Movement Rule Tweak

[Kirk]

Originally Posted by Jim Kane

I think we all want this, if for no other reason than to feed our desire for more, More, MORE.

Again, I do want to ask an important philosophical point regarding alterations to the rules set. I asked this question before - somewhere around here - and the reply was :::crickets:::

So, I will ask everyone again:

IF we locked SJ in a room, and did not let him out until he clarified each and every point on the rules - leaving no gray area whatsoever - Could we run the risk of depersonalizing the rules, by eliminating all possible variations of interpretations, and, potentially kill-off what might be a key part of the unique MOJO that makes TFT, TFT?

JK

To respond, I think the rules need to be clear, knowing that the *rules*, if stated, can allow the GM to alter what they feel they need to change to meet playing style. It could state that the GM can say there are no swords in a particular place, say Calif Ornia, unless black market, or that everyone is seen with a sword on their belt in the PCs latest port of Hugh Ston. But the *rules* about what is and isn't alterable need to be clear, and those that aren't should be even clearer! :)

Or perhaps think about driving. One should be able to plan a trip and drive where possible (GM designed TFT adventure), but the rules of the road (combat and other interactive and world design rules) should apply to almost everyone, except where the authorities or an emergency deems otherwise.

[Jim Kane]

Originally Posted by Kirk

To respond, I think the rules need to be clear, knowing that the *rules*, if stated, can allow the GM to alter what they feel they need to change to meet playing style. It could state that the GM can say there are no swords in a particular place, say Calif Ornia, unless black market, or that everyone is seen with a sword on their belt in the PCs latest port of Hugh Ston. But the *rules* about what is and isn't alterable need to be clear, and those that aren't should be even clearer! :)

That's true KIRK, agreed 100%. Let me put a finer-point on what I am getting at about Depersonalizing the rules:

Let us imagine that the published rules to Baseball never actually state if players were to run the bases counter-clockwise, or clockwise. People play the game both ways, with the good feeling that they are absolutely playing the game according the rules, and with no ill-effects.

So that's another thing I have to wonder if it is part of what makes up the special magic and mojo of TFT: People can play the rules-set many different ways, and still be playing "by the rules", and the game plays wonderfully regardless.

You can't really do that with Chess without destroying the structure of the game; and most people do it to Monopoly (where I know of very few people who actually play the "official" rules by the letter) and spend years cross-legged in the basement rec-room, laughing, fighting, gloating, and moaning, without issue.

This "which way to run the TFT bases" phenomenon occurs in a great number of places with TFT; therefore, the net-effect is that without even making a conscious rules-changes, people automatically and naturally tailor SJ's specific intention of the rules nonetheless - usually based on how their mind works and what makes sense to them - and unlike most other game-systems, the game holds up great, and thereby creates a highly-customized game, which automatically attunes itself to the mental process of any one group.

Sort of like how your best pair of old jeans, somehow magically tailor themselves to fit you like a glove over time.

So, what I was wondering was: if every single TFT rule was made crystal-clear - with no gray area remaining whatsoever - might the rules also end-up De-personalized, and the natural, special mojo killed off in the process?

"Although the operation was a success, the patient died on the table."

So while I think everyone wants to see the obvious ambiguities and anomalies clarified, and such, but at what point does one stop, so as not to edit-out the mojo?

I am not sure ANYONE can answer that question.

JK

[Kirk]

I would say, Jim, that many times to make things more clear, instructions need to be made simpler and more concise, not longer or more convoluted.

There are places in TFT that I think all agree are ambiguous or contradictory, and we were all good enough to work our way through these areas with machetes of our own making.

But having various footpaths to arrive at a conducted game session has its downsides, The Problem of Variantism, so to speak. It keeps players from easily moving from play group to play group without confusion or heated discussion. It has other consequences, as well, that we need not discuss now.

I think TFT allows a lot of design and play differences, limited only by the imagination of the GM and the Players, but they work in a world that has rules, whether it is the basics of swimming or that of magic. I like that there is a predictable range and success to Thrown Spells at -1 DX per meter, for instance, that makes Wizards much more dangerous to stand next to than to view from afar. It works very well and makes sense. Other games don't have this discipline and suffer greatly for it.

It is what makes TFT work, IMO. The ability to rely on a world, though not quite like the one we live in, that has an order, an engineering, a physics to it that makes it both comfortable and predictable in a good way.

Without this internal order, you fundamentally end up with pure fantasy, i.e. child's play, where there is no consistency nor grounding in a world that has its own limits and allowances. Although that type of play has its purpose, I don't want that in an alternative universe that I spend time in.

I am for addressing the slight omissions, the cracks, the contradictory that are currently present in TFT. I don't want Wizards to be able to cast spells according to the whim of the GM (I like the Confusion Spell, so any wizard can cast it for free at any range) or Fighters to have irrational weapons advantages, or wolves to not run on four legs nor howl at the moon at night. :)

[Jim Kane]

Originally Posted by Kirk

I think TFT allows a lot of design and play differences, limited only by the imagination of the GM and the Players, but they work in a world that has rules, whether it is the basics of swimming or that of magic.

KIRK - I agree whole-heartedly on this key-point; as well all the rest. An excellent post, my friend.

Well stated!

JK