Rules. Who needs ‘em? Oh yeah, games do. However, as a wise man named Morphius once said: some rules can be bent, others can be broken. Do you think that’s air you’re breathing…

I digress. A solid set of rules keeps everyone at the table in happy agreement on how the game should be played, and whether it’s being played fairly. Sometimes a little issue will crop up, though, that begs players to break the rules. Fun. Sometimes, you can gain an immense amount of fun from a small investment in rules-breaking.

For example, Modos RPG rules (rule 314, if you’re counting) say that once you over-fill your damage pool, you can’t contribute to the scene anymore. So if you were playing a nano-tech assassin, hiding in the rafters of an assembly hall with a vorpal stiletto, and your target steps up underneath you to practice his speech, you could drop down to kill him. But…the two guards that you hadn’t spotted were on alert, and they shoot you as you fall, pushing you over max physical damage. The rules say that you can’t contribute, so you’d probably just hit the ground in a heap behind your target, right? But if the Guide bends that rule and lets you stab before becoming Disabled, you walk away from the session feeling like a successful assassin (whether or not your allies were able to save you)!

Suddenly I feel like I use too many assassin examples. Let me know if I should try something more peaceful…like an Austen-esque tea party. Those can be fun, right? Or would that require some rule-bending?