D&D General Rules Lawyers, Powergamers, and Munchkins: Thoughts on the Origins of Diverse Species

[MichaelSomething]

This is why I advocate for incorporating improv into D&D! To get it away from rule lawyers and push it towards group fiction manipulation.

 

[Charlaquin]

Can’t say I’ve really heard anyone call someone else a rules lawyer non-pejoratively. I have seen plenty of cases of people self-identifying as rules lawyers in a positive sense. But that’s just like any other case of people reclaiming a pejorative term. “Wear it like armor, and it can never be used to hurt you.”

 

[Tony Vargas]

I had one player at the ol' FLGS, c2013, who did mind being called a Rules Lawyer. He was definitely an optimizer, but that wasn't why.

He was an actual Lawyer. He left the area to join a law firm.

 

[Micah Sweet]

This is why I advocate for incorporating improv into D&D! To get it away from rule lawyers and push it towards group fiction manipulation.

Depends on what the players and GM are using improv for. "Group fiction manipulation" can mean a lot of things.

 

[gamerprinter]

Well the loudest arguments we had in game weren't between one 'rules lawyer' gunner and DM, but most of the table against the DM, which ended up with the DM walking out of the game and going home, but that only happened a couple times and only with that DM...

 

[jmartkdr2]

Every time this comes up in a forum, someone suggests a new term for "player who actually knows the rules." But none ever seem to stick.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Every time this comes up in a forum, someone suggests a new term for "player who actually knows the rules." But none ever seem to stick.

No one wants to think of themselves as the GM who needs someone else to tell them the rules.

 

[jmartkdr2]

No one wants to think of themselves as the GM who needs someone else to tell them the rules.

Yet I have met a lot of gms who don’t know the rules at all and think this somehow makes them better than those who can run a consistent game.

 

[jasper]

A rules guru is a reformed rules lawyer who knows when to keep their mouths shut and does correct the group on d6 or 2d6 mistake. But it late for me and I get back here near the end of the week.

 

[Reynard]

This is why I advocate for incorporating improv into D&D! To get it away from rule lawyers and push it towards group fiction manipulation.

I'm not sure how improv intersects with rules fidelity.