I'm entertaining the idea of streaming my game on Twitch, and as I was browsing one of the forums I follow I found a question which I found interesting:
Is there a responsibility of the streamers to try to adhere to the rules of the books, or do the streamers get carte blanche and only need to honor the spirit of the game?
I have a homebrew HP mechanic that is a live test, so I know people will be confused at first. I spend more time on narrative than I do dice rolls, and I rarely pick up my books. When it comes to the rules of the game, I tend to lean toward RAI (rules as intended) over RAW (rules as written), mostly because I don't have time for rules lawyers. I trust my players when they tell me a thing does something, I have them tell me what a spell does, I have them do a lot of the talking, it's their game after all. I've had my players correct me when I've misunderstood something, or made a blatant mistake, and I've given them the same in return.
Is it simply a mild annoyance when a mistake is made during a show, or is it more of a cognitive dissonance (the brain just trips over itself at the mishap)?
On the one hand, it helps the community as a whole if streamers adhere to the more basic D&D rules so that newer viewers who might not be familiar with D&D don't come away with a base of understanding that is flawed.
That said, for the most part, there is a lot of latitude given when it comes to live play where you are trying to entertain your audience. It is no fun to break up the flow of things when everyone is referencing rule books all the time, so when things go "off-rules" it is often just accepted as the cost of live entertainment and hand-waved away. People who get angry at streamers who don't 100% follow the game's rules are really wasting their time and rage on mostly meaningless infractions.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
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I'm entertaining the idea of streaming my game on Twitch, and as I was browsing one of the forums I follow I found a question which I found interesting:
Is there a responsibility of the streamers to try to adhere to the rules of the books, or do the streamers get carte blanche and only need to honor the spirit of the game?
I have a homebrew HP mechanic that is a live test, so I know people will be confused at first. I spend more time on narrative than I do dice rolls, and I rarely pick up my books. When it comes to the rules of the game, I tend to lean toward RAI (rules as intended) over RAW (rules as written), mostly because I don't have time for rules lawyers. I trust my players when they tell me a thing does something, I have them tell me what a spell does, I have them do a lot of the talking, it's their game after all. I've had my players correct me when I've misunderstood something, or made a blatant mistake, and I've given them the same in return.
Is it simply a mild annoyance when a mistake is made during a show, or is it more of a cognitive dissonance (the brain just trips over itself at the mishap)?
What's your take?
On the one hand, it helps the community as a whole if streamers adhere to the more basic D&D rules so that newer viewers who might not be familiar with D&D don't come away with a base of understanding that is flawed.
That said, for the most part, there is a lot of latitude given when it comes to live play where you are trying to entertain your audience. It is no fun to break up the flow of things when everyone is referencing rule books all the time, so when things go "off-rules" it is often just accepted as the cost of live entertainment and hand-waved away. People who get angry at streamers who don't 100% follow the game's rules are really wasting their time and rage on mostly meaningless infractions.