House Rules?

[kzucker]

What is your take on the use of House Rules ...and in particular for this game system?

I kind of like House Rules, and have never noted them to be a problem.

These days, however, it seems like entertaining House Rules is taken as agreement that the game as published is not "the best."

Have you encountered this perception ...

[Cundiff]

Can't say in regards to this particular game. However, I do find the term "House Rules" to have a negative connotation in that it smacks of a couple of players in their deep dark basements fiddling with stuff that they simply have no knowledge. I like the term Variant Rules far better. This term has a connotation that implies, or seems to me to do so, an educated and thoughtful application of history to correct either mistakes or add someting to a game that was left out. I've seen lots of "House Rules" that were the worst things imaginable and seemingly came from the far quadrants of Alpha Centauri.

[kzucker]

Tom,

I see. I didn't realize there was a negative connotation on "House Rules."

[cerebus]

I would concur it has a negative reaction. My reaction to "house rules" is often "They probably playtested this game for 100s of hours, and after 2 games you feel you need to "fiddle" with it" from the perceived idea that something is broken, when probably a few more games will prove this is not the case...

Of couse some games are broken, and others can certainly have "optional rules" that don't "fiddle", but may just change parameters of the game, for example more realism but at the expense of longer playing time.

If the rule change comes from the designer, I'd consider that authoritive, just give it a different name than house rules, like "varient" or "optional".

cheers,
Chris.

[kzucker]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for confirming that. Since OSG games often take a unique perspective, gamers unfamiliar with that ethos will often assume that something is wrong with the game. It's easier to change the game's rules than to change your own engrained point of view.