A Leap over Boiling Lava onto a Flying Wyvern

[Wolf1066]

There's definitely an element of thinking outside the box that new players bring. Not saying old players are bad, but we tend to define our gaming box pretty stringently based on the gaming system we're using. New players don't know where the box even is, so they'll try anything.

Looking at how I was in my early days of gaming compared with now, I have to agree with this. I'm sure I came up with a lot more "outside the box" stuff back then or just did things because I had no idea how hard they were supposed to be - like taking on a Dragon Turtle because, "y'know, it's just some jumped-up turtle that thinks it's a dragon..."

I think I've gained too much knowledge of the boundaries of the different games over the years.

My current players are not new to gaming, but they are new to the universe they're in, so I wonder if there are going to be brilliant outside the box moments due to their fresh perspective.

 

[Wolf1066]

I'm kind of glad that for almost 30 years I've been using that quote as a guide rather than being a stickler to the written rules. YMMV.

I'm pretty sure I've seen something akin to that "rule" - or at least its sentiments - in most game rule books I've read.

Rules are necessary.

They tell you how much more of an advantage that veteran has over a greenhorn when it comes to doing the same task.

They tell you what you need to do to hit something.

They tell you what you need to do to avoid being hit by something.

They tell you how much damage something does when it hits someone or something.

Damn handy things.

They should not get in the way of great adventure, good fun and engaging story-telling, though.

In the end, it boils down to personal preferences of GMs and players. My bastardised mongrel rules for Cyberpunk have grown out of me removing or modifying existing rules that, in my opinion, "ruined the story" and bringing in alternative rules and additional rules that I felt would enrich it. It's been a long process so far and I'm not silly enough to say that I've reached a point where I'm totally happy with the result so there's the possibility that more changes will occur - in consultation with the current players and before the changes take effect, naturally.

I've tweaked the core rules in order that they may better facilitate storytelling, make for more interesting stories or just plain "stop the story from being downright silly".

They have not been changed to make it harder for any of the characters - PCs and NPCs - to explore and write their own "ripping good yarn". I hope that I have enough rules to cover what should happen for most things they are likely to try.

I still expect to wing it if the players come up with something which is not governed by anything in the "rules" - like "hey, they always say 'batteries may explode if disposed of in fire' - how much explosive damage will occur if I throw my cellphone into their camp fire?" I currently don't have tables for the explosive properties of various types of batteries (maybe I'm just remiss ), so I'd have to come up with figures on the spot for that...