Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Why Rules Lawyering Is a Negative Term
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7627956" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>So, speaking as a GM, here is my take on that. Every GM makes a bad call from time to time. Sometimes, you can fix it. Sometimes you can't. As a player, I can certainly sympathize with having been on the receiving end of bad calls. Sometimes they were poor judgment by the GM. Sometimes they were GMs with too much ego. Sometimes they were GMs that wing it too much. Sometimes the problem was the GM simply didn't know the rules of the system they were running very well. There can be a lot of sources of bad calls.</p><p></p><p>But arguing with the GM about a bad call in the middle of the game pretty much never works and never helps anything, even if the GM is sympathetic to some degree, they are not going to be sympathetic to the delay and distraction from the game. </p><p></p><p>If you are on the receiving end of a bad call, bring up your case politely and briefly immediately - preferably before any fortune rolls are made. Say something like, "I'm pretty sure the rules don't work like that." or "I thought the rules said in this situation X was the way to handle things." or whatever. But if the GM doesn't want to hear you out then or rules immediately against you, arguing about it won't help. </p><p></p><p>What you can do is after the session bring up your concerns privately. Have the rules reference ready and say something like, "I thought you might want to know that according to page 76...." </p><p></p><p>The important thing here to remember is that when dealing with humans they act irrationally and act differently between being corrected and shown to be an idiot publicly and corrected and shown to be an idiot privately. With humans, they'll hate you for showing you to be an idiot in public, but they might actually appreciate the same thing in private. I don't get it, but there it is. </p><p></p><p>With correcting a DM midgame, it's even worse than that because you are dealing with someone who not only doesn't want to be embarrassed and have his authority challenged, but someone who is in a fairly high stress position who has a responsibility to ensure everyone is focused on the game and enjoying it. So if you start arguing with that person in the middle of play, all you are is an annoying distraction that is increasing his stress and taking away time from the game, most likely (in his mind, and reinforced by past experience) for some anti-social ulterior motive. </p><p></p><p>And very likely, if you've anointed yourself a Rules Justice Paladin in your mind when you are making the argument, it's going to go even less well.</p><p></p><p>So my suggestion is give the GM a break, and talk about any issues after a session when he's not as stressed out and not juggling 12 different things.</p><p></p><p>And if he's still a jerk or a bad GM who makes no effort to master the craft, well there is going to be nothing you can do about that and you'll just have to find a different GM.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7627956, member: 4937"] So, speaking as a GM, here is my take on that. Every GM makes a bad call from time to time. Sometimes, you can fix it. Sometimes you can't. As a player, I can certainly sympathize with having been on the receiving end of bad calls. Sometimes they were poor judgment by the GM. Sometimes they were GMs with too much ego. Sometimes they were GMs that wing it too much. Sometimes the problem was the GM simply didn't know the rules of the system they were running very well. There can be a lot of sources of bad calls. But arguing with the GM about a bad call in the middle of the game pretty much never works and never helps anything, even if the GM is sympathetic to some degree, they are not going to be sympathetic to the delay and distraction from the game. If you are on the receiving end of a bad call, bring up your case politely and briefly immediately - preferably before any fortune rolls are made. Say something like, "I'm pretty sure the rules don't work like that." or "I thought the rules said in this situation X was the way to handle things." or whatever. But if the GM doesn't want to hear you out then or rules immediately against you, arguing about it won't help. What you can do is after the session bring up your concerns privately. Have the rules reference ready and say something like, "I thought you might want to know that according to page 76...." The important thing here to remember is that when dealing with humans they act irrationally and act differently between being corrected and shown to be an idiot publicly and corrected and shown to be an idiot privately. With humans, they'll hate you for showing you to be an idiot in public, but they might actually appreciate the same thing in private. I don't get it, but there it is. With correcting a DM midgame, it's even worse than that because you are dealing with someone who not only doesn't want to be embarrassed and have his authority challenged, but someone who is in a fairly high stress position who has a responsibility to ensure everyone is focused on the game and enjoying it. So if you start arguing with that person in the middle of play, all you are is an annoying distraction that is increasing his stress and taking away time from the game, most likely (in his mind, and reinforced by past experience) for some anti-social ulterior motive. And very likely, if you've anointed yourself a Rules Justice Paladin in your mind when you are making the argument, it's going to go even less well. So my suggestion is give the GM a break, and talk about any issues after a session when he's not as stressed out and not juggling 12 different things. And if he's still a jerk or a bad GM who makes no effort to master the craft, well there is going to be nothing you can do about that and you'll just have to find a different GM. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Why Rules Lawyering Is a Negative Term
Top