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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6432265" data-attributes="member: 4937">You always have a crushing weight of rules in any game that has as a goal simulating a reality of some sort.&nbsp; Some people are just more cognizant of that than others.&nbsp; Rulings are rules.&nbsp; The more rulings you have, the more rules you have.&nbsp; Contradictory and situational rulings don't reduce the size of rules, but greatly increase them.&nbsp; Keeping the rules secret from the players doesn't reduce the size of the rules in play either.&nbsp;&nbsp; Not writing your rulings down doesn't decrease the size of the rules either.&nbsp; Good rules help you simulate the reality that you wish to have.&nbsp; This reduces the amount of mental overhead that the GM needs to have.&nbsp; In a sense, you write rules down in part just so you won't have to remember all the details regarding how your reality works.&nbsp; For example, sharing the rules with the players means that the players can help you remember how your reality is supposed to work, and reference that reality even when you as a GM have your attention elsewhere.&nbsp; Hopefully you create rules that are well written in that they have few edge cases yet still are relatively easy to remember and quickly applied and resolved.&nbsp;&nbsp; The most complex rules heavy game possible is one with no written rules.&nbsp;&nbsp; In that game, you are appealing almost everything to 'reality', which has rules far too complex to apply in play.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 6432265, member: 4937"] You always have a crushing weight of rules in any game that has as a goal simulating a reality of some sort. Some people are just more cognizant of that than others. Rulings are rules. The more rulings you have, the more rules you have. Contradictory and situational rulings don't reduce the size of rules, but greatly increase them. Keeping the rules secret from the players doesn't reduce the size of the rules in play either. Not writing your rulings down doesn't decrease the size of the rules either. Good rules help you simulate the reality that you wish to have. This reduces the amount of mental overhead that the GM needs to have. In a sense, you write rules down in part just so you won't have to remember all the details regarding how your reality works. For example, sharing the rules with the players means that the players can help you remember how your reality is supposed to work, and reference that reality even when you as a GM have your attention elsewhere. Hopefully you create rules that are well written in that they have few edge cases yet still are relatively easy to remember and quickly applied and resolved. The most complex rules heavy game possible is one with no written rules. In that game, you are appealing almost everything to 'reality', which has rules far too complex to apply in play. [/QUOTE]

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