I just wanted to see what the average knowledge level is. Mostly to embarass people!

I generally reference the rules for CYA purposes only. I don't know MitS hardly at all, and matrix stuff I could do better with. But I'm also running a newbie campaign, and I mostly reference the rule book when looking up prices, nothing else. Generally though, questions in either game are few and far between.

IME, grabbing for a rule book *during* play is a surefire way to kill the mood of good roleplaying. If an odd rules question comes up during the game I usually tend to gloss my way through it. Then, once the session is over, review it with the players in detail for future reference. I don't like to screw anybody over during the game, but I hate the way things can come to a dead stop while everyone flips through their books.

I highly disagree. I find that as I and my players get more experienced the lulls drop off significantly as people start preemptively searching for the rules during the game itself, before the question comes up. It's all about learning to multitask.

~J

I uh, don't think I was quite clear enough there. I mean there's no reaching for books. I certainly don't mean to be critical of your gaming style -- as long as everyone's having fun, that's great! But, the only time my group pulls out the books is for character advancement and other between session things.

But, hey, as DF said, every group gets into their own groove. My group of players has been together for about 12 years, that's our style of play. I think it's that we're a bunch of attention whores. If somebody's got their nose in a book, then whoever's talking at the moment doesn't have their full attention. And, since everybody's contributing to the story, they want everyone else to know what they're doing.

One can be paying complete attention to something without paying it their full attention.

~J

Nah, if they're spreading it out even slightly it's not their complete attention by the very definition of the word "complete." Ditto for "full" attention. But your point remains valid.

My definition of complete attention was the largest amount of attention that can be meaningfully used. Note that I didn't say "their complete".

Mmm, semantics

~J

I always refer to the rules just to make sure I didn't forget something important. But that takes me just a couple of seconds. I usually remember exactly where each rule is, just that I can't remember the exact wording of it.

I find I always have to look up rules.
Post #2

Droll ... very droll!

Even though I've been doing SR for a while I still need to read the rules a lot. For example, off the top of my head I don't remember the various TNs and mods for recovering from wounds, or how deeply I'm supposed to dig the character into a financial hole for intensive care.

I also don't remember the specific drain codes for the spells, or the attributes of elementals, and details like that. So I have to look at the rules frequently.

I voted for "make something up" because I know all the basic rules pretty well, I tend to just make things up when any advanced use of the rules comes up.

See, if I make something up that is significantly different from what is on the books, it destroys the strategic balance of skills and equipment that people choose in charagen. If there's anything I don't know I try to look it up. If I must make something up, I tell the players what I am going to do and ask if they agree or not first.

Going over the rules that I think will be used during a session is part of my prep work as a GM. That way I figure if what I have planned happens, then I am prepared rules-wise. However, every session the pcs are going to do something that I did not anticipate so I am forced to remember the rules the best that I can. Basically at that point I will try and wing it. Unless it is something really important to the player, I generally don't open my books. However, after the session is over I will go over the section of rules that pertained to the event during the game and see how well I did and how I can improve Gming the given rule. This way I learn from what I did in the game and I feel better prepared next time a similar unfamiliar rule question comes up.

Although I do look tables and charts up in the books when I need to.

Vera53

I have one player who knows the hand to hand rules very well, another that knows magic pretty well, and a third who knows the rigger rules fairly well.

I on the other hand am still reading thru rulebooks getting more and more specific each time I read them.

Bottom line however is I make the final judgement call on any rule so that it best fits into the storyline I am telling. The group and I have been playing together more or less for 10 - 15 years in a variety of different games, genres ect. In the end, I make things fit my story even if we found I completely screwed up the rules. Best example was my frist try at using gernades... it was a complete cluster with my NPC's actually hitting themselves.. however they were gangers who were higher than kites so from a storyline standpoint it worked and I had a chance to learn what to do and what not to do.

I have a copy of a book open all the time. If I am going to have something going on ahead of time, I have it flagged, or I review it extra. I know the 'big' rules well enough, but for stuff like sensor enhanced gunnery, reducing spell area, or dreaded scatter, I need boks.

After not playing for a couple years, I've found myself pretty rusty on a lot of things other than matrix rules. Of course, the game I'm running just got a decker in the last run, so that didn't help a whole lot...

I tend to look up pretty specific stuff that should come into effect with a particular job, often things like "how high can I make the background count here?". Found out that I didn't know spirit combat nearly well enough in the middle of a game (oops).

Rigger stuff though... I don't remember any of the vehicle combat rules anymore. Vaguely some of the drone stuff... Nobody plays riggers though so it doesn't matter much.

Given my free time at work, though, I spend a fair bit of time reading up on rules, and to keep track of certain cannon issues.

Of course not. I mean I never looked anything up in the books about what his TNs should be, and assigned the TNs at my whim, based on... well, I can't remember what I based them on. But they were pretty arbitrary. I tred to keep them into a decent range, though.

Like one time where he took his bike off the side of an off-ramp into the middle of a street. I guessed it'd be a 10 or so to stay in control (between wounds, speed, etc), but decided it didn't matter in the end, rolled a bunch of dice (he probably had about 14 before pool), and told him he made it without bothering with the actual results.

The game was already off on a tangent, and it made him happy, so why not do it?

I do know all the combat rules, though, and that's one time I don't just throw out random crap. No challenge if you're never at risk cause the GM wants cinema.

If you have access to Excel, it can be very effective for setting up the main rules:
Combat
Decking
Vehicles
(Haven't worked out the Magic section yet)

A few clicks and you've got cold, hard, rules staring you in the face.

I have not committed the rules to memory, as I do not have that particular eidetic skill, but I find the feel of the pages beneather my fingers as I reference whatever particular rule(s) in whichever book required to be most satisfying.

I read them quite often.

Why? Because I post here!
You guys make me defend every post with actual proof! sheesh!
Like I would lie or be wrong...

In game, I look up what I don't know, or what is being contested.
My old group had a set-up.
Every rule contest had 5 minutes of life during the game.
If it could not be solved in 5 minutes then the rulling that was in play stands.
No questions. No anger. You have your chance, but if you aren't good at remembering where it's at then you shouldn't open your mouth and say that it's a rule and that the GM is wrong about a core rule.

5 minutes worked well because we all smoked so we'd take a break while the rules were being dug up by the one(s) who cared.
Sometimes....we all cared and all were digging in the books.
Hey, sometimes...it's a good question.