Should Players Engage With The Rules?

[vortex]

Its the GMs job to know the rules. The player indicates what they do and the GM moderates.

Its a game - for enjoyment. Its not meant to be like getting your drivers licence, the MCSE, your bar exam, or registation with the medical board - there is enough of that in real life.

Of course, most gamer like to learn the rules - thats just the kind of people we are.

 

[Ds Da Man]

Alot of times, we get new players that don't know the rules, or are slightly interested in learning the game. I don't expect them know the rules, though I do expect them to start learning the rules when we play. The "rules" are meant to be broken, the books only guides, and ultimately, no matter what the books say, the DM is running the game, and his rules are the only ones that matter.

 

[Turjan]

I don't expect anyone new to the game to know the rules, but after some time, they should get accustomed to running their character without having to ask what to do at every die roll. People who don't know the core mechanic after a few sessions are generally not interested in the game at all. This usually leads to other problems aside from the penetrant question "Which die do I have to use now?".

 

[Hypersmurf]

Players should know the rules. THEN, they should also learn the difference between, "Hey, the DM just accidently made a mistake and I should tell him," and "Hey, the DM is trying to do something cool for story purposes that doesn't exactly follow the rules so I'm going to munchkin-rules-lawyer the sh*t out of him for the next two hours."

That's what the Eyebrow Method is for

-Hyp.

 

[Corinth]

Players are responsible for learning that subset of the rules that pertain to their PC. Let them flounder and fail should they shirk this work, and then gently admonish them to do it when they turn up to complain. Tabletop RPGs are a hobby where you only get as much as you put into it, and if it takes a fall-on-your-face experience to get that point across, so be it.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Players are responsible for learning that subset of the rules that pertain to their PC.

Heh.

-Hyp.

 

[Chimera]

At a bare-bones minimum I expect them to know and understand the rules pertaining to the safe operation of their own character.

But I voted for "responsibility to learn the system" because I'd rather have players who understand not just how their own characters work, but how the bad guys and the entire rest of the game system work so that I'm not constantly having to explain it to them.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Its the GMs job to know the rules. The player indicates what they do and the GM moderates.

Its a game - for enjoyment. Its not meant to be like getting your drivers licence, the MCSE, your bar exam, or registation with the medical board - there is enough of that in real life.

Of course, most gamer like to learn the rules - thats just the kind of people we are.

I think it's kind of silly to expect the DM to know all the rules, and require the players to know none. This is supposed to be fun for the DM, too, and he's already god a lot more work to do. Why add to his workload? To say nothing of the fact that players who don't know the rules slow down gameplay.

Frankly, it's rude. I don't expect people to become experts, nor do I expect newbies to take to them easily. But someone who can't devote the time to learn at least the very basics of the rules after playing for a few months, they're better off finding a different hobby. They're just slowing things down for everyone else, and they'll probably have more fun elsewhere.

 

[Ryltar]

Yup. If a player doesn't know his stuff, it's more work for the DM - and it's work that quickly becomes annoying. I expect the players IMC to know the rules pertaining to their characters (especially: knowing what their spells do, as I won't learn every spell from every book by hard). I can accept if there's one exotic rule that's not known to the player (dunno, something along the lines of sunder, which hasn't been used once in any of my campaigns) - but nothing beyond that. Breaks the flow of the game, and the DM has enough micromanagement to do already.

 

[vortex]

I think it's kind of silly to expect the DM to know all the rules, and require the players to know none. This is supposed to be fun for the DM, too, and he's already god a lot more work to do. Why add to his workload? To say nothing of the fact that players who don't know the rules slow down gameplay.

Frankly, it's rude. I don't expect people to become experts, nor do I expect newbies to take to them easily. But someone who can't devote the time to learn at least the very basics of the rules after playing for a few months, they're better off finding a different hobby. They're just slowing things down for everyone else, and they'll probably have more fun elsewhere.

So, is this what you say when you invite someone to a game? "Hey, i've got this new campaign i'm running and I'd like you to play. But before we start I've got a bunch of big hard back volumes that I'd like you to read. Then I'll test you on the detail to see if your up to scratch to play in my game. Oh, if you don't memorise the rules properly then you are rude and i'll chuck you out of the game."

Personally I say " Hey, come play in my new campaign." They all come around and we start playing. I say, "so, what do you want do do?" The player says "I want to do <insert game action here>". I say "roll'em, you need a 16", the player rolls the dice. The players action has its dramatic consequence, and we all have a bit of a laugh (or cheer or boo or whatever) at the outcome. The action continues and we all have fun.

Is that really so hard?