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[generic] The Game with the Most Misapplied Rule Awards

Neil Gow

Neil Gow

Demi-God
Following on from a conversation I had this morning ... which game rule (game and rule) do you think is most consistently misapplied?

For example: Position and Effect in Blades in the Dark, or it might be Using Inspiration in D&D 2014

Bonus marks for explaining how it is misapplied and how it should be applied!

i.e. In D&D 2014, Inspiration is used to allow you to roll with advantage BEFORE you roll the dice, not to reroll an additional advantage dice AFTER you have failed

Neil
 
D6 Star Wars action sequence. The game itself is beautifully simple and intuitive. The action sequence could get messy with multiple actions, reactions, hastened-actions. All of this was not helped by the fact that every edition and rules update did it slightly differently. I don't think I ever played under two GM who did this that same way.
 
All 2d20 rules once you have played more than 3 versions of 2d20.
 
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GUMSHOE - Core clues do not require a point spend, except when they do.
 
I was going to reply, then I worried that I had misapplied a rule that I thought was being misapplied.
 
Another D&D one, especially for @GuyMilner - there is no such thing as a Critical Hit on a skill roll in D&D. Natural 20s get you diddly-squat for a skill roll. You can oooh and ahhh as much as you want, but they do nothing whatsoever, apart from giving you a base of 20 to add your skill mod to.

Another D&D one - which editions have flanking rules, and which don't, and when they do, how they are applied...

Players roll the dice in Liminal, not the GM. This was always the intent of the rules, but so many people misread it and play in the usual expected fashion.
 
Neil Gow said:
Players roll the dice in Liminal, not the GM. This was always the intent of the rules, but so many people misread it and play in the usual expected fashion.
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When that was first explained to me it was like a massive lightbulb moment.
 
I was reading a Traveller scenario recently and it had a whole set of rolls for the referee. My brain was mentally messing around to turn them player facing instead. I think I have been infected by PbtA.
 
One occasionally misapplied rule is the BRP expectation that you have to parry/dodge on a missed attack, which you don't. Current BRP has a cumulative -30% to subsequent parries (not new in the family of BRP), so not having to parry on a missed attack is really useful. This is also true for the Swedish BRP of Dragonbane.
 
First Age said:
One occasionally misapplied rule is the BRP expectation that you have to parry/dodge on a missed attack, which you don't. Current BRP has a cumulative -30% to subsequent parries (not new in the family of BRP), so not having to parry on a missed attack is really useful. This is also true for the Swedish BRP of Dragonbane.
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That's very much the difference between BRP games that are 'no need' and those that are essentially opposed rolls and there is a comparison of success levels afterwards.
 
The roleplaying equivalent of the "Free Parking" rule in Monopoly? I often see GMs and players often misinterpreting a number of the rules for Fate.
 
Nathan said:
The roleplaying equivalent of the "Free Parking" rule in Monopoly? I often see GMs and players often misinterpreting a number of the rules for Fate.
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I suspect that's down to so many versions and variants of Fate that are similar but different that result in people getting the different version muddled up. I guess not if someone jumped in straight with Core, but before that Fate came in many different flavours. And to be honest, getting the rules of Fate isn't that big a deal, it's not one of those game built around finely balanced classes.
 
For Fate, it's always damage. It's become a bit of a running joke for us - how does this one deal with damage then?
 
I thought we confirmed in the previous thread that nobody actually plays Fate anymore?

And, yes, D&D has no levels of success. Roll a 20? Add your skill and compare to the DC. Roll a 1? Add your skill and compare to the DC.

A little obscure, maybe, but I wonder how many folks realise that Into The Odd, Electric Bastionland, and Mythic Bastionland all have different damage systems when more than 1 opponent attacks.
 
GuyMilner said:
I thought we confirmed in the previous thread that nobody actually plays Fate anymore?
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Is Fate dead Jim?

When it comes to RPGs I'm something of a necrophiliac. Must be near time to get Age of Arthur 2e out, or maybe do a convention run using Fate. I'm placing the aspect 'Gorging on nostalgia'. :)
 
I like FATE, I mean I invested ten years trying to "grok it" so I need to get a return on that investment.

It suffers from the same issue as the D&D family, the 2d20 family, the BRP family and others with very similar mechanisms "but not quite the same". Perhaps it's just a problem for we who play too many systems? :cool:
 
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