question

treehugger · Questing knight Joined: 30 Nov 2010 Posts: 2166

I saw something on another site that made me go hmmm.

It was a rules discussion and someone had made a point that there were 2 rules written by the game designer, and because of the way the first rule was written than the second could never be used.

My question, do you think that any game desginer would ever do that on purpose? Do you think they write rules that could never be used?
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Davall · Nerd Rager! Joined: 29 Nov 2010 Posts: 1925

No, not on purpose. Yes, through crappy grammar/rules lawyering.
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Corey · Clanrat Joined: 29 Nov 2010 Posts: 832

Hah, kind of like what Kevin noticed about the "Inspiring Presence" rule.

Bill you've never been one to rule pick though, surprised this interested you Wink

treehugger · Questing knight Joined: 30 Nov 2010 Posts: 2166

Corey · Clanrat Joined: 29 Nov 2010 Posts: 832

Was there an example? I think that's a stupid thing of that person to say.

Sometimes it's a RAI vs. RAW thing, not entirely a rule is invalid. I know that in 7th edition, the white lion chariot riders were intended to have S6, as the writer had even talked about that. However the great weapons only give +1 str when mounted, and those elves are mounted, so only S5.

I'm curious as to what the guy was referring to though.

jmznudd · Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 5:04 pm Post subject:

I can't imagine a game designer doing it on purpose. But if the editing process for these games is anything like the editing process for my work, then I can tell you that it becomes a matter of too many chefs in the kitchen.

Could be too that if more than one person wrote the rules they aren't communicating effectively.... or not interpreting properly. How often do we see simple rules interpreted differently by multiple people in this group?

Dunno... just my inflated $3.68.

-James
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SiteAdmin · Site Admin Joined: 27 Nov 2010 Posts: 956

Well speaking from experience, most of it is editing. When I wrote my Civil War rules (Rally Round the Flag you can buy it on Amazon Smile

) most of the rules bore some reflection on what i intended. Some of the rules worked exceedingly well while others had to be tweaked or re-written. Mostly the rules that had to re-written were for play balance. I had a good group of play-testers in Atlanta which helped a lot.
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