Do you go in RAW 100%?

[MGibster]

I try to play something as written before trying to change it. People very much overestimate their ability to tell how rules play at the table by simply reading them.

This is the most prudent course of action. Sometimes I'll go in thinking the rules aren't going to work but things go smoothly. Other times I hit bumps were I expected none.

To answer the OP, I don't know if there's anything game I run 100% RAW. I try to get as close as possible though.

 

[kronovan]

TBH I wouldn't run a TTRPG where I felt it couldn't be run RAW for at least the 1st couple of sessions. I only returned to TTRPGs 15 years ago, and in that time I've seen more houserules that were detrimental than beneficial. I agree with the sentiment, that you can't always garner how well a TTRPG will play out from just a read of the rules. For sure there's the odd case where bad writing makes a RAI ruling necessary. But oh boy, I've seen some supposedly clever/uber-experienced GMs really pooch things up with their houserules.

I'm at a point where a GM stating more than a handful of houserules at a zero session is a red flag. I'm no longer so subtle about asking them to justify/clarify them and if they can't I just bow out. For sure, a rule that sticks out after a few sessions and has some consensus around the table, is game for being houseruled. That said, if I houserule it's added to an evolving document that's there at the table - or in a digital note on a VTT.

 

[soviet]

The OP is asking two different questions and they're really two different threads.

1. Is it possible to truly play any game RAW?
2. Is it desirable to play any game RAW?

Or, to carry on the Jeff Goldblum theme, your GMs were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should

 

[Celebrim]

So I am curious.
Who here would claim that they play ANY TTRPG 100% rules as written with no alterations or omissions? House ruling things not covered by published rules would be allowed but if there is a rule for it, you have to use that rule 100% unaltered for a situation it applies to. 40+ yrs in the hobby and I know I never have. I suspect it can only really be possible for games that have properly minimalist rulesets. But let's say any edition or incarnation of Dungeons and Dragons. Have you every played it 100% straight up RAW with no alterations or ommisions?

I never play any game with more than say a 20-page rulebook RAW.

Heck, I'm ready to start house ruling Wingspan.

Most RPGs get house rules by the second session and often before we start play if CharGen is noticeably wonky and unbalanced. Usually about 20 or 30 sessions in I'm ready to rewrite the whole thing.

 

[Spectral Anomaly]

You've gotta try it RAW at least once just to know how it feels.

 

[dragoner]

Yes, I will do RAW as much as possible.

 

[Crusadius]

Yes. If I find the game cannot be played without changing the rules, then I'd prefer finding another game that can.

 

[James Gasik]

When I started to play 4e, my entry point was the public play program, D&D Encounters and later Living Forgotten Realms. Because of this, I continued to play 4e as written, which led to some...interesting arguments about some of the less well baked aspects of the system (I remember a player being very upset with me when I tried to explain to him how Stealth worked, for example).

On the other hand, when I got into 5e in pretty much the same way (Adventurer's League), I very quickly grew increasingly annoyed by the rules as written, and once I started running my own games, got right back to houseruling, lol.

With Tales of the Valiant, I'm still in "play as written" mode, though I have my own ideas about some of the inherited (5e-isms) of that game and will probably make changes in the future.

 

[johndesmarais]

I spent many years running convention games and open-table games at game stores. Running lots of games for lots of people, many of whom will probably only ever play in a single game of mine, setup habits of avoiding house-ruling games.

From a more internal perspective, if I find that a game needs extensive house-ruling I assume this means I chose the wrong game,

 

[zarionofarabel]

So I am curious.
Who here would claim that they play ANY TTRPG 100% rules as written with no alterations or omissions?

Me!

Have you every played it 100% straight up RAW with no alterations or ommisions?

I run Pendragon 100% Rules As Written. Same with Delta Green (Arc Dream), Burning Wheel (and MouseGuard), Cepheus, Mothership, Mausritter, and Far Trek.

With other games I keep houserules to the absolute minimum, usually only having one or two simple ones. If I need more than one or two houserules, I find a different system cause that one obviously doesn't work the way I want it to work.