Quote:
Originally Posted by JLV
Yes, but they were a wargame company, and used a very rigid standard rules set (I remember them talking about having the rules basically loaded on a computer, and you could just select what kind of Zone of Control (for example) you wanted (from "rigid" to almost none) and the rule would automatically be downloaded onto the page...in fact, if you ever saw Strategy I, they basically did it that way in that game). Their system was a probable over-reaction to the sort of infamous rules writing that included such gems as "Supply -- pick any supply rule," that appeared in one wargame back in the day...
They tended to be thorough and legalistic in their writing because of all the "rules lawyers" out there who contributed to things like the "warring clubs" era back in the early 60's -- a history of which Simonsen and Dunnigan were all too well aware. Plus, it tended to cut down the amount of time the staff spent answering rules questions mailed in by all of us gamers.
They were actually experimenting with more effective rules writing in places like Ares and S&T at just about the time they went tango uniform thanks to Jim Dunnigan's poor business skills.
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Well see, you are hitting it right on the head. There is a HUGE difference between rules written in LEAGALESE, and what SJ does; which is informing the rules with a style that has a Lawerly-logic imbued into it for clarity, specificity, and contingency accounted for in it's content and presentation.