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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8225479" data-attributes="member: 42582">First, IT IS THE THE LETTER OF THE RULES,  NOT THE SPIRIT OF THE GAME, WHICH IS IMPORTANT. ALWAYS HOLD TO THE LETTER WRITTEN, AND ALLOW THE PLAYERS' ADVOCATE TO HOLD YOU TO THE RULE BOOK, EVEN IF IT GOES AGAINST THE OBVIOUS INTENT OF THE GAME:I think that would be bad advice. It's bad - or at best woefully incomplete - advice in statutory interpretation, which deals with very carefully and expertly drafted texts. How much moreso in rules that are drafted with the casualness of the typical D&D volume.But second, BE CERTAIN THE GAME IS MASTERED BY YOUR PLAYERS  AND NOT BY YOU. WITHIN THE NARROW PARAMETERS GIVEN IN THE DUNGEONS & DRAGONS VOLUMES, YOU ARE NEITHER CREATOR NOR FINAL ARBITER. BY ORDERING THINGS AS THEY SHOULD BE,  YOUR PARTICIPANTS FIRST, YOUR CAMPAIGN NEXT, AND THE GAME AS A WHOLE THEREAFTER, YOU WILL BE PLAYING DUNGEONS & DRAGONS AS IT WAS MEANT TO BE.The wording is a bit obtuse, but the spirit of this seems pretty reasonable to me. It's always baffled me that Gygax's afterword suggests that the game is more important than the campaign or the participants - maybe that's so from the publisher's perspective, but why from that of individual players? - and I think a game in which the participants are in charge is generally a good one. This even extends to ascertaining the spirit of the game which then feeds into rules interpretations. I don't see the argument for GM domination in that process very compelling.As far as the narrow parameters are concerned, I think there's a lot to be said for treating a RPG like any other game - eg when I turn up to play (say) 4e D&D I am expecting a 4e D&D game, not a variant of 2nd ed-era GM storytelling. This applies to all participants, players doing their jobs (eg declaring actions for their PCs within the simultaneously permissive yet structured 4e context) as well as GMs doing theirs. When I GM Cthulhu Dark I don't apply the same techniques as when I GM 4e D&D or Burning Wheel or Rolemaster.I look forward to your rebuttal!</blockquote>

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