Is the Rules Forum Becoming the Variant Rules Forum?

[TheGogmagog]

I don't have a problem with the post progression as you mentioned. Raw question asked, question answered (usually with SRD quote or page reference), and then discussions of what game experience has been.

I used to be more focused on the Hypersmurf true RAW responses, but as someone else mentioned, it's been a while since the 3.5 change so most of us have had a chance to figure out how a rule works and how well it works. Now I am more interested in small tweaks and variant rulings. As long as house rules arn't presented as RAW I don't have a problem with them.

I also don't mind the 'Whats the starting gold' questions. If I have time to look up the answer quickly, I'll post a reply. If not I skip past it.

I don't see why this is such an issue for you. I could understand it the need for stricter enforcement if the board was getting overwhelmed, and posts were dropping off the front page in less than a day. Just stop reading after post B if that's all you are interested in.

 

[TheGogmagog]

Because people get confused with what should be and what is.

As I mentioned above, what is, is usually able to be reinforced with a page number and quote, if it's not its either opinion or house rule. I have seen people who were mistaken and given the wrong answers, but I think they were just wrong, not trying to pass house rules as RAW.

 

[beaver1024]

As I mentioned above, what is, is usually able to be reinforced with a page number and quote, if it's not its either opinion or house rule. I have seen people who were mistaken and given the wrong answers, but I think they were just wrong, not trying to pass house rules as RAW.

Or it could be that our new and improved 3.5 have stuffed the rules up so much that people don't know what the rules are trying to say. Hence they make up stuff.

 

[shilsen]

Or it could be that our new and improved 3.5 have stuffed the rules up so much that people don't know what the rules are trying to say. Hence they make up stuff.

Good try, but no. Next!

 

[Plane Sailing]

Last year, most posts here were all about RAW (rules as written) and how they are interpreted. The Rules Forum filled the gap between some murky verbiage in the textbooks, and the FAQ as well as other WoTC "official" resources to provide a consensus on what is house rule and what is not.

I took a break earlier this year because I had things happening in RL. When I came back, I noticed that things had changed. Things have been changing for some time, actually, but creeping in so slowly that only by taking a break would make me see it.

The change is this: I'm seeing a lot more "variants" proposed. Sometimes, not outright house rules, but coming periously close.

For example:

• Poster A asks question about a certain ability/spell/feat
• Poster B provides a quote from the textbooks that clearly indicates the in-game use of the ability/spell/feat. Or at least a RAW "gray area" that can be debated to consensus using other RAW.
• Poster C comes in and says "well, I did away/changed ability/spell/feat, and this is the way we play it IMC".

Poster C could and should be posting in this forum. House Rules forum is the place for fully fledged changes to rules or brand new rules systems, but insights from others peoples own games has just as much right in this forum as Races of X, Classes of Y or whatever else.

If this forum was limited only to the three Core books, then wider discussion would be inappropriate. As it is you can and will see here references to any published D&D rules, including 3rd party D&D products. Many times these will themselves be the source of potential imbalance.

The precise content of the Rules forum varies, probably on a cyclical basis. Sometimes there will be more people fretting about where the placement of a comma goes in a rule, sometimes less.

The focus of this forum is essentially helping us to enjoy our games better; I welcome and value some of the additional tweaks that posters bring to the threads here. If you don't want to read them - you know the drill

So you're not crazy, but I wouldn't expect to see any new sub-forums appearing any time soon. What is going on in threads at the moment is what has always gone on in these threads to a greater or lesser degree - and I say Hurrah for that!

Cheers

 

[Bauglir]

Once you have A, and B the thread is essentially complete. Post C is gravy. If post C was showing up instead of post B I think there might be more of a problem.

The pattern I've noticed is that there seem to be a lot more arguments which consist of a faction arguing how they think the rules should be versus a faction pointing out what the rules actually are. (Remember the flaming whip thread?)

 

[jodyjohnson]

Depends on which RAW we are talking about.

1. SRD - subset of the RAW

2. Rules as Written in 3.5 PHB, special edition/second printing (with errata)
3. Rules as Written in 3.5 PHB, first printing (sola scriptura)
4. 3.5 PHB plus Errata

Then add other relevant information,
rulings with reference to the official FAQ
rulings with reference to Rules of the Game articles
rulings with reference to how rules worked in previous editions (mainly 3.0)
rulings with reference to how the game designers/developers play them
and then add how members of the community actually play which are labelled "House Rules" - or the spirit but not the letter of the rule.

Personally I see Variant Rules in House Rules forum and the responses here would be Variant Interpretations (sometimes brodering on variant rules).

 

[Sledge]

The only thing that annoys me is when the house rules forum doesn't get many posts because of the migration.
My personal policy is, let someone know if there is an alternative, but mechanical evaluation and debate of the alternative go in House Rules.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I've just had to remove a post because it consisted only of personal sniping at another poster and I didn't want an argument to start in this thread.

Regards

 

[Darkness]

Worse, thread starters that outright ask "I know the RAW, but how would you play ability/spell/feat".

You mean, a thread specifically requesting house rules? Haven't seen any I can recall, but maybe I just missed them...