Some Useful Ideas from E&E

Borrowing from Exemplars & Eidolons
Supposedly written so that author Kevin Crawford had a game to demonstrate his old school layout template, Exemplars & Eidolons (E&E) incorporates a number of techniques to empower the PCs in a traditional White Box-ish ruleset. Many of these mechanics are what I call houserules when I have used them in the past and several will be recognized by any gamer as having been around a while. Mr. Crawford brings them all together and takes his game to the next level, that of legendary heroes who can romp through the highest level dungeons of old, even when first rolled up.
Roll 4d6 and drop the lowest die, add the rest and assign the total to an attribute. If you don't have at least one 16, drop the lowest score and replace it with a 16. The 4d6 method has been around at least since Mr. Gygax offered it to us in the original GM Guide, but the rule of 16 is new to me. Attribute modifiers go up to +3 as in later editions. Starting hit points in E&E are class maximum plus constitution bonus, a "houserule" I adopted long ago.
E&E departs from traditional white box in offering a thief-like rogue, but no cleric class. Fighting men are warriors and magic users are sorcerers. Each class has a distinct "Fray Die" which is a d8 for warriors, a d6 for rogues and a d4 for sorcerers. The Fray Die is rolled damage each turn in addition to any other damage delivered through combat. It represents something like the general mayhem the character creates while in a "Fray", I suppose. It also means that each PC is doing damage every round regardless.
"Legendary heroes don't count coppers." writes Mr. Crawford, and E&E dispenses with the bookkeeping of coins. Wealth is accounted in terms of "Wealth Points" which represent significant amounts of cash, a horde. A single wealth point can secure any and all common weapons, armor and gear a party my need. Experience is awarded for achieving significant milestones and are relative few in comparison to white box. In E&E 44 exp gets you to 9th level.
It's all about the characters in E&E. While White Box may be about world building, exploration and discovery with an emphasis on combat skill and obtaining coin, E&E is about the awesomeness of the PCs. Players are encouraged to write background sentences about their PC and Facts. Facts are simple statements about a character that can be invoked much like Aspects in FATE to grant the PC advantages.
Gifts and effort are two other features that set E&E characters apart from the common man. Gifts are chosen from either a general set of Gifts or the list of Gifts peculiar to each class. They operate something like Pathfinder and 5th Edition Feats and allow the PC to perform astounding deeds. Effort is an in-game resource that is spent to activate a Gift. Some Gifts grant the ability to cast magic spells. As expected in a game such as E&E, spells are both powerful and readily available - resting 15 minutes and some meditation will restore the sorcerer's spell energies.
Rather than provide a detailed bestiary, Mr. Crawford discusses type of monsters and offers some examples, thereby ensuring that each referee populate his/her milieu with creatures of their own liking. Starting with the monster section and continuing through the last quarter of the booklet, Mr. Crawford gives his GM advice, which is my favorite part of E&E. Kevin Crawford really understands good game design and it shows in these pages. I particularly enjoy his comments under the headings Mythic Foes and Adventures and Influence.
In E&E Mr. Crawford serves up a teaching document to help others create their own darn good old school FRP. The stated purpose is to provide an organizational template (complete with art like the pic above), but I see much more here than that (although he does a good job there as well). E&E makes some good observations about the way we play our game and offers some excellent advice on gaming in a style that I especially enjoy. There is a lot to like in E&E, even if I never play it as written.