Dropzonetoe | 26 Jul 2008 6:27 a.m. PST |
Last night my wife came in with a game, Pass the Pig if anyone really cares and she handed it to me and said "We should play this tonight, but you have to figure out the rules." This got me thinking, over the years I have been handed almost every game my wife, family, or friends has ever gotten and I have been expected to read thru and figure it out. So am I alone in this or does anyone else get this typecasting, or are you the friend that passes on the rule and lets other teach you? |
Martin Rapier | 26 Jul 2008 6:39 a.m. PST |
I am the one who learns the rules, and that is fine with me. I like rules and I'm always interested in other peoples designs. |
McKinstry | 26 Jul 2008 6:46 a.m. PST |
That would be me as well. To my unending irritation, that also extends to putting together anything with written instructions. |
Rhoderic III and counting | 26 Jul 2008 6:53 a.m. PST |
Yeah, that rings a bell. Then again, I think I've largely brought it on myself, as I tend to be the person hogging the rulebook at gaming sessions. I know it's bad behaviour and I try not to do it, but it always turns out that way anyway. |
thosmoss | 26 Jul 2008 6:57 a.m. PST |
Done it for so long, I begin to chafe if I'm not the guy who read the rules. But then, there's nothing like having an opponent halt the game to look something up in a rulebook I'd be willing to bet he's never opened before. "Can I help?" |
Roderick Robertson | 26 Jul 2008 7:39 a.m. PST |
Yep. The real kicker is when, after asking me to explain the rules, they get bored and say: "Oh, we'll just pick them up as we go along" then complain when some rule they didn't let me explain kicks them in the ass. |
Go0gle | 26 Jul 2008 8:23 a.m. PST |
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Beowulf | 26 Jul 2008 8:35 a.m. PST |
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The Dread Pirate GeorgeD | 26 Jul 2008 8:42 a.m. PST |
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wolvermonkey | 26 Jul 2008 8:49 a.m. PST |
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von Paulus | 26 Jul 2008 8:57 a.m. PST |
It could be worse – you could be the one who has to make all the terrain and paint the figures. A bit of reading – pah! |
DeanMoto | 26 Jul 2008 9:18 a.m. PST |
I love you guys – gives me more time to paint! |
Mousy Tung | 26 Jul 2008 10:31 a.m. PST |
Yes but not good at teaching them. Forgot to add, I also make all the scenery and provide the gaming space because I'm "centrally located" they tell me. :-( |
Ric Raynor | 26 Jul 2008 10:55 a.m. PST |
"The real kicker is when, after asking me to explain the rules, they get bored and say: "Oh, we'll just pick them up as we go along" then complain when some rule they didn't let me explain kicks them in the ass." That's the part I enjoy! 'I guess you should have read the rules! Now you lose!! Bwahahaha!!!' |
vtsaogames | 26 Jul 2008 11:51 a.m. PST |
I learn the rules, paint many of the figures and most of the terrain. That's why I'm going to spend a couple weeks at the shore
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quidveritas | 26 Jul 2008 12:00 p.m. PST |
Nope, We have a number of gurus in town and each is the "last word" on particular sets of rules. Now there are rules that no one plays because the rules were poorly written and it just was not worth pounding through them to get the game down. (not to mention some rather glaring omissions in on set of rules in particular). I am the guy that ends up writing the rules if there is nothing that will fill a particular niche. Sometimes its something as simple as adapting iron clads and shore batteries to JRIII, and sometimes it's a 100 page document. I think this may be worse than the guy that learns the rules. mjc |
CPBelt | 26 Jul 2008 12:29 p.m. PST |
Looks like I'm not alone. I have to learn them. Why does this always fall on one guy like us? |
Cke1st | 26 Jul 2008 4:52 p.m. PST |
I'm chosen to learn the rules, because the rest of them trust me to do it thoroughly and honestly. I do it voluntarily, because it gives me two slight advantages. One, because I've spent more time on the rules, I just know them better. Two, they know this, and it intimidates them a bit. |
Capt John Miller | 26 Jul 2008 5:34 p.m. PST |
OR, you play a simpler game like Tic Tac Toe. |
doug redshirt | 26 Jul 2008 5:55 p.m. PST |
I remember back in the late 80s, early 90s being a memeber of a gaming club in Florida and when ever there was a rule question, all heads would turn to me and I would get to quote the rules or open the rule book and point to the correct paragraph. That was when I was only a young man in my 20s and everyone else was in their 40s. Now that I am 40+ I understand why they couldnt remember anything. Cant remember where my keys are half the time. Or maybe that was due to the stroke I had, now I cant remember why I dont remember. Of course there was the one time we had just switched over to a new Napoleonic ruleset and I still hadnt memorized all the rules yet. Somehow or other my cossacks and other 2nd rate Russian cav, ended up routing a French Heavy Cav Corps. I kept thinking something was wrong and about two thirds of the way into the game I picked up the rules to double check and realized I forgot to add a few modifiers to the French Heavy Cav. |
Son of Liberty | 26 Jul 2008 7:28 p.m. PST |
Oh, yes. I'm the one who has to: 1)Buy the rules 2)Learn the rules 3)Teach the rules 4)Buy both (or more) armies 5)Paint all of the figures 6)Build all of the terrain 7)Set up the game 8)Take down the game 9)Find places in the house to store all of the stuff |
CPBelt | 26 Jul 2008 8:28 p.m. PST |
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Ditto Tango 2 1 | 26 Jul 2008 10:13 p.m. PST |
Pass the Pig That was a major game craze in the umpire hangar before Fall Ex 87 in germany. That and some reserve guy had brought along the board game Shogun which i played a lot of in between getting stung by wasps
PS, I am just about always the fellow who learns the rules ans teaches others. Then, eventually, each one of my friends gets ticked off about some mechanic when they lose badly and grab the rules and read them themselves – after a few years, we've all read the rules
-- Tim |
JeanLuc | 26 Jul 2008 11:50 p.m. PST |
Same here, the guys do not play english so i even have to translate the rules. on top of that it is i who calculates the factors. the only thing i may not do is trow the dice for them. |
Martin Rapier | 27 Jul 2008 5:15 a.m. PST |
"I am the guy that ends up writing the rules if there is nothing that will fill a particular niche." I do that as well. It is fine, I like reading rules and like writing rules. What ticks me off is being the resident 'IT expert' for all and sundry. Very hard to say no, but really these days it is a case of the blind leading the blind. I suppose I do know how to read a manual though. |
Col Stone | 27 Jul 2008 9:14 a.m. PST |
PH lewis, you're not alone,, i have the same situation here
:/ |
HardRock | 27 Jul 2008 4:33 p.m. PST |
I was running a game at a con 20 years ago, next to my table was a Circus Imperium game. Every time a question came up in that game, one of the players would come to me and ask for the answer. Finally the guy running the game came over and asked who the heck I am, I opened his rulebook and pointed out my name in the playtester list. I used to be the go to guy for reading rules, but the past few years our group has gotten a few more so it gets spread evenly. |
I am the mongo | 27 Jul 2008 7:07 p.m. PST |
Yes, but I am also the guy who begins to modify the rules ,and overthink the rules and criticize the rules, and drive everyone crazy, but they never learn. Mongo
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Big Martin | 28 Jul 2008 4:21 a.m. PST |
Yes – it's always me that reads (and remembers) the rules whilst everyone else says "Martin, what do they say about
?" |