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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bedrockgames" data-source="post: 9014017" data-attributes="member: 85555">I think it is something that a lot of people see rule zero being about. I know I do. But then I am not even a huge fan of that particular term, I just think it points to something that legitimately is present in RPGs. I like comprehensive rules systems. I actually go back and forth between more rules light and more comprehensive (and I realize rules light can still be comprehensive). But I think with RPGs, eventually you run into a situation where there either isn't a rule or the rules don't handle exactly what the players are trying to do well. You can apply the rules as written in many of those cases, but the effect, at least for me, will feel like we are being bound to a system rather than truly allowing what is happening in game to happen (I think we have all had that experience where a player describes themselves trying something that sounds spectacular, like a super lethal finishing move in a movie, and people kind of shrug their shoulders a the paltry d6 damage the rules say it would do). So for me, being able to adapt the rules to what they players say they are doing, is important to making the game different from a board game, or from a video game. I've always felt that is what rule zero seems to be about. Maybe I am missing something about how it has been used. Looking it up this is the first definition that comes up, which I can't really object to: I suppose runs smoothly and fun aren't exactly what I am talking about, those are indeed more general statements. But I would still say whether it is towards what I said, or towards fun and keeping the game smooth, it is still a similar effect that makes RPGs different from a board game (where you are supposed to follow every rule and if you don't it feels like you aren't playing the actual game). In monopoly you can't say "I leap over the counter and kill the banker!" that isn't a valid move. In an RPG you could violate the rules in that way, and it is expected the GM will try to accommodate you, at the very least make a judgement or give you a small chance of success, even if the rules themselves don't cover it.</blockquote>

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