Law or Guidelines
 

In my Gaming group I have quite the Diverse outlook on how to Correctly Rp and run a Campaign. (Its what happens when you get that many different personallities in one room) We get along fine, but one little burr is that some members of the group feel the Wizards D&D books are Law and should be followed to a tee while others feel they are mere guidelines. How do you guys run your Campaigns?

Most games I run are the "beer and pretzels" kind; while I prefer to stick with the rules when I know about 'em for certain, I also enjoy simply tossing the book aside and playing things off the top of my head. You wanna slam into that gobb'o with your shield? Well, the book makes it so that will almost certainly end badly or simply uselessly - what fun is that though?

I can always count on you to comment on my random D&D situations Gram. Although ours are a bit more "Kool-aid and McDonalds" as of late.

We just play. One battle per game, mostly just arguing about who should do what. In the end one of us is tired, two of us (including me) are arguing and almost at eachothers throats and incase we have a fourth player, well, he just sits, makes the occacional bad joke and is still. Believe it or not.... ITS FUN!

I don't believe it. Cruelty, you live on the edge my friend.

Reminds me - whenever I play (as in, don't DM), I inevitably run my voice ragged. I'm one of those guys who is contantly moving around, shouting and waving his arms. My characters ususally die of stress and random heartattacks as opposed to wounds, now that I think about it...

I am quite the animated gamer too. Each of my NPCs has to have a different voice then anouther. Can get quite hectic. *thinks seeing Gram seizure like that would be priceless. Puts it on his Christmas list*

I know it's the edge
But its fun, and thats whats it all about, Eh?

My games tend to get messed up if I don't use the rules. However, I will alter them when neccessary or when they make the games boring.

I've got two groups. In one, Books are Law. If our DM changes a rule, he explains why, gives an example for and against, and then implements it for all things, not just us. An example would be 3 20's=insta kill. It's not a rule anymore, it's just really rare, and you get bragging rights.

In the second, Books and Guides. If we don't like a rule or a spells effects, we are allowed free reign as long as we don't abuse it. Magic Missile can affect things that were once alive, but are no longer considered such, like blasting a wooden table some orc is hiding behind.