this post was submitted on 21 May 2025
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The rule of cool: I don't give a crap about internal consistency
Okay just this once, sure why not: I can't be bothered to actually know the rules and I am sure that players will never ever reference this one instance when they ask for something impossible next time.
If you put internal consistency above fun then what's the point?
Because some people enjoy playing a game with fair and consistent rules, and find playing calvinball to be frustrating bullshit that is very often obviously biased towards certain kinds of actions, decisions, player builds, even just outright biased toward specific players.
Calvinball! is that a C&H reference? ive never seen that particular joke in the comic strip but i feel like i instantly get what the reference means
Yes.
Calvinball is a convoluted game where Calvin amd Hobbes constantly and arbitrarily introduces new rules and addendums and exceptions to existing rules, on the spot, whenever something they don't like happens, so that the outcome will always bend toward what they want it to be, ie, the rule composer winning.
The strips are basically a storyboarded out version of the concept of 'moving the goalposts'.
EDIT:
I got some details wrong:
There are are multiple short and longer strips that mention or are fully based around calvinball.
Hobbes is actually usually the one more successful at rembering the current, but also ever shifting set of rules, and is also usually better at making up rules that overtly benefit himself.
Some of the strips seem to involve rules being made up that are more just chaos for the sake of chaos, other strips more clearly feature biased, weaponized rules.
So... sometimes its chaotic neutral, sometimes it is chaotic evil that is based around chaotic rule making, so perhaps thats lawful evil...
I've always found this particular 'loophole' kind of problematic and nonsensical with the DnD alignment chart of lawful v neutral v ~~evil:~~ chaotic:
There are many real world systems where complex codes, rulesets, laws, are in fact so complex, contentious, inconsistently modified or interpreted that... chaotic evil and lawful evil begin to merge.
Just because it would be cool doesn't imply that it would be fun (for everyone involved)?
And just because it isn't consistent doesn't mean it isn't fun for everyone either.
The point of playing games is to have fun, the rest is secondary. This includes rules.
And the rules allows interesting situations and fun to emerge.
sv_cheats 1 may be fun for one but not others.
Edit:
I don't have a problem with bending the rules and going whacko from time to time but it has to be declared in session zero so that everyone is on board.