Reply To: Ideology on Rules Writing

[Jim Webster]

Norm S wrote:

I feel that there is only one standard for rule writing and that is … complete! If gamers want to tweak things, then that is up to them, but in the first instance, a rule set should be tight enough that two strangers could meet and play the game in the certainty that they are playing correctly to the design intent.

That is oh so rarely achieved 🙁
I remember playing WRG 5th and 6th edition with mates from away. The interpretations we assumed to be obvious obviously hadn’t occurred to the others 🙂
With the arrival of the internet, the growth of forums and similar should help ensure the ‘correct’ interpretation, but alas they all to often dissolve into battlegrounds.

I think that if you keep rules simple it can be done. But you have to be very careful and precise with your language 🙂

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