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<blockquote data-quote="clearstream" data-source="post: 7484333" data-attributes="member: 71699"><p>It feels like you might be arguing that all D&D rules are ultimately vague because DMs can make rulings on them. To me, no part of what we have cited has stated or even implied such a hierarchy. The rules attempt to be concrete and clear <u>and</u> the DM is expressly authorised to arbitrate upon or alter them as needed. The one does not diminish the other.</p><p></p><p>Meaning arises in context, and I think we must acknowledge our differing contexts. So far as I can tell, you value keeping the rules as vague as possible - maybe you don't like being bound by them - so you take the words and interpret them for vagueness. I value the rules as the work of expert game designers given time and resources that I don't have - I don't mind being bound by them - so I take their words and interpret them for clarity. </p><p></p><p>Which is right? I think for me, I come back to the artifacts themselves: the rulebooks. If all rules are vague, then are all rules in the rulebooks empty of meaning? I suppose we would both resist that point of view. So chances are, we accept that rules do have meaning, with you saying that any such meanings are further down in some kind of hierarchy than DMs rulings. I don't think that can really be true, because the commonality across D&D DMs is the D&D RAW. There is more that is similar, than that is different. So I would invert your hierarchy and say, if anything, rules stand above rulings... but accommodate and facilitate them, not prevent them.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="clearstream, post: 7484333, member: 71699"] It feels like you might be arguing that all D&D rules are ultimately vague because DMs can make rulings on them. To me, no part of what we have cited has stated or even implied such a hierarchy. The rules attempt to be concrete and clear [U]and[/U] the DM is expressly authorised to arbitrate upon or alter them as needed. The one does not diminish the other. Meaning arises in context, and I think we must acknowledge our differing contexts. So far as I can tell, you value keeping the rules as vague as possible - maybe you don't like being bound by them - so you take the words and interpret them for vagueness. I value the rules as the work of expert game designers given time and resources that I don't have - I don't mind being bound by them - so I take their words and interpret them for clarity. Which is right? I think for me, I come back to the artifacts themselves: the rulebooks. If all rules are vague, then are all rules in the rulebooks empty of meaning? I suppose we would both resist that point of view. So chances are, we accept that rules do have meaning, with you saying that any such meanings are further down in some kind of hierarchy than DMs rulings. I don't think that can really be true, because the commonality across D&D DMs is the D&D RAW. There is more that is similar, than that is different. So I would invert your hierarchy and say, if anything, rules stand above rulings... but accommodate and facilitate them, not prevent them. [/QUOTE]
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