Waibel's Rule of Interpretation (aka "How to Interpret the Rules")

The only CORRECT interpretation is the one I say!

The sooner the rest of the world gets that, the sooner we can all sit down and have fun...and end all fantasy rpg forum arguments everywhere.

heheheh.

[Seliousry though, nice chart. ]

 

[Celebrim]

A lot of folks cannot seem to handle the fact that, yes, it really is that simple.

MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

Seriously, if you think it is that simple you have never been a DM.

Missing from the flowchart are all sorts of little boxes with labels like:

"Are you in play or between sessions?"
"Are you the DM?"
"Do your player's trust you yet?"
"Will a player's PC or player be significantly inconvenienced by the rule change?"
"Is the life of a PC at stake?"
"Does everyone at the table agree that rule is unclear?"
"Does everyone at the table agree that your new rule is clear, balanced, and playable?"
"Is one of the players that is objecting normally an insufferable rules lawyer?"

And so on and so forth.

 

[Paraxis]

We can only hope for an edition that one day where the rules don't need to be interpreted, 4e came close. The more the DM feels the need to have to patch or houserule the worse the game is. Just play as close to RAW as you can and change your story and world around it.

 

[steeldragons]

The more the DM feels the need to have to patch or houserule the worse the game is.

I believe there are a minimum of 1.5 to 2.5 decades of the game and players, including those who solely ran PCs, those who sometimes played PCs and sometimes DMed, and players who solely DM'd, who would disagree with this assessment.

 

[BryonD]

Obviously it was important enough to the guy that he memorized what terrains manticores live in. If one of my players was obsessed enough to learn that kind of detail, why wouldn't I want to respect his feelings enough to at least consider changing the encounter (or at least re-flavoring it as a different color of manticore, which lives in different terrain and may have different habits, lifecycle, or stats) instead of dismissing his concerns out of hand?

Because he wasn't the one running the game and has no way of knowing that what he memorized has any bearing on the campaign that is currently happening.

Because he is one of many players at the table and disrupting the game over something this petty shows a great deal of lack of respect for the other people there to have a good time.

Because it is better to get rid of problematic players than settle for milktoast compromise on everything. And if you have to compromise on something this petty, you are sunk.

 

[Uchawi]

Above all else be consistent with you rulings. They should add a reminder to right it down, if you are making up a ruling on the fly, versus verifying an existing rule.

 

[Henry]

We can only hope for an edition that one day where the rules don't need to be interpreted, 4e came close. The more the DM feels the need to have to patch or houserule the worse the game is. Just play as close to RAW as you can and change your story and world around it.

Doesn't what you just said above fly totally in the face of the quote from Psion in your .sig? Psion's all about not being locked into a rule but making them serve the game or genre you're trying to play, and you just said to craft your story around the rules.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I believe there are a minimum of 1.5 to 2.5 decades of the game and players, including those who solely ran PCs, those who sometimes played PCs and sometimes DMed, and players who solely DM'd, who would disagree with this assessment.

there are also those that agree with him... funny how you always forget that...

now we can debate till we are blue in the face witch set of players is right or more numerous, but neither of us really knows...

Because he wasn't the one running the game and has no way of knowing that what he memorized has any bearing on the campaign that is currently happening.

Because he is one of many players at the table and disrupting the game over something this petty shows a great deal of lack of respect for the other people there to have a good time.

Because it is better to get rid of problematic players than settle for milktoast compromise on everything. And if you have to compromise on something this petty, you are sunk.

I love that something that matters to a player (and presumable a friend, at least an acquaintance of some time) dome how is less important to you then other players (and presumable a friend, at least an acquaintance of some time) fun... how do I decide between Ross and Kurt when both I have know for almost twenty years?? I mean really, if a player says "Hey, stop the game something here is bugging me and making me have less fun" why NOT address it?

 

[Mistwell]

We can only hope for an edition that one day where the rules don't need to be interpreted

I hope not.

 

[Mistwell]

Rules discussions like this will go on for entirely too long. And they will go on at the table and be an interruption to play....expect some bad feelings and some pushback. That isn't immaturity or egoism. That is inevitable and natural.

No really, it's not inevitable, and it does not have to happen, and it really does not happen in my 5e games at all. I make decisions on the fly all the time, and we don't have a dispute erupt at all over it even if I happen to be wrong, because game flow without rules debate is more important for everyone at my table than being right about their view of the rules.

The game isn't the rules. And frankly, not everyone cares as much as you do about their expectations concerning the rules being realized.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

game flow without rules debate is more important for everyone at my table than being right about their view of the rules.

witch is true at every table...until it isn't. At some point you run out of what I call Trust currency, right now your game works because you tell a good story and your players tust you to run a good game (great for you) but everytime they disagree with a dission or a ruleing it eats away at that trust currency. As long as you are all more or less on the same page it works... when you deviate it wont work anymore...