Gemp House Rules

[bibfortuna25]

There is a huge difference between playing with house rules and playing with the rules as they used to work. If you can't see that, then there's no point in continuing this discussion further.

[sgtdraino]

There is a huge difference between playing with house rules and playing with the rules as they used to work. If you can't see that, then there's no point in continuing this discussion further.

If you're not abiding by official Decipher rules, then you are using house rules. Period.

This:

This is not a house rule. This is an official rule for FotR and TTT site path formats.

Is incorrect.


As is this:

The rule not allowing cancelling was introduced when Reflections came out. So all pre-Reflections format allow cancelling - as they did when they were Standard format.

And this:

When you play strictly with old cards, you are also playing by the old rules. You could cancel the RB's skirmish during those older formats.

And this:

Decipher was only interested in promoting the Standard (and later Expanded) formats for their tourneys, since those were the formats that had folks buying new cards. So any rules they introduced were meant with those two formats in mind. They didn't care about Fellowship block, Tower Standard or Movie Block except when those blocks were the Standard format.

And this:

Well, if you want to stick 100% to latest CRD, you are not allowed to play any other formats than Standard and Expanded all other formats were not officially recognized when the last CRD was issued.

And this:

As mentioned decipher made it a hard rule with Reflections that you can no longer cancel the ringbearer skirmish, but that rule only applied to the current Standard environment.

THIS, on the other hand:

Still this leaves us with Towers Standard, Movie and War of the Ring Standard as unofficial formats which were Standard at some point. And I think the only logical way to play them is according to official rules from relevant day - one day before release of RotK, Shadows and Hunters sets.

IS correct. These are unofficial formats, and thus playing with them constitutes "house rules." They no longer abide by the current Decipher rules. Not that there's anything wrong with that; quite the contrary. LOTR is a flawed game, and house rules make that game more playable.

[fenix]

What differance does this make?

[sgtdraino]

The difference is that there currently seems to be a lot of resistance in the Gemp community (or at least among several more vocal members thereof) to trying out new unofficial rules, rulings, or formats which could make LOTR more playable. Up until now, the party line has more-or-less been strict adherence to official rules, rulings, and formats.

But now, it turns out that a number of the formats played on Gemp aren't actually official formats, and one of the formats that IS official (Fellowship block) is not abiding by the official rules. It is my hope that recognizing this, could pave the way to further improvements.

[bibfortuna25]

When will you understand that when we play fellowship block, we are playing by the rules as they were written at the time? It's not that difficult to comprehend.

[sgtdraino]

When will you understand that when we play fellowship block, we are playing by the rules as they were written at the time? It's not that difficult to comprehend.

I comprehend it fine, it's just not the legal way to play it. The Comprehensive Rules dictate that Ring-bearer skirmishes can't be canceled, and that rule applies to King Block format, Towers Block format, and Fellowship Block format, as those are all official Decipher formats recognized in the Comprehensive Rules, and used at tournaments after the CRs were published.

[bebpc]

you can cancel the skimirish.

[Not a Zombie]

I'd just like to point out the existence of pre-shadows multipath as well, it was never a standard format and is still played on GEMP. I don't see why people are so against house rules, its not as if Decipher was somehow omnipotent. House rules would have to be done carefully and with a good majority in agreement. Not everyone will be happy, but not everyone is happy now. The only ability Decipher had that we don't is the ability to put the magic word 'official' in front of a rule, but lets face it, some of their official rules were crap, so why do we play by them all the time?

Normally I stay out of this stuff, but I just think it gets kinda ridiculous how religious some people get about 'official' rules (I don't mean to offend and I understand your points, I just disagree sometimes. Sorry if this comes off as abrasive, I'll keep quiet next time )

[Tbiesty]

I'd just like to point out the existence of pre-shadows multipath as well, it was never a standard format and is still played on GEMP. I don't see why people are so against house rules, its not as if Decipher was somehow omnipotent. House rules would have to be done carefully and with a good majority in agreement. Not everyone will be happy, but not everyone is happy now. The only ability Decipher had that we don't is the ability to put the magic word 'official' in front of a rule, but lets face it, some of their official rules were crap, so why do we play by them all the time?

Normally I stay out of this stuff, but I just think it gets kinda ridiculous how religious some people get about 'official' rules (I don't mean to offend and I understand your points, I just disagree sometimes. Sorry if this comes off as abrasive, I'll keep quiet next time )

Exactly! I couldn't agree more!

[sgtdraino]

Normally I stay out of this stuff, but I just think it gets kinda ridiculous how religious some people get about 'official' rules (I don't mean to offend and I understand your points, I just disagree sometimes. Sorry if this comes off as abrasive, I'll keep quiet next time )

I think house rules are great! It just annoys me when people try to claim house rules are official, when they aren't.

[Ringbearer]

The problem with house rules is that they draw away new blood. Cause rules have changed, you have to redo things and its not worth it.