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8th Ed. E-mail GW FAQ team

Discussion in 'Rules Help' started by PlasmaDavid, Jan 7, 2014.

  1. Sleboda
    Troglodon

    Sleboda Active Member

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    @gwh - A few things.

    1) Where does "it makes sense" end?* And what it something "makes sense" in two different ways to two different players? Why not simply let the rules themselves be the impartial arbiter?

    What "makes sense" to each person is so massively colored by that person's individual experiences, beliefs, culture, environment, etc.

    2) You are absolutely spot on that GW encourages people to play as they see fit. I'll never deny that, but it will always remain one of my single largest issues with GW. If they are going to SELL me a set of rules (for a hefty sum at that!) then why are they telling me to ignore them when I want to? Why oh why are they setting up gamers to argue (or at least disagree)?

    The thing is, they don't even need to to tell us that we can do what we want. That's a basic point of freedom, isn't it? Of course we can change the rules. Oh course! I can also take the tomato off of my burger or cut the legs off my jeans to make shorts if I want. I don't need the producer of an item telling me it's ok to modify the item after I buy it. In most (non-religiously ruled) countries I am free to do what I want as long as I don't break a law. Why would my gaming be any different?

    It just really gets my goat that GW sells us pricey rules and then not only refuses to support them when they are defective, but actually tells us that we were essentially silly for paying for them in the first place and that if we want different rules, we can make up our own. Grr. Double grr.

    3) As to when it matters, yes, it matters in tournaments as you say. It also matters when finding new players, but that's not as trivial as you make it out to be. How many thousands of possible rules variants are we expected to cover before we play? Even if we just covered the top 10, that could take far too long. If we gloss it over, we are likely to encounter disagreements in the game. All this can be avoided by simply playing the rules we both bought and own. If we as players feel such a strong need to change rules, why are we playing Warhammer anyway? I certainly didn't but a $75 rulebook and $50 army book only to be expected to ignore sections of what I bought. I like Warhammer, warts and all, and find that the smoothest games I have ever played are with people who don't want to change the game, accepting the fun of the experience as is.


    * Just had a fictitious example of where "makes sense" could go wrong. Yes, it is made up, but it's not all that unreasonable to see this happening.

    Let's say I used Amber Spear to kill a Hydra in one shot. The rules of the Hydra say it cannot attempt to recover its wounds. I can envision playing someone, especially if they are a veteran Dark Elf player used to Regeneration, saying "Well, that doesn't make sense. He can get back up all the other times, but not this one? I know what the rules say, but it makes more sense to me to be able to try to come back from the Spear as well. Don't you agree?"

    No. I don't.

    And what about the undead poison thing? Does it makes sense that poison affects undead? Does it make sense that bows don't take a penalty to hit vs skeletons (some shots go between ribs, after all - just like old D&D)? Heck does it make sense that dragons fly, zombies rise up and fight, or that Skycutter chariots function---at all?

    None of this makes sense, but we have rules to bring sense to a senseless environment. If we just go by what makes sense, our games will fall apart pretty quickly.



    => For sure. I was putting a bit of fine detail on the language to help it make sense to anyone reading it. You example is also correct, but notice how you changed the wording to make it work.

    If we begin with the statement that there must be conflict from the second parental source to override the first, we see that your example provides that. My earlier phrasing, however, does not. Again:

    Your Mom says "You may not have cookies today at all."
    Later on your dad says "If you have any cookies today, be sure to wash them down with milk."

    Nowhere in Dad's statement does he say you may have cookies. All he says is that if you do have some, you must have milk with them. Mom's limit is still in place and has not, in any way, be contradicted.


    For the record, for the 10th time probably, I will say that I believe the rules will be changed by GW to allow more PF benefit. I'm just talking current state.
     
  2. PlasmaDavid
    Kroxigor

    PlasmaDavid Active Member

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    Reading the FAQs of other armies, it's interesting to see they DO answer "already apparent" questions. Even wishful-thinking types.
     
  3. Sleboda
    Troglodon

    Sleboda Active Member

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    Yeah, it's true. Makes me sick, I tells ya! :)


    I think it comes down to who is on the job at the time.
     
  4. Ondjage
    Razordon

    Ondjage Member

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    The customer is always right eh?

    I think there is a certain difference between getting questions from customers and from other departments within the company.

    I imagine the idea of the thread is that everyone sends a mail, curiously asking how to interpret PF and The Deliverance of Itza (and other things) to pressure/motivate them to release a FAQ sooner!



    Peace out.
     
  5. Screamer
    Temple Guard

    Screamer Member

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    I disagree, that would only be true if all the rules were clearly written, but quite a few of the rules can be interpreted in different ways and both interpretations is equally valid. And that applies both to conflicting rules and single, badly worded, rules.

    And part of the FAQ-document is the errata, some of the questions is more like "is it really supposed to ...?" ie PF, the ripper/terradon chief joining flyers. And, of course, my favorite special rule set with the piranha blade. At the moment the rules are crystal clear that the slann can have huge magic missiles, but that just doesn't feel correct, even though it is. Hence the need for FAQ/errata.

    And it doesn't really matter if the answers is in the faq or errata part of the FAQ-document.
     

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