose their priestly skills.

Witchcraft
Magic in DR is a combination of pre-made spells and free-form magic. Witches develop their skills in alchemy, arcana, conjuring, enchantment, hex, illusion, sorcery and summoning. Each of these skills is associated with a type of magic and a number of spells described in the rules. A spell point system regulates how many spells a witch can cast before requiring rest.

Beasts
Dominion Rules contains over 50 beast skills which players and game masters may use to create beasts (i.e. monsters or other creatures). Some pre-made beasts are included with the rules.

Dominion-neutral
DR describes itself as "dominion-neutral", meaning that the rules are generic and do not describe the kind of world (or "campaign setting") to which they apply. DR can therefore be used for a variety of RPG settings by excluding or modifying certain rules. For a historical setting, for instance, players simply disregard the priestcraft and witchcraft rules.

Free
DR is free to download from http://www.dominionrules.org. The system is contained in a PDF document of approximately 300 pages in length.

Open gaming
DR is distributed under a type of open gaming licence called the Dominion Rules Licence.

[edit] Game Mechanic

DR is a skills-based role-playing game system based on the twelve-sided die (d12). The game mechanic is the same for almost all actions: players roll d12 trying to roll less than or equal to the applicable skill stat, as modified by any applicable bonuses or penalties. For example, a character seeking to strike an opponent with his weapon begins with his Strike stat, adds to it the Strike bonus applicable to his weapon, and subtracts from that any defensive penalties imposed by his opponent's defensive manoeuvres and armour.

A roll of 12 always fails. In many cases, a roll of 12 has particularly serious results. For example, spellcasters who roll 12 when trying to cast a spell may see their spells blow up in their faces or cause other unwanted (and often humorous) results.

[edit] History

DR 1.0 appeared in 1999. It was revised and republished as version 2.0 in 2001.^[3] Both versions were distributed by Dominion Games from the web site http://www.dominiongames.com. No retail, print versions of the game were published. DR 2.0 received some favourable reviews.^[4]

Dominion Games and their web site disappeared around 2006. The creators of the Dominion Rules released version 3.0 in April 2008 from a new site, http://www.dominionrules.org.

DR was originally a free download. For version 2.0, parts were free and other parts were for sale online. Version 3.0 is now entirely free.

[edit] The Dominion Rules Licence

Dominion Rules was, it seems, the first RPGs to be released under an open source style (or open gaming style) licence, known as the Dominion Rules Licence. The current version of the Dominion Rules Licence is version 2.0.