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Famous Gaming Laws/ Axioms/ Principles
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Famous Gaming Laws/ Axioms/ Principles
#1This is a list of laws, axioms, and strong recomendations from published and/or famous game designers/ writers I have recently collected. Have I missed any?
The Stafford Principle: Maintain a sense of wonder in the campaign. Make sure there is always some surprise or something special that makes a session, an adventure, a campaign and your whole world unique.
Perrin Principle: Be consistent. If you do something once, it becomes a precedent. The players will remember it, and count on it being the same next time. If it's not the same later, have a darn, good, obvious reason for the players that it's different.
Petersen Principle: Make it fun. Don't be afraid to change a plot to go with player enthusiasm. Try something crazy or goofy, even (or especially) in serious settings. Roll with the mood and make it happen. Be high energy!
Sandy's Axiom: Involve at least three senses in every scene. These can be described or experienced (e.g. props, incense, etc.). People have five senses, and adding details about weird sounds, the unusual smell or the texture of something adds to the gaming experience.
Tucholka's Law: Players will always do what they want, so know all the world background material well enough that they can never go places or do things that you are totally unprepared for.
Aaron's Principle I: Always listen to your players. They will constantly be analyzing, theorizing, and commenting on the adventures. Often, their discussions will give you even better ideas than those you have been implementing.
S. Jackson's Law--If a player has found an exploitable loophole in the rules, congratulate the player on their ingenuity and ruthlessly disallow it.
Levekius' Law: Make sure everybody understands that you need to give to get. Nobody can come here and just suck everything without giving back in creativity, time, politeness, money, transport, book, etc. Everybody should invest time and effort in this campaign in one way or another. Flush the people who do not.
Robin's Law: If you and your players are having fun, you are a good GM.
Sandy's paradox: Consider any rule absolutely inviolate, until you reach a point where you understand why you shouldn't break it. At which point, you can break it when you feel you need to.
Fitzpatrick's Law: Pay attention to your players. Listen to them. Watch them. Don't let them get bored. Give them what they think they want, but make them work for it. Let them go on their own paths. Just keep an eye on their responses and be ready to step in.
Oh, yes.. One more...
MoonHunters law: Better games come from better gamers. All members of the troupe should strive together to make the best game possible. -
Famous Gaming Laws/ Axioms/ Principles
#2I got one for uncooperative people:
Murphy's Law: Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. -
Famous Gaming Laws/ Axioms/ Principles
#3Ria's Theory: No matter what you do, someone won't care for it.
Ria's Corollary: If you do something that one or more of your players doesn't care for, and it doesn't make any difference in the quality of play, you've got a good group. You've got a great group if they see it as a challenge.
The Golden Law: The players are not you're enemy, unless you're wargaming, which isn't the same thing at all.
Jill's axiom: It doesn't matter what you do, your players WILL find a way to do something screwy and probably undesirable. Just have fun with it, because the option is bad for everyone. -
Famous Gaming Laws/ Axioms/ Principles
#4Maybe that's your Golden Law...
Erik's Theory: There is no game like a spontaneous game
Cap's Golden Law: There must be grog. Woops! I mean, there must be fun.
Nate's Unfortunate Fallacy: Power x Magic = Success
Uriah's Theory: Player death is OK, sometimes. -
Shameless Bump
#5A rule of thumb I found on a history website
Like great discoveries are found at the greater depths of an archeological dig, great ideas are often found at the bottom of a forum
This was on the bottom of the page. So with a spiffy new title, I have dredged it up again.
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What are you doing looking down here?! Look at the begining of the thread!!! -
Famous Gaming Laws/ Axioms/ Principles
#6Somewhat related to what MoonHunter just said, but...
Law of Piles: The rule you're looking for is always in the last book you look in. -
Famous Gaming Laws/ Axioms/ Principles
#7Law of Hunger and Irritated GMs-
People always get hungry in the middle of the most plot-breaking description.
Puzzling Postulate-
Combat isn't the only way through a quest.
Law of Games-
Remember. It's a game.
Lethe's Axiom-
Villains should be vile. Blackmail, slaughter, and sacrifice should be tools of the trade.
St. Baloney's Secondary Principle-
Adlibing is the single most important quality for GMs. -
Famous Gaming Laws/ Axioms/ Principles
#8the rule of the Untidy GM
You'll lose the notes for exactly that NPC you don't know by heart.
the Rule of the Murderous GM
The more you want the PCs to die, the more chances to do something stupid offer them.
the Rule of Infavourable Odds
A series of of easy rolls is far more likely to fail than one hellishly difficult one. -
Famous Gaming Laws/ Axioms/ Principles
#9Conner's Recursion Principle--munchkin GM's begat munchkin players... which begat munchkin GM's.
Kinslayer's Observation--Paranoid players are attentive players. If a player thinks that the GM is out to "get" him or her, that just means that they are paying attention.
Kinslayer's Detailed Dungeon Dressing Principle (A.K.A. "One Left Shoe")--Since players are accustomed to everything in a game having a purpose and reason, this can be used against them. Odd or out-of-place items, however innocent or innocuous, will be suspect and investigated.
Golgotha's Rule of Emotive Metagaming--As both player and character essentially share the same mind, an emotional state--such as fear or hopelessness--felt by one can be felt by the other. If the player is bored or scared, the character will respond in kind.
Westcott's Premise--Your character isn't you; it's just imaginary numbers on a sheet of paper.
Golgotha's Genuine Geographical Gnome--Players rarely, if ever think to check the authenticity of anything. About the only time that they ever seem to doubt whether something is the genuine article, is when presented with a treasure map for sale. They always suspect those.
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