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<blockquote data-quote="Ovinomancer" data-source="post: 8283302" data-attributes="member: 16814">Your question is vague.&nbsp; Do you mean must rules that have been agreed to must be upheld in play for skilled play to occur -- then, yes, they must absolutely be so.&nbsp; Failure to do this removes the players' ability to predict and manipulate the game effectively.If, instead, you mean, &quot;can rules be altered prior to play, a la house rules?&quot;&nbsp; Then the answer is maybe, depends on the set of rules.&nbsp; If, for instance, you're playing B/X, and the GM says, &quot;hey, I don't want to track all those things, so I'm not using wandering monsters, torches last as long as I say they do (but that'll be a long time), and I don't care about rests or even worrying about exploration turns, let's play,&quot; then you've cut most of the meat from the system and this will impact skilled play.&nbsp; If it's &quot;I think torches should last 6 turns,&quot; then I don't think you've made a huge difference, here.&nbsp; There's a range of possibilities.&nbsp; However, once agreed to, these must be enforced in play or you're moving away from skilled play.This isn't to say that there's a requirement of perfect, all-the-time, adherence.&nbsp; But it should be a priority, and happen much more often than not.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ovinomancer, post: 8283302, member: 16814"] Your question is vague. Do you mean must rules that have been agreed to must be upheld in play for skilled play to occur -- then, yes, they must absolutely be so. Failure to do this removes the players' ability to predict and manipulate the game effectively. If, instead, you mean, "can rules be altered prior to play, a la house rules?" Then the answer is maybe, depends on the set of rules. If, for instance, you're playing B/X, and the GM says, "hey, I don't want to track all those things, so I'm not using wandering monsters, torches last as long as I say they do (but that'll be a long time), and I don't care about rests or even worrying about exploration turns, let's play," then you've cut most of the meat from the system and this will impact skilled play. If it's "I think torches should last 6 turns," then I don't think you've made a huge difference, here. There's a range of possibilities. However, once agreed to, these must be enforced in play or you're moving away from skilled play. This isn't to say that there's a requirement of perfect, all-the-time, adherence. But it should be a priority, and happen much more often than not. [/QUOTE]

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