Your approach to rules

[diaglo]

In the dark, from behind, with a knife in my teeth...

with the 3.11ed for Workgroups version of Darkness that sheds a whole new light on the approach.

 

[The Shaman]

Since this is a multiple-choice poll, I answered make something up, take 30 seconds, and take five minutes - it all depends on the circumstances.

Sometimes I can get by with an on-the-spot ruling, sometimes it helps to get a quick refresher, and sometimes it's a good time to call a bathroom-and-snack break to be sure.

 

[DragonSword]

I went for the look up for 30 secs option, but that not stricly true...

If I'm playing then I'll let someone else take the initiative or let them keep the ball rolling, and then grab the rulebook whilst the focus isn't on me - that way I don't slow games down.

If I'm GMing then it's more complicated, and I'd be more inclined to wing it, but if someone launches into a long-winded description or something, then I'll grab the chance with open arms and reach for the rules. If I'm using my laptop to GM, then it takes literally seconds to find the right file in the SRD and to check the right line - a lot quicker than turning pages.

 

[Henry]

...only ~5% of people on here know all the rules?

Well, modesty aside, I know a HECK of a lot of the rules, but not all of them. I'm a 90%'er like Li Shenron, and even then you can't take into account every rules set, every nuance even within d20! (Heck, it was only a week ago that I learned that Grim Tales did away with Op-attacks via firearms use!)

 

[Arnwyn]

If my players initiate it, I make them look it up. I'm not wasting my time as the DM. (If I initiate it, then I'll spend 5 minutes looking it up so I can learn it.)

 

[ThirdWizard]

The DM of a game I played in this weekend handled it in an intersting way. When the PC attempted to do something that the player didn't know the rules for, he told him to find the rule as fast as he could, then proceded to play out the next person in initiative order while the player looked it up. When the player found the rule, his PC got to act. None of this, by the way, to the PC's deteriment and he stayed at the same initative count. I've never seen this done before.