By Cixtian S. Trybe
Published: October 3, 2005
Adapting Rules to the play group
While it is in no way a mandatory thing, I suggest that a GM grant all players the option of adding rules of their own to the list, or even suggesting changes to the established rules. This serves three purposes:
FIRST… it gets the players involved in the heart of the game. (In another article I talk all about getting good players, and keeping your players in the game, mind body and soul. Read it!) They start to feel like more than just players, because they see that ideas and decisions they have are changing the face of the game.
SECOND… it covers bases you might not initially think of in your own writing. These players are often coming from all over the place… all walks of life, and they are joining the game and dragging their likes and dislikes of other games with them. You want the best game you can have, this is your source of material. Use it.
THIRD… it let’s you know what the players want, and weather or not you are truly up to the task at hand. If your players all think that one of your rules is wrong… LISTEN TO EM… you’ll find it easier to keep good players if you aren’t holding stringently to that ‘You must post in the nude’ rule.
In essence, keep your group in mind through out the development stage of your game, and especially when devising house rules. It’ll save you time, heartache, and possibly save your game.
Content
Content is an important aspect to the House rules list. It’s useful to know that the players understand what you expect as well as –why- you expect it, and it’s also important to get this understanding across in as clear and concise a way as possible.
On a house rules document I tend to place ## Areas of content:
Posting Conventions – This lets players know what I expect to see in a post as I get it. This tells them what to put in the subject line, how much writing they should do, how they should close, and how they should edit the ‘saved content’ in replies.
Characterization – This is the area where I talk about the appropriate ways of interacting in the game. It deals with arguments, player properties (Such as characters, props and NPC’s), and consequences of in game conflicts. One of the first things I push in this section is –I AM THE GM SO WHAT I SAY GOES-. Of course I don’t phrase it so empirically but the point is gotten across.
Taboos – These are topics, and behaviors that are big –no no’s- in the game. It’s important because one players action can completely alienate an entire player base in a game. In Taboos I tend to post
Advancement – Advancement is important, because it let’s players know that they aren’t don’t this stuff for nothing. Put advancement rates, and the likes here.
Making the darned thing available
The main point of this thrust is “MAKE SURE YOUR PLAYERS HAVE READ THE RULES!!!” Some people add the house rules to a packet of info that is sent to every potential player of the game. This is a good idea because it gives the players a chance to read them early, and decide if they can live with these rules.
Below I present a sample of house rules I’ve used for a game I was planning to run. The game calls the Game Master the ‘Holly Hock God’, and there are other conventions that may not make sense, but the general gist is there.
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