[RMS]

Originally Posted by Nightshade

That's got just about nothing to do with what the rules actually said to do, though. In fact, the rules refered to the duration of spirit magic both in terms of real time and melee rounds.

Sure it does. IMO the rules are very clear: Personal/Battle/Spirit Magic lasts a while, Divine/Rune Magic lasts a lot longer (and has a much longer range), and Sorcery lasts for however long it was boosted too. Yes, the rules give specific numbers because some people need that kind of detail, but I don't so I don't use it. I interpret to roughy 5 minutes (or two minutes in RQII) or 15 minutes, but I'm not about to waste time/energy actually tracking it. If I want to do accounting I balance my check book or something....not spend my fun time doing that.

There's no doubt that I'm very happy to read between the lines and go for the spirit of the rules (as I interpret them) rather than take them literally. It's an RPG so I never felt that need. If I play a war game, sure, but not for an RPG.

That'd never fly, locally. Consistency of rules is considered a virtue around here, and things like the GM having to fake it are considered an unfortunate occasional necessity. And we're a pretty big bunch of grognards (the average age in the hobby is probably 20 years at this point).

I've never had a single complaint about my GMing, and frankly I doubt most people would even understand what I'm winging and not, if I choose not to tell them. However, if I get someone who's more interested in rules than having fun playing an RPG I have absolutely no problem throwing them to the curb: BTDT. I have zero tolerance about rules lawyering, questioning rulings, etc. Sounds like a young group!

There was a period with some of the very early games where you had little choice; OD&D or even original Traveller were so sketchy in spots that you were completely on your own if you hit something unusual, but there's a reason we moved away from games like that.

I've never seen a game that's tight enough that it didn't need winging on a regular basis. I'd probably be bored stiff as a GM if my players weren't constantly trying to do things not specificly adjacated by the rules. One of the things I love about BRP/RQ is how easy this is to do because the mechanics are so transparent and logical.

I have to admit that's--boggling. 70 RQ characters, even most of the cookie-cutter--wow.

My longest running campaign did have a couple of very big battles, but these were involving hundreds and then thousands of people, lead by the PCs. Obviously, I wasn't going to use RQ. I ended up using a homebrew fantasy war game, but it broke out into individual RQ combats with PCs or important NPCs (run by a player) that had direct affects on the battle field, and stretched into the heroplane. It lasted for several sessions as we had three separate encounters before the finale in Pavis where the PC's army forced the Lunars out of Prax.