rule of cool

I don’t know about you, but I run games for ROLE PLAY. “The rules say…” is not a hill to die on. A GM can easily come back and say, “The rules also say…” and it becomes a spitting contest. If we play 100% based on the rules, we may as well be playing a board game. I like board games with more…board. This is a pencil/paper imaginative game.

Let me start by addressing the GMs here. Yeah, you! If it sounds cool, let your players do it. It really is that simple. Sure, there are a few things that are game breaking (don’t let them just jump to the moon), but for the most part, they just want to do something cool or make it at least look cool. Your players thrive on creativity and the more you allow that space, the more they will open up to it. Once your players feel safe exploring their ideas, the story just flows, and the others will join in quickly with their own ideas.

Now…the players. You just read that I encourage GMs to let you do things. Play into your character’s strengths and weaknesses, and feel comfortable with the possibility of getting it “wrong.” Remember, the GM is not out to get you, they are only controlling the reactions of NPCs and effects of the world because of your actions. Allow them to make the decisions of how best to handle what it is you would like to do. They are pulling from all sorts of options in a split second to determine any die rolls or consequences that will make the most of that which you are trying to do.
 
I’ve said it before (and I’ll continue to say it until it sinks in), this is a game meant to be fun with your friends. If you are not having fun, it may be time to step away and do something else for a while, or have a discussion about expectations and style of game play. Ultimately, don’t be a stickler for the rules. Be flexible! The rules are there if you get stuck, but it’s not a code to swear allegiance to. We could all use a little reminder from Barbossa, “...the code is more what you’d call ‘guidelines’ than actual rules.”