#Rule of Cool

[dabblingreturns]

Not a watsonisn explanation or a doyalist explanation but a secret third thing.

For example: the locked tomb aviator glasses

Doyalist: tamsyn muir is a known homestuck who sprinkles memes and literary allusions into her work the same way that a good chefs use salt.

Watsonisn explanation: Gideon got the aviator glasses from her mother's niche. Wake in turn stole the glasses of off G1deon's face. G1deon kept the glasses as a memento of pyrrha. Pyrrha had the aviator glasses as a last remain item that belonged to P-. P- had the aviator glasses because she was a cop, and aviators are stereotypical cop glasses all over the world. Aviator glasses are stereotypical cop glasses in New Zealand because they are stereotypical American cop glasses and American culture has a wide reaching effect all over the world. And aviator glasses are a stereotypical American cop glasses because of how enmeshed the American cop culture is with military culture. And aviator glasses were created for the US military in 1929 to reduce glare from the blue light of the sky for pilots ( according to Wikipedia) which sort of connects back to the blue light in the sky of Varun, but also is completely appropriate eye protection for a girl who grew up on pluto

Third secret thing: aviator glasses look cool.

[sca-nerd]

I am DMing for a group of teens and young adults who are learning to play DnD. Last night we were doing character creation for a brand new player joining us who has chosen to play a Ranger. We were going over weapons and their uses and rules when we got to the short bow.

Me> I have my own rules on the short bow.

P1> (who also plays a Ranger) Oh, yeah. She plays by the rule of cool, and this one is really cool.

Me> I allow you to use your short bow in melee combat. Because I have personally shot someone at 5 feet, and so I let you do the same.

Newbie> You what?

Me> If I can do it irl you can do it in game.

Newbie> An actual PERSON?

Me> Yeah.

I didn't elaborate, which was just more hilarious because neither did the other players. They just let him sit and IMAGINE.

[dungeons-and-dictions]

Brandon Sanderson’s Laws of Magic, Expounded

0. Err on the side of awesome

Tons of stories actually start with an awesome idea that is fleshed out.

You can always work out how to make the awesome fit into these rules.

1. An author’s ability to solve conflict with magic in a satisfying way is directly proportional to how well the reader understands said magic.

Deus ex machina is to be avoided at all costs.

There is a sliding scale of “sense of wonder” and “solving problems with magic”/scientific explanation of magic. You lose wonder as you increase science, and vice versa.

Main characters tend to use magic tools instead of magic itself to do this. Think monkey’s paw stories.

Ex. The One Ring is more science, and Gandalf in LotR is more wonder, especially since most of his magic is offscreen. His magic is there to keep the hobbits small and relatable to readers. The One Ring is used by Frodo to solve problems.

This is also a law of foreshadowing, especially since wonder can become science later in the book or another book in the series. Can also be how a magic mystery is solved.

2. Flaws or limitations are more interesting than powers.

Cost and stakes for using magic plays a big part into limitations, too.

Basic limitations as a plot device: someone has better magic; characters cannot use magic; a character’s magic isn’t working/lost; a character/people don’t understand the magic enough

Magic limitations can be combined with character flaws/limits, and social aspects too.

Work with the limitations! Characters don’t need to overcome every weakness, but it should add to the story somehow.

3. Expand what you already have before you add something new.

For magic systems, think of the Judeo-Christian-Muslim split versus ALL the world religions. Those 3 share the same foundations despite being vastly different.

Quality vs quantity

You aren’t required to have languages. Similarly, you don’t need to overwork the magic.

If you add a secondary magic system, your first must have indicated holes in the magic to be filled. It also helps to sprinkle in hints and foreshadowing of a second one and its abilities.

And all of these rules can be applied to your setting and characters in a general sense, too!

Brandon Sanderson’s free 2020 lectures on YT

[t1r3dr3pt1l3z]

Hello gang

JINGLE JANGLE JINGLE JANGLE PAY ATTENTION

I need some help. Keeping this short cause my shorter posts always do better

Im writing a TTRPG campaign that’s heavily Kids on Bikes inspired, and the theme is Alice in Wonderland. I have the plot ready, but I need some wacky mechanics. Please give me your ideas on fun, rool of cool stuff to let my players do!! Keep in mind that I will be playing this at a high school so it has to be mostly appropriate.

