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Rules, too much or too little? YOU DECIDE!
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<blockquote data-quote="77IM" data-source="post: 7569576" data-attributes="member: 12377"><p><em>There are no rules; there are only guidelines.</em></p><p></p><p>A good RPG only includes details that <em>teach the GM</em> how to make up rulings on the spot, which obviates the need for details in other areas. The Grappling rules are a good example: you make an opposed skill check, and on a success, the opponent is stuck. Likewise, Push/Shove: opposed skill check, minor condition. Oh, hey, Hide action: opposed skill check, now you get advantage on an attack, that's neat. There's three examples and now a pattern is forming. The game is teaching you this rules pattern, which you can now apply to all kinds of things: disarming as an opposed skill check; throwing sand in someone's eyes; tangling them up in the ship's rigging; grabbing a torch and lighting their cloak on fire; shouting and waving your arms as a distraction; etc. All those things could be "opposed skill check -> condition or advantage or minor effect." So now we DON'T need to include rules for all those things.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>EDIT: Oh yeah, that, but also tables. Mmmm mmmm, I loves me some good tables! Creativity can be hard, especially in the moment, and tables with interesting options can provide really useful "cues" to get your mind moving. They are essentially another sort of guideline, but more open-ended, and more genre-focused. Most RPG game mechanics operate at the level of "here's how to resolve an action" while most RPG tables operate at the level of "stuff that could happen in the story."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="77IM, post: 7569576, member: 12377"] [I]There are no rules; there are only guidelines.[/I] A good RPG only includes details that [I]teach the GM[/I] how to make up rulings on the spot, which obviates the need for details in other areas. The Grappling rules are a good example: you make an opposed skill check, and on a success, the opponent is stuck. Likewise, Push/Shove: opposed skill check, minor condition. Oh, hey, Hide action: opposed skill check, now you get advantage on an attack, that's neat. There's three examples and now a pattern is forming. The game is teaching you this rules pattern, which you can now apply to all kinds of things: disarming as an opposed skill check; throwing sand in someone's eyes; tangling them up in the ship's rigging; grabbing a torch and lighting their cloak on fire; shouting and waving your arms as a distraction; etc. All those things could be "opposed skill check -> condition or advantage or minor effect." So now we DON'T need to include rules for all those things. EDIT: Oh yeah, that, but also tables. Mmmm mmmm, I loves me some good tables! Creativity can be hard, especially in the moment, and tables with interesting options can provide really useful "cues" to get your mind moving. They are essentially another sort of guideline, but more open-ended, and more genre-focused. Most RPG game mechanics operate at the level of "here's how to resolve an action" while most RPG tables operate at the level of "stuff that could happen in the story." [/QUOTE]
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