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Message: <blockquote data-quote="clip" data-source="post: 5325906" data-attributes="member: 85760">Actually, I think this is a much bigger deal in 4e. One of the things I have noticed about 4e is that it is played much much closer to the RAW than any previous edition - possibly due to the technical "wargame" like nature of the combat rules.Due to this, what was fair game - nay, encouraged - in previous editions is now a "bad" thing in 4e. Editions 1-3 were for a variety of different reasons very messy, and essentially the DMs picked up the pieces. I daresay no-one played 1e or 2e RAW, and only the advent of 3.5e got players used to the idea of the rules being close to the stone tablets.Today, however, the term "houserule" is almost a dirty word. Maybe its the technology, maybe its the game system - but in days of yore, there was no concept of houserules as such, they were assumed to be in place - your game was simply your game and it bore the same name as what was written on the cover, and had a passing resemblance to all other games of D&D. Now, players and referees feel compelled to play the RAW (and again, because of the technology and errata-ing) get concerned with the tiniest imbalances in game mechanics. It's a very big deal now if an encounter changes because a referee rules against RAW, or a player misinterprets a power card. Back in the day, the rules were drafted so badly, that it was a given that these things would occur constantly.Back to Chris Perkins and Robot Chicken - this is more a sign of the times. Official forums are all about the RAW - character optimisation, certainly is all about being 100% solid on the rules. Look at retro-forums, though - like DF - there is a genuine pride about bending, breaking and rewriting all the rules at-will or on the fly. So to see a (very official) referee taking a snap decision gives fuel to the fire of the malcontents who on the one hand want WotC to be the great Satan, but on the other hand want to see their gameset rules followed to the letter.</blockquote>

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