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<blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 7602815" data-attributes="member: 97077">I would say anything that isn't specifically called out as a rules variant (e.g., encumbrance or different resting options) or the like is a rule. This includes the stuff that doesn't seem very &quot;crunchy,&quot; such as the section on &quot;How to Play&quot; or what the player gets to determine about the character. I think to parse it into various other words like &quot;guidelines&quot; or the like doesn't really help and certainly doesn't make for interesting discussion in my view. The books are instruction manuals on how to play a fairly complex game. Ignore or downplay parts of it at your own risk. Doing so may change nothing appreciable about the outcome. Or it may result in an undesirable experience - but so too might playing by the rules if the play experience isn't to your tastes. That might suggest a need for house rules, variant rules, table rules, or a wholesale change of game.I want to be clear here: I am not advocating slavish devotion to RAW. I change rules depending on the campaign I am running to better support the campaign's theme. But like you said, I think it's a good idea to play as intended first before deciding whether things need to change and how.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="iserith, post: 7602815, member: 97077"] I would say anything that isn't specifically called out as a rules variant (e.g., encumbrance or different resting options) or the like is a rule. This includes the stuff that doesn't seem very "crunchy," such as the section on "How to Play" or what the player gets to determine about the character. I think to parse it into various other words like "guidelines" or the like doesn't really help and certainly doesn't make for interesting discussion in my view. The books are instruction manuals on how to play a fairly complex game. Ignore or downplay parts of it at your own risk. Doing so may change nothing appreciable about the outcome. Or it may result in an undesirable experience - but so too might playing by the rules if the play experience isn't to your tastes. That might suggest a need for house rules, variant rules, table rules, or a wholesale change of game. I want to be clear here: I am not advocating slavish devotion to RAW. I change rules depending on the campaign I am running to better support the campaign's theme. But like you said, I think it's a good idea to play as intended first before deciding whether things need to change and how. [/QUOTE]

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