So you’re minding your own business, scrolling through your social media feed when one of your gaming pals pops up with a notification. It says simply, “Read this.”

“What jolly good fun!” you think to yourself. “One of my fellow practitioners of the nerdly arts wishes to engage in a bit of a palaver. I do wonder what he wishes me to see?”

And so, like the unsuspecting dupe that you are, you click the link. Suddenly you’re accosted with developer clarifications, angry forum posts, and a mounting pile of evidence pointing towards one inescapable conclusion: You were wrong about the thing. Cue your gaming pal piping up again.

“Still think you understand how the thing works? >:3″

And it’s the angry-eyebrows kitty face that really pushes you over the edge. This is not jolly good fun at all. Now you’re outraged and appalled. You check your books. Your books say that you’re right. And now you’re set up perfectly for the shouting match.

“I don’t care what they say on the forums. This is how we’ve always played it.”

“But it’s unbalanced!”

“Your mother is unbalanced!”

And so you’ve descended into head of Henry Kissinger territory. Nobody wants to spend time in those dread and dismal lands.

For my money, I don’t think it matters what the thing happens to be this week. You can go with the errata or stick with the original; your game will probably survive either way. But when it comes to rules disputes, the best advice I ever heard boils down to this: When there’s a questionable ruling at the table, make it a point not to always argue for your character’s benefit. You undermine your credibility when you do that. Rulings are rarely clear-cut, and if you calm your tits long enough to consider the matter impartially, you can usually see the other fellow’s point of view. There’s always room for interpretation in these things. That’s why there’s an argument in the first place.

Question of the day then: What was the thing for you? What was the rules dispute that caused the most controversy in your group? Let’s hear it in the comments!

 

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