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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tinker" data-source="post: 7456244" data-attributes="member: 46684">Does it help resolve the discussion if I quote the post that started the thread, or will it just pour oil on burning bridges?So the full ruleset of AD&D, any edition, is legitimately under discussion here. I suggest we note that the first publication for OD&D had fewer rules, covering fewer things, than (OD&D with supplements) or any iteration of AD&D, and move on. I find the strict/free kriegspiel analysis very interesting. I find there are attractions to both. Using the rules quite strictly enables more consensus in advance about how tactics are likely to work and cuts down on 'my character would know that would happen so actually, no, I don't do that'. Also it makes game tactics a nice crunchy mental exercise of grids and numbers, if you like that sort of thing. On the other hand of course I (especially as DM) feel that the world and the play both should take precedence over the rules, and I reserve the right to adjudicate freely when I wish. Also I don't like a system that gets itself so caught up in grids and numbers that game designers forget to make game-rule actions and effects easy to imagine and believe as game-world actions and effects--an issue in parts of 3e and a deal-breaker for me in 4e. Actually, if you extend this to lists, tables and typologies as well as the dear old battle grid, then it applies to AD&D as well. I think the challenge for game designers is to come up with a rule set that is as usable as possible. In the sense that the rule set is better the more the players and GM are happy with how it handles the action they want to imagine as part of their game. The rule set is imperfect to the extent that players and GM feel the need to go against or beyond the rules to play the game they want or (if they decide to follow the rules) are dissatisfied with the game outcomes and/or play processes imposed. No rule set is perfect and you can have great games with imperfect rules, especially if you're happy with a free kriegsspiel style and aren't into rule-play, but that doesn't mean there's no value in improving rules. Also obviously every group and every session will differ in how well they suit different rules, so there's no objective or permanent ranking of rule sets on this scale.</blockquote>

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