Remathilis
Legend
99% of the time. I fix or ban what doesn't work.
I'm of the philosophy that the rules are there to support my setting, story and game and not the other way around. What the designers include as a rule is designed for the broadest common denominator of game which is, more often than not, not the kind of game I run. I am not a dungeon crawl GM/DM preferring instead RPing, intrigue, horror, wilderness, urban types of encounters, throwing the occasional "dungeon" in the mix as appropriate to the ongoing story.
I am not asking for the designers to cater to my needs alone. I do expect that RPing games will continue to be "rules as guidelines" as opposed to "rules as sacred scripture." As long as houseruling is an accepted part of the hobby I'll be a part of it. The day that I, as gamemaster, am reduced to mere arbiter of RAW is the day I stop spending my money on RPing games.
I was always curious in regards to RAW GMs/DMs. How do you differentiate one setting from another? If each of your settings have the same classes, races, spells, monsters, etc. (those found in the PHB) how is one setting different from another? Of course fluff is what helps to make a unique setting, but unique mechanical elements go a long way to giving a setting its own personality. Don't you find that following RAW creatively limiting?
Wyrmshadows