Natasha wrote:I'm not sure how I did it, but I managed to only post a sentence of my post.
Dog_O_War wrote:The rules lay out the guidelines on what a person can and cannot do in a game. I can't just say, "I jump to the moon!" and expect it to work; the rules disallow this because of mechanics, setting, and verisimilitude.
Actually a character can expect to jump to the moon.
Never said that. I said that he'd expect it to
work.
Natasha wrote:Dog_O_War wrote:Therefore a reminder is offered about the other situation, and that if their character can do as such, then it is only fair to assume that this character can also do the same.
That doesn't sound like rules lawyering to me. Perhaps we have different definition of "rules lawyer".
Tell that to my GM.
Natasha wrote:He could be rules lawyering, however. Rules lawyers not only argue the rules, but also exploit the rules to their maximum benefit - don't metagamers do the same thing?
No. A meta-gamer will take information gained as a player (be it a rule, fluff-text, or vibe from the GM) and use it to their in-game advantage.
Two examples of this.
Reading a pre-made adventure to know what will happen next.
Personal example; a story.
Some friends of mine were playing D&D (all close friends and family) and they had just beaten a big, tough monster (I think it was either a lich or a dragon). They were going through the magical loot; one such piece was a girdle identified as a girdle of giant's strength (this was 2nd ED btw). Well my one friend who was examining it saw a devilish grin on the GM (his brother's) face, and instead gave it to another friend. He was all happy until he put it on and discovered that it was actually a cursed item - a girdle of gender-swapping.This shows that a player used a personal sense to glean information from the GM that something was "up".
Natasha wrote:The likelihood of this being rules lawyer depends entirely on the character being played. An impulsive or terrified character is likely to shoot in the dark. If the character is likely to behave one way and doesn't, the player is suspect.
An impulsive, terrified character wouldn't shoot at the fleeing enemy though - which is more in-line with the situation described.
Natasha wrote:I also know it's difficult not to screen meta-knowledge when choosing your character's actions all the time.
The biggest difference between good meta-knowledge and bad meta-knowledge is if you can turn it into in-game knowledge.
They had an example of how this could be done on WotC's website once (in their "what's a GM to do?" section).
(This isn't an exact example, but it's pretty close)
Player: "
There must be a switch to activate the bridge - Harry (the GM)
wouldn't design a dungeon without one!" Bad use of meta-game knowledge.
Player: "
There must be a switch to activate the bridge. The dwarves the wizard said used to live here wouldn't make a bridge without one!" Good use of meta-game knowledge, as it was turned into in-game knowledge.
That's meta-game.