[kilowogcore]

Shut up, Robin, running away from explosions without looking back at them is the coolest! So what if they're not plot-relevant explosions!

[shannonallaround]

Something I love about the Sonic the Hedgehog series is that it is unashamedly governed by the Rule of Cool. Just looking at the characters themselves you can see it. Snarky guy who does his own thing and loves his friends and literally runs around the world at the speed of sound? Absolutely incredible. Mysterious guy with an awesome color scheme and an angsty past who can teleport, shoot electric spears, and blast bad guys away with energy shockwaves?? Totally epic. A determined guy who travels back in time to constantly prevent a ruined future and can fly and throw trucks and cars and people with his mind??? Are you KIDDING ME—

[sketchpepper]

🤔Kim Kitsunegi

[lockheed-martin-unofficial]

Introduction to Concorde!

The first concept art page I made of him as a cybertronian, and some sketches from the initial idea in which he was the “ghost” of an airplane.

He crash-landed on earth sometime in the 60-70’s, instinctively took on the alt mode of a Concorde and went right to stasis. He was sent to Air France and flew with them until the type’s retirement in 2003. He was mostly unconscious during this time, or at least unaware of what he truly was. His human design remains as his hologram “pilot”, which he would occasionally use to fly himself.

Tragically, Concorde does not remember anything from before coming to earth (not even his name) and believes himself to be Fr*nch.

Ask him “do it droop” to be immediately impaled by the droop snoot.

[sillypelagicredcrab]

The Swordfish Barovia fits

[inspectorspacetimerevisited]

Have you ever noticed how when the Blorgons or Circuit Chaps (or any other adversary) shoot at someone or something,

the ‘laser beams’ they emit take an awfully long time to reach their targets?

[dungeons-and-dictions]

My fave phrase as a DM

[theidealistcynic]

As someone who is a fan of all kinds of swords, big, small, slashy, stabby, fancy, simple, one-handed, two-handed, and especially magic...

There are some way cooler weapons to give to your characters. Give them a throwing axe that comes back to them like a boomerang. Give them two long gauntlet blades and put them on horseback. Let them have outlandishly big hammers. And please, I really don't see enough of this, GIVE YOUR CHARACTERS CHAIN WHIPS LIKE THE BELMONTS HAVE! It's not real life, you can sacrifice a bit of realism because it's just that cool. I love swords, I really do. But I'm begging you- love other weapons too.

[starboundmagician]

so for no other reason than cool. I changed Onnyxs' Kind Abstrata to only Buster kind

he only uses one buster for the entirety of sburb. its called the Onyx Buster

I'll maybe make a post on how it works but for now, here's his weapons

Pre-ascension. Drill bomb, Fire storm, Freeze Cracker, Thunder Claw, Tornado Hold, Metal Blade, Bounce Ball, Jewel Satellite

Post-ascension he swaps out Thunder Claw and Tornado Hold cause he can fly. Drill bomb, Fire storm, Ice Gattling , Electric Spark, Metal Blade, Bounce Ball, Jewel Satellite, Green Sun Portal 

and yes

he can charge it

[flightyquinn]

Big tip for aspiring and current Dungeon/Game Masters; Don't let the book get in the way of your players' fun.

Note that this doesn't mean you let your players do whatever they want. They don't get to just have stuff or automatically succeed. What it does mean is that when a player asks to do something, if the only reason you have to deny it is that the book doesn't say they can, then the book is probably wrong.

Consider the difference between these two scenarios.

You're DMing 5e, and one of your players is a High Elf Wizard. They would like to make their Arcane Focus a longsword, because their character is proficient.

You're DMing Pathfinder, and one of your players is (again) a High Elf Wizard. They would like their Bonded Item to be a Holy Avenger, and for it to function for them despite their not being a Paladin.

You might be tempted to say no to both of these requests, but consider for a moment that, with the first one, a staff is a valid choice for an arcane focus, and can be used as a weapon. In addition, a longsword costs 15gp, while the most expensive arcane focus (an orb) costs 20gp. So is there really a reason to refuse it? If you're worried about giving the player a free hand when they would normally need to either use a two-handed staff, or else hold their focus in their off hand, then you could say that they get a special "Elven Runeblade" which requires them to touch the runes inscribed on the blade while casting, thus using both hands.

The other one is clearly unbalanced, though. It's a free magic item that's not only quite valuable, but also not for their class. That's a good reason to say no.

