Quote:
Originally Posted by Kromm
Where I entered the hobby, we used "rules lawyer" specifically to mean a person who engages in twisting the rules for the gain of their character or to serve their personal sense of fun, regardless of the loss of time or goodwill around the gaming table. By analogy to actual lawyers: The kind of lawyer who goes into law for the money alone, ready to argue anything for anyone if it pays well, rather than the kind of lawyer who goes into law out of an interest in justice or public service. We called the latter "rules geeks," usually.
|
A rules Layer will laugh at "the most important rule in Gurps" and "die on that hill." A rules geek will go, "Oh, okay we're doing it that way...never mind."
If the former isn't a teenager or young adult (which can be salvaged), I tend to avoid them. I never have a problem discussing rules with a rules geek, I'm always trying to find something new. Those discussions take place before or after the game though which most rules geeks respect the table.