200 Words on The Role of Rules

Roleplaying games are a collaborative, creative enterprise with multiple players collectively choosing what happens in the story. Through the course of the game, players continuously decide what their characters to, how they act and react, and what happens in the game world, such as weather and politics. The sole purpose of rules within an rpg are to help made good choices. Some players do not need any rules at all, beyond common social guidelines of civility and cooperation. For the rest, rules enhance the game by focusing and guiding the decision making process along lines that are appropriate for the game’s genre, tone, and setting, as envisioned by the game’s designer. The factors involved in the decision can include elements within the game world (character ability and opposing factors) and/or considerations of storytelling and meta-gaming. Rules aid cooperation and avoid disagreements among players because they can all refer to agreed upon standard. Randomizers, like dice, both serve as a neutral decision maker and expand creativity by providing results the players might not have chosen on their own. Most of the time, players are able to make good choices on their own and the rules should stay out of the way.