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Do You Use Your RPG Rules as Written?
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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7373677" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>I'm infamous about rewriting every game I run, whether it is a miniature game like Bloodbowl or Necromunda that I run the league for, or it is an RPG I'm GMing.</p><p></p><p>Invariably, the first thing I do is come up with a few hundred pages of house rules.</p><p></p><p>This happens for several reasons:</p><p></p><p>1) The core rules contain a fundamental flaw that has become well known. An example might be that classes in 3e separate into different tiers and you want to try to fix that.</p><p></p><p>2) The core rules are fine, but they are very limited in scope and there are obvious extensions of the rules that would be nice to have. This is a frequent problem if you are an 'early adopted' of a rules system. Often your need for stuff outpaces the publication schedule.</p><p></p><p>3) The core rules are fine, but the published extensions of the rules are not to the same level of quality, meaning that the different extensions must either be redone, or at the least flagged as whether they are included or excluded from the game. This happens with pretty much every game system. The original rules are almost always tighter and better thought out than the rules issued in supplemental material. At the very least, you end up having to sift the gems from the dross. Consider the 1e case of, "Which Dragon magazine articles do you consider part of the rules?" Consider the 3e case of the splatbooks, or the history of the 'Call of Cthulhu' RPG. Consider how many RPGs accumulate optional rules. Which materials you include are a sort of house rule, at least at the level of a meta-rule.</p><p></p><p>4) The core rules have been given extensive errata, but an amended copy of the rules doesn't exist or the errata itself is not always of uniform quality. This also tends to happen with pretty much every game system. Publishers fix things through errata, but the players still have copies of the unchanged rule books. If you include errata, you have to let the players know. And the explicit calling out has to happen when you decide that the errata actually breaks more than it fixes. </p><p></p><p>Personally, I think anyone that thinks they play an RPG by the RAW either means by that only that they don't explicitly contradict the rules or else they haven't consciously tried to gather together their house rules. Every table has "rulings" that aren't found in the rules, that are either interpretations about things that aren't clear in the rules or else are informal extensions to the rules that they have agreed to use to handle a situation that comes up frequently at their table but isn't covered by the rules.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7373677, member: 4937"] I'm infamous about rewriting every game I run, whether it is a miniature game like Bloodbowl or Necromunda that I run the league for, or it is an RPG I'm GMing. Invariably, the first thing I do is come up with a few hundred pages of house rules. This happens for several reasons: 1) The core rules contain a fundamental flaw that has become well known. An example might be that classes in 3e separate into different tiers and you want to try to fix that. 2) The core rules are fine, but they are very limited in scope and there are obvious extensions of the rules that would be nice to have. This is a frequent problem if you are an 'early adopted' of a rules system. Often your need for stuff outpaces the publication schedule. 3) The core rules are fine, but the published extensions of the rules are not to the same level of quality, meaning that the different extensions must either be redone, or at the least flagged as whether they are included or excluded from the game. This happens with pretty much every game system. The original rules are almost always tighter and better thought out than the rules issued in supplemental material. At the very least, you end up having to sift the gems from the dross. Consider the 1e case of, "Which Dragon magazine articles do you consider part of the rules?" Consider the 3e case of the splatbooks, or the history of the 'Call of Cthulhu' RPG. Consider how many RPGs accumulate optional rules. Which materials you include are a sort of house rule, at least at the level of a meta-rule. 4) The core rules have been given extensive errata, but an amended copy of the rules doesn't exist or the errata itself is not always of uniform quality. This also tends to happen with pretty much every game system. Publishers fix things through errata, but the players still have copies of the unchanged rule books. If you include errata, you have to let the players know. And the explicit calling out has to happen when you decide that the errata actually breaks more than it fixes. Personally, I think anyone that thinks they play an RPG by the RAW either means by that only that they don't explicitly contradict the rules or else they haven't consciously tried to gather together their house rules. Every table has "rulings" that aren't found in the rules, that are either interpretations about things that aren't clear in the rules or else are informal extensions to the rules that they have agreed to use to handle a situation that comes up frequently at their table but isn't covered by the rules. [/QUOTE]
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