Re:"The Rules Lawyer's Guide to RQ"

From: David Cheng (drcheng@sales.stern.nyu.edu)
Date: Sat 03 Jul 1993 - 03:54:08 EEST


Some clarification on the RLGRQ idea:

* No axe to grind here. What I'm concerned about is the "make it
  optional" proliferation. I like the idea that optional rules be
  presented in shaded boxes. I do not like the idea of 35% of the

  RQ4 book being shaded boxes...

* I see this as a way to get good rules development recognized. The
  Runic Sorcery idea has a lot of "that's neat" value, but I don't
  see it becoming the core sorcery rules. It would be a shame if
  only people with Internet access saw such items.

* In my discussions with Oliver, I've come to understand that there
  is a sizable percentage of RQers who want significantly fewer/
  simpler rules. Have you noticed that even the unstoppable Nick
  Brooke hasn't been posting very much lately? I know as fact that
  he's a "simpler is better" kind of guy, and I fear that he,
  and others like him, have abandoned this discussion in
  frustration.

How about a new approach:

PROS of the "Rules Lawyer's Guide" (sarcastic title intentional)
=================================
* Keeps core RQ4 book lean and unintimidating
* FORCES hard decisions about what gets put in RQ4, and what gets
  "relegated" to the supplement. This helps fight the "make it an
  optional rule in a shaded box" syndrome.
* Allows good material to still see the light of day, even if it
  conflicts with the "standard" rules in the core RQ4 book.
  Remember, this is a book of variants, too.

CONS of the "Rules Lawyer's Guide"
=================================
* Even though we can say in big bold print "the rules presented here
  are all meant to be optional," there will still be compaints about
  having to buy multiple books to 'have a full set of rules.'
* Confusion and complexity when running tournament events.
* Pulls material away from possible publication in magazines. This
  is a serious concern, as having a RQ variant appear in, say, _White
  Wolf_ is free publicity.

I've got us started. Help me out here - what else?

-David Cheng


0,,


This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.7 : Sat 05 Jul 2003 - 20:28:13 EEST