Even there though, there just might be room to work with the player, so long as they're not just looking for some free license to munchkin. Starting out with a Holy Avenger might be too much, but it won't always be an unreasonable amount of loot for them to have, and it is possible to trick magic items into working for people they normally wouldn't. If the player is willing to wait a while, you can make it a personal quest for them. Give their character periodic challenges related to their goal of obtaining and learning how to channel their magic through a Holy Avenger, so that by the time they finally manage to get what they asked for, they'll have earned it.

[sagesariadnd]

I Don't Understand Rules Lawyers

I don't really follow tiktok. I don't know much about the group in this video. I barely even know anything about Curse of Strahd which is apparently what they were playing. But this is one of my favorite D&D videos of all time.

I'm sure you've watched it by now but a quick summary since it matters to this conversation: character failed a crucial check, and an unconscious player volunteered a failed death save to give her advantage, through some sort of astral projection. The DM agrees after some negotiation, and that roll causes her to not only pass the first save, but get a natural 20 on the next one to save the encounter.

I barely know anything about who the players or their characters are, but the reactions to her second roll, and the roleplaying of the moment, still make me cry. The relief on her face, the excited scream of the person behind the camera, the absolute chaos that unfolds at her nat20, including the DM himself running a lap and screaming "this is why I play this game!"

This IS why I play this game. For these absolute clutch moments that tell incredible stories that you'll be telling all your friends for the rest of your life. This video is my platonic ideal of the Rule of Cool.

A few months ago, I got into a fight on facebook (my first mistake, I know) with someone who was vehemently against Rule of Cool and giving players any sort of concessions that weren't based in Rules as Written. He argued that the rules were there for a reason, that the only way for players to learn how to play was if they followed the rules exactly. And most of all, he argued that if the DM made a single solitary Rule of Cool ruling, then the table would fall into absolute anarchy of everyone coming up with ridiculous plans and saying "Rule of Cool!" I have a lot of feelings about this.

First of all, if your players are taking advantage of you like that, you don't have a rule problem, you have a player problem. Those are the kinds of people who will take advantage of you using the rules, let alone Rule of Cool. Focus on the actual problem and get better players.

But second of all, this idea that you can never bend or rewrite the rules at all, purely because they're the rules, is against the entire spirit of roleplaying to me. Watch that tiktok again. Look at the reactions to the reroll. Look at the excitement and relief at the table when she proceeds to pass with flying colors. Look at her sobbing as the other character projects himself to her and tells her to believe. So much passion and emotion and excitement and beautiful roleplaying from one DM concession.

Why would anybody want to deny their players that? Why would the rules ever be more important than this kind of moment with your players - your friends?

It wasn't even like he was asking for a rule bend just for the sake of it. I don't know the character, but in their negotiation and the effects in game, it's clear that this has a basis in character, be it abilities, backgrounds, or simply the bond between the characters. And there was still a risk; he expended a death save, bringing him to two failures, and she still had to roll again. She could have failed that roll even after all that. There was still risk. It wasn't just "I win because Rule of Cool."

That's how Rule of Cool actually works. Being given the chance to try. And even if a DM did rule something just worked without the risk, why is that bad thing? Why would you not want to tell a better story that makes your players happier?

I also feel that kind of strict adhesion to the rules could easily become a form of railroading and even just plain gatekeeping. Imagine you're a new player, who was told that it's a game where you get to use your imagination and be creative. Then imagine being told every step of the way that this clever solution you came up with to a puzzle doesn't work because 'it's not in the rules.' You'd decide pretty quickly that you didn't want to play anymore, wouldn't you. You're not actually being taught anything except that you're not actually allowed to be creative, so screw that idea that rules lawyering teaches better.

DMs of the world, please remember: it's not a competition between you and your players, it's a conversation. Both of you are working together to tell a story. And if someone suggests something that's not in the book but would be really cool if it worked, considering letting them try. Nobody is going to care if something was in the rules or not years down the line, but they're going to care immensely about how their crazy plan worked...or laugh about how it didn't. And they will care a lot if the idea they were excited about got shut down without another thought just because this hyperspecific plan wasn't in the rules.

Let go of your need to be handcuffed to the rules. Rule 0 exists for a reason. Your games will be better and more memorable for it.

[cychas]

This is so SCP foundation