Rules as Written or Hand Wave?

[Ndreare]

So I am curious, how many people play rules as written versus rules light or even rules are great but hand waves are better?

 

Personally I normally like to use the rules pretty lightly. But I love the detail available when needed. So if I were to answer this I would pick answer 2.

[Lucius]

Who's Greta, and when I have the time for her, how do I find her?

 

Lucius Alexander

 

How does she feel about palindromedaries?

[Hyper-Man]

There is nothing wrong with modifying any RAW (rules as written) for a game as long as the GM (1) states such changes up front at the begining of a campaign and (2) understands the potential consequences of doing so.

 

It bugs me when GM's waive a rule without understanding the reason(s) for its existense. This is especially so when I build a character with the particular rule in question in mind*.  Having rules rules adjusted mid story multiple times gets iritating.

 

*This could be for various reasons but the most common one I've seen is this: I build a character and spend extra points to have a particular ability in a rules legal way that the GM lets another character have at a discount by waiving the rule I followed at character creation.

[psyber624]

I'm not a rules lawyer (although i could be if i wanted to) by any means but I do try to follow the rules as much as possible, it makes things easier for everyone. That being said if there is a rule I dislike or that isn't working for my group I will change it. The game is about having fun, not following the rules to the letter. When the rules interfere with my fun, time for a change.

[sinanju]

I've been playing RPGs since 1977, when I discovered that RPGs existed with the first edition of Dungeons & Dragons. I've played a huge number of games in avast array of systems. I've been--and continue to be--a rules lawyer and power gamer when it's appropriate (with other players who enjoy that kind of thing). I still enjoy playing Champions, though mostly I do it online as face-to-face games are hard to find.

 

But over the years, my tastes have shifted toward more and more "rules light" games. Fudge was the first one. But I've been buying more and more indie games over the last few years, games with a greatly simplified system of rules that rely more on--and demand--more role-playing and storytelling and less die-rolling. In those games I'm far more likely to handwave things. When I'm playing Champions (or GURPS), I'm more prone to following hte rules as written.

 

It just all depends on what we're hoping to get out of the experience.

[Xavier Onassiss]

The last time I ran Star Hero, (Terracide, w00t!) the "big fight" at the end would have been pretty much unworkable if I'd tried to run it "rules as written." There were multiple small skirmishes happening all over the place, some of which had combatants with long-range weapons (smart plasma missiles!) trading shots intermittently... while another group tried to prevent a starship from getting out of its spacedock. One of them went for the airlock, the others went after the engines, but they ran out of time when the ship's reactions jets opened up, and its railguns finally got a bead on them... meanwhile, troops from the rest of the ships in the squadron in adjacent spacedocks were rallying.*

 

It was a huge mess, and deliberately so. Going by phases and segments would have taken forever, so I pretty much just had to "wing it." However, I prefer to run combats by the book if possible; that way the players feel like they know what to expect.

 

 

*Closest I got in that campaign to killing off some characters; plasma warheads and starship railguns are nasty. Meta-helium rocket exhaust isn't any fun either.

[mhd]

I don't quite get the "hand waves are better" argument. If one would've come to that conclusion (and the whole party agrees, which is another matter) then why use the rules at all?

 

In HERO I find that I'm rarely doing "hand waving" as in ignoring some rules to let something happen. It's either straight-forward ignorance of the rules, perfectly within their boundaries (e.g. improvised modifiers) or actually restricting something that would be perfectly RAW (No, you can't make a haymaker now, block that, use Stealth...). But then again, with all the mention of "dramatic purposes" etc. in the rules, I think I'm still fine, legally speaking...

 

In my personal experience, hand waving tend to favor the GM.

[Tasha]

I am a Rules as Written person no matter what game I play. The rules are IMHO an agreement between the players and GM and give both an idea of what is allowed in play. House Rules are OK as long as they are bought up before Play begins (and best of all before the campaign begins). I am generally ok with some GM fudging as long as it serves the fun of the game and not just the Ego of the GM (I have played with too many GM's who have a hard time losing)

[BhelliomRahl]

I am Rules as Written until they interfere with enjoyment.  I always like to use the rules as written but when the rules start to interfere with the enjoyment of the games I will sometimes Hand Wave them.  I will do this with any system I run, enjoyment of the game and maintaining roleplaying is more important than the system.

 

Most often this is related to death, I am happy for a PC to die if it is deserved by action/inaction but if the party has a good plan and it fails due to unlucky dice I usually allow the party to survive but incur other consequence from it.

 

I must admit when I was learning Hero I hand waved a lot more often quite often because I miscalculated how challenging an encounter would be and needed to alter it.  However as I have become more experienced and knowledge of the rules & system I find I have to do this much less. 

[dmjalund]

if RAW doesn;t cover it - and it's a one-off then hand-wave

 

if it's likely to happen again, house-rule it

[bluesguy]

I am a RAW unless it interferes with the story.  I will hand wave the rules when there is a dramatic moment.  For instance in the Valdorian Age campaign I have been running the party had their final confrontation with their nemesis.  As he died he said  “You think you have killed me. No… no, Darkarus, you can’t get away. From hell’s heart, I stab at thee. For hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee. I will take all of your friends and companions souls with me to hell.” (yeah I like stealing movie lines)  But the bad guy at that point broke his wand.  I made the player playing Darkarus make a magic roll to see if he could convert the energy from the blast into something less damaging that a KA - which he did.  So instead of a 20d6 EB KA AoE - Explosive which would go off in 6 seconds - they dealt with a 20d6 EB AoE Explosive.  Still very dangerous but less likely to just kill everyone that was nearby. 

