Rules -- when do you break 'em?

[Quasqueton]

I have never had a moment of regret for following the rules. Even when the rule causes a suspension of disbelief hiccup.

I have occassionally had a moment of regret for breaking the rules. Even when the break helps supsension of disbelief.

Therefore, I try to stick to the rules as much and often as possible.

Quasqueton

 

[lukelightning]

I am more comfortable breaking rules in non-combat situations; things like damaging items, disarming traps, people interaction, things like that.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

I follow the rules pretty closely for players, and when in a fight. I'll modify the rules to make things more fun for the PCs, and let them know that. Where I tend to diverge is in monster abilities, spells for NPCs, items and magical areas that have new and different effects. Because tinkering with those areas adds mystery and excitement, without nerfing player capacity or making them feel ineffectual.

 

[Voadam]

I change or ignore the rules when they annoy me.

Sometimes this is handwaiving and sometimes this is house ruling.

I'm much more likely to say "fine" rather than "roll" when a character says they jump onto a table.

I tell PCs how much stuff is worth without rolling appraise.

I ignore the diplomacy chart for DCs and effects and just eyeball the character's modifier, rarely calling for a roll.

I dislike that liches can't use telepathy to talk to each other or with a treant. House rule only mindless creatures are immune to mind affecting spells.

I want falling to be more dangerous so I use cumulative falling damage instead of linear increases.

My players know my style and house rules so it is fine.

 

[Crothian]

with rule zero, I'm never actually breaking a rule. But I will when needed.

 

[Wombat]

First of all, I don't believe that anyone, barring a computer, can use all of the RAW. Why? There is simply too much of it. There are a LOT of rules in the three core books! Yes, some of the rules flow intuitively from each other, but not all of them by any means.

Given that, I stick close to some rules, alter others. Rules that I know I have altered (or will be altering) get an official House Rule. Other matters are often decided upon on the spur of the moment, sometimes with discussion, sometimes by fiat. Once the ruling is made, I make a note of it and try to handle it consistently from there on in, but with the understanding that no one can memorize all the rules.

Do I fudge dice rolls? Sure! Somtimes I do this because of the dramatic effect, sometimes to be nice, and sometimes to be cruel and petty; I'm a GM For the most part, however, I read whatever comes up on the dice.

I try very, very hard to not treat my games, no matter what the system, as merely set of rules for tactical combat with a few acting elements tacked on. I started out with miniatures battles (and saw many more, many more heated, and many worse, friendship-shattering arguments there over the years than I have ever seen in rpgs) and I turned to rpgs to get away from the malarkey of having to analyze every milimeter of variance in the rules. RPGs are designed to be rather more flexible and much less adversarial. As such, I far prefer them.

 

[iwatt]

For instance, we still follow the 3.0 rules for cover and concealment, because "half and whole" don't sit well with me, and the players either agree with me or have no preference.

Me too. Never liked that change myself.

 

[Krypter]

I break rules when the rules are no fun. I change rules when the existing rules fly in the face of reason. I let players do cool stuff if everyone is enjoying the situation; no amount of RAW can save a situation that's boring. The rules in roleplaying games are meant to be bent, because that too is part of the fun. Just look at Iron Heroes, Arcana Evolved, etc. Designers like to tweak rules, and I count myself as a designer (albeit not a very good one).

That's as a GM. As a player I follow the ruleset of the playing group. I may, however, whine about rules that really irritate me. If I can be more irritating to the GM than the rules are irritating to me, perhaps they will get changed.

Make it easy for your players to do cool stuff. Because doing cool stuff is fun. -- Barsoomcore.

Exactly.

 

[Voadam]

I have never had a moment of regret for following the rules. Even when the rule causes a suspension of disbelief hiccup.

I have. 3e diplomacy. Gave it a shot by the book for a while, but it was really annoying to GM and forced me to act very unnaturally in my NPC personifications and actions as well as disrupting the flow of my games. I am quite happy I thereafter chose not to use those rules in my DMing and feel my games are better for my decision to not use them.

 

[Shade]

As a DM, I've become more of a stickler for rules over time. It keeps the game flowing smoothly, and avoids favoritism (real or imagined).

As a player, I prefer the fairness of a DM who applies the same rules to all characters (and enemies).