These are the Rules, that I've just made up

So, let's have a little moment to breathe about the rules in the game. When I buy a game, I tend to sit down and go over the other stuff and save the rules for last. The reason for that is that I'm a huge proponent of saving the worst bit for the end. I hate rules, I do. I used to love them when I was younger, because they were the structure on which my gaming house was built. They were comfortating, and familiar and if you knew them well you could do whatever you wanted.

Then I got older, and then I realized rules were kind of like the house that you couldn't remodel. Well, you can (I figured out that later) but if you had someone in your game who loved rules above the game itself, doing anything that went beyond the rules was like pulling teeth. It was hard, painful and left you frustrated more often than now.

Now that I'm even older, and I've done this writing a book or two thing, I've come to realize that rules are just there for when you need them, and the less you need them the better. Often times, rules can get in the way of a good story. That's why there's this term called "Rule Zero" which is, when put succinctly is, "if you don't like it and it doesn't work, throw it the hell out."

There are many reasons why a rule doesn't work. It's overly complicated, or overy specific. If a rule can only apply to when you're falling out of a burning building and landing on concrete, then it's a bad rule. If the rule takes you more than a minute to figure out, then it's a bad rule. If you have to dig through three different books to find the various references on those rules to make sure you've got it right, then it's a bad rule. We can play the bad rule game all day, really. It's fun, I should start a thread where we play the, "It's a bad rule when.." game where you fill in the end. It'll probably be just me playing, but I've been known to entertain myself.

Anyway, a friend sent me on towards this website, Story Games. I'd admit that I'm a little hesitant to do it, mainly because while I was lurking I came across the following thread. So someone played an IaWa game and it didn't quite follow the rules of the book. Now, I know this game because I was in it. I was one of the people who got co-opted to be the co-leader for the game. I'm not ashamed to admit it despite the fact that there was a lot of whining on that thread about how we didn't follow the rules.

I kid you not. After the description there was a note from the writer/creator of In a Wicked Age and he said, and I quote:

"Huh. Discouraging.

-Vincent"

My first though was, "Seriously? Seriously? Well, how about you fuck right off."

You see, I'm of the opinion that if you're playing one of my games that's awesome, period ... end of sentence. Have fun, do whatever the hell you want with it. You don't like this rule, or that rule? Throw them out, make a new one! You think the game is good, but it inspires you to write your own because you think you cane make it better. Rock on sister! Just be prepared to have me read what you did and do the same to you because it's going to have the same effect on me.

"Huh, discouraging?"

I've got news for you. I do love In A Wicked Age. However, what I dislike the most about it is the whole fucking rule system. I've read the book several times and the timing issues makes me scratch my head again and again. I don't care if you got it and it's just like this. I've had people try to explain it to me and it still makes me scratch my head. It's like Burning Wheel in that regard, beautiful book wonderful idea but at some point in time I throw my hands up in the air and say, "Screw this noise" and I go back to reading A Penny For My Thoughts so I can understand that I'm not a moron.

When you write a game, and people don't really get it, then the fault lies not with the reader but with the writer for failing to communicate the rules and ideas behind their game. I know this, I fail on a regular basis when it comes to how I write my stuff. Why? Because this writing thing is hard. However, if someone plays a game a certain way I'm not going to tell them to stop. My first words are going to be, "Keep playing!" Because they main reason for all of this is to have fun, and if they're having fun then more power to them and less wanking off for me. It also lets me sit down and know where I messed up and where I need to be better in communicating my ideas.

"Discouraging."

My second thought, "Really? Really? How about you fuck right off."