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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 8843246" data-attributes="member: 6785785">Can the players just do whatever they want? No. Generally, no they can't. They may be able to try anything within the capabilities of their characters and the bounds of the fiction, but they can't just do anything. What can they do? What can't they do? Same questions for the GM. There's an imbalance of authority in most RPGs. Intentionally so. The rules of the game tell us who gets to determine what and when.The rules are also there to help make sure that the greater authority granted to the GM is used effectively and consistently. This is why I think having clearly defined GM principles is a great thing.... it helps set proper expectations. I don't need to spend many sessions to have a good idea of the GM's reasoning, I will know the principles that guide him right from the start.Not at all. The rules tell me as a player how I am allowed to collaborate. The rules tell me what the GM can deny or what he must allow or what is determined with dice or some other method. Given the asymmetric authority among participants, rules are absolutely vital to play. What say do I have as a player? We only know this because of the rules. Not exactly. I think most rules do point out that things can be changed to suit, but almost always when there is a specific purpose to do so, and not just at the GM's whim. You've said your goal is immersion, but I don't see how that can be when the GM can just change things on the fly on a whim. This is why, absent a specific reason to make such a change, this kind of "we don't need rules" attitude is a red flag. The rules say you can do X. The referee says you cannot. Which is offering more freedom?It's not much of a point, either way. Now, if you wanted to make an argument that a game doesn't need an abundance of rules, or that complex rules don't always make a better game, or that too many game mechanics can interfere with what you find important in play... then I think you'd have more of a point. But stated as broadly as you have here, that rules are unimportant... I think it's way off base.</blockquote>

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