 

And that was all done with hand waving to make things dramatic.  Because technically the bad guy was stunned and knocked out by the last blow he took.  And who knows how many active points that explosion would have been.  And how would Darkarus converted a killing attack to a normal attack with just a magic skill roll.   And really who cares ... It was for the drama of it anyway.

[Greywind]

Khan was quoting Moby Dick.

[Sean Waters]

Difficult to believe but I tend to play the RAW.  I suppose that is why I can get tense about apparent oddness in the rules.

 

I don't play all the optional rules, but what I do play I play as Long intended, and I don't add stuff in, or take stuff out, at least not on purpose (I might make a rule up on the fly, and discuss it with the players if a situation that is not covered in the rules comes up - or at least a situation that we are not aware is in the rules).

 

I know the point is to have fun, but I like rules.  What can I say?

[Sean Waters]

I am a RAW unless it interferes with the story.  I will hand wave the rules when there is a dramatic moment.  For instance in the Valdorian Age campaign I have been running the party had their final confrontation with their nemesis.  As he died he said  “You think you have killed me. No… no, Darkarus, you can’t get away. From hell’s heart, I stab at thee. For hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee. I will take all of your friends and companions souls with me to hell.” (yeah I like stealing movie lines)  But the bad guy at that point broke his wand.  I made the player playing Darkarus make a magic roll to see if he could convert the energy from the blast into something less damaging that a KA - which he did.  So instead of a 20d6 EB KA AoE - Explosive which would go off in 6 seconds - they dealt with a 20d6 EB AoE Explosive.  Still very dangerous but less likely to just kill everyone that was nearby. 

 

And that was all done with hand waving to make things dramatic.  Because technically the bad guy was stunned and knocked out by the last blow he took.  And who knows how many active points that explosion would have been.  And how would Darkarus converted a killing attack to a normal attack with just a magic skill roll.   And really who cares ... It was for the drama of it anyway.

 

 

I think there is a big difference between changing things built with the rules and changing the rules themselves.  I change things built with the rules all the time.

[Kraven Kor]

I play fast and light with the rules in the interest of making things fast, simple, and fun.

 

I always have a few house rules in effect and I certainly allow some...  questionable things on character creation (usually, stuff in VPP's that would generally not be allowed in a VPP, as I love VPP's.)

In actual gameplay, I follow the rules to the best of my abilities, with a few exceptions always explained up front (like hit location damage doubling / damage reduction AFTER defenses are applied rather than before in my Heroic games to reduce PC deaths from headshots despite high defenses, or allowing an abort to block only taking 1/2 of your next phase if you intend to, and can, use the counterattack maneuver or a similar maneuver that 'follows block' on your next phase.)

[Tasha]

In actual gameplay, I follow the rules to the best of my abilities, with a few exceptions always explained up front (like hit location damage doubling / damage reduction AFTER defenses are applied rather than before in my Heroic games to reduce PC deaths from headshots despite high defenses)

BTW you are actually playing Hit Locations Correctly.

 

 

 

6e2 pg 108: Subtract the target’s appropriate Resistant Defense from the BODY of the attack to determine the BODY done. Then multiply that BODY total by the BODYx to find out how much BODY the target actually takes

 

That's the RAW way to use the BODY multiplier since the first game that featured Hit Location

[Kraven Kor]

BTW you are actually playing Hit Locations Correctly.

 

 

 

That's the RAW way to use the BODY multiplier since the first game that featured Hit Location

 

Is my way RAW for Damage Reduction as well?  Apply defenses first, then reduce remainder by %?

 

Wouldn't be the first time I was doing things correctly despite my intentions

[Sean Waters]

Yes it is: otherwise you are effectively multiplying defences rather than just Stun and Body.

 

Well done

[Kraven Kor]

Huh.

I always figured I was doing those both wrong.  Go figure.

[Tasha]

Huh.

 

I always figured I was doing those both wrong.  Go figure.

LOL. yeah it says to apply "Appropriate Resistant Defenses" that would include Resistant Damage Reduction IMHO

[Zephrosyne]

I have not had the pleasure of running Hero System nearly as much as I would like to.  I have changed very few rules, probably less than ten.  Now I have employed a lot of optional rules, especially from the Advanced Player's Guides 1 and 2 but I don't really think that counts as changing the rules.  That being said, no matter what campaign I run and no matter what game, I always let players know in advance and in writing before the campaign starts what rules are changed and what optional rules are being used.  If they question that changes, I also let them know why.  I believe that is essential to the integrity of the campaign.

[bigbywolfe]

I don't like the wording of the poll.  It is possible to not "hand-wave" a thing and still not play RAW.  Having established house-rules or campaign specific variations is not RAW but does not require hand-waving of any kind and from what I've seen it seems that category is where most GMs sit.  YMMV.

[IndianaJoe3]

I'll generally play RAW unless they produce a situation that is (IMHO) nonsensical. That doesn't happen often with Hero. I'm more inclined to limit what players can do with the rules to enforce a set of genre conventions.

[NuSoardGraphite]

I go with the second option. I try to go with the RAW whenever possible, though I oftentimes find them to be obtrusive. This is why I'm picky on what games I play and why I tend to default to HERO....because out of all the games I've played, Hero has the rules that I can deal with the most.

[Vondy]

I prefer to be relatively faithful to the rules as written.

 

Any alternate methods or systems I want to use are explained before play.

 

Those usually obviate the need to hand-wave die rolls that would kill the story or the fun.

 

When a really disruptive result does arise, I prefer to deal with it by way of interpretation.

 

Don't change the die-roll - focus instead of creatively explaining the outcome.