Weird rules interpretations you've encountered?

[Jd Smith1]

I ran a group that interpreted Druid's alignment to mean that in a fight, the Druid would change sides based on who was winning, in order to maintain the balance. They had been taught this by a previous GM.

 

[Evaniel]

When my brother and I first start playing in 1980, we didn't understand that the dungeon map was meant to be a secret. We played with the map out on the table. Whenever the party walked by a secret door, everyone would roll their d6s until they spotted it.

There are worse ways to play and learn. I kinda love this.

 

[John Dallman]

I played one session of AD&D1e with a group I knew from SF fandom. After the first fight, they were surprised that I hadn't kept track of the damage I'd done to each opponent.

After some confusion, they explained: they'd found the table of monsters in the back of the DMG, which expressed their experience point value in the form "X, +y per hit point." So they gave out experience per hit point damage you'd done, and the character who took the opponent down got the base value as well.

It's sort of logical, but too gamist, creating weird incentives, and requires far too much record-keeping for my taste.

 

[Nikosandros]

E

I played one session of AD&D1e with a group I knew from SF fandom. After the first fight, they were surprised that I hadn't kept track of the damage I'd done to each opponent.

After some confusion, they explained: they'd found the table of monsters in the back of the DMG, which expressed their experience point value in the form "X, +y per hit point." So they gave out experience per hit point damage you'd done, and the character who took the opponent down got the base value as well.

It's sort of logical, but too gamist, creating weird incentives, and requires far too much record-keeping for my taste.

Rolemaster has XPs for hits taken or delivered, for critical inflicted and for killing opponents.

 

[jdrakeh]

E

Rolemaster has XPs for hits taken or delivered, for critical inflicted and for killing opponents.

And for dying and being resurrected!

 

[SableWyvern]

As much as I love the RM experience system in principle, these days it's too much work in practice. However, I will never ditch the EP for crits taken.

 

[Nikosandros]

And for dying and being resurrected!

That's also in AD&D 1e. You gain 1,000 XPs.

 

[WayneLigon]

I briefly played with a group that read the 3.0 rule below and thought it meant having a high strength made you worse at shooting a bow. It took 15 minutes of carefully de-constructing the second sentence to make them understand that was not the case.

Strength Bonus: When you hit with a melee or thrown weapon, including a sling, add your Strength modifier to the damage result. A Strength penalty, but not a bonus, applies on attacks made with a bow that is not a composite bow.

 

[Voadam]

That's also in AD&D 1e. You gain 1,000 XPs.

As an optional rule, if the campaign is particularly dangerous or to help new players survive an established game. 1e DMG page 85-86.

I was never in a game that used this optional rule and had forgotten about it.

SPECIAL BONUS AWARD TO EXPERIENCE POINTS
If your campaign is particularly dangerous, with a low life expectancy for starting player characters, or if it is a well-established one where most players are of medium or above level, and new participants have difficulty surviving because of this, the following Special Bonus Award is suggested:

Any character killed and subsequently restored to life by means of a spell or device, other than a ring of regeneration, will earn an experience point bonus award of 1,000 points. This will materially aid characters of lower levels of experience, while it will not unduly affect earned experience for those of higher level. As only you can bestow this award, you may also feel free to decline to give it to player characters who were particularly foolish or stupid in their actions which immediately preceded death, particularly if such characters are not “sadder but wiser” for the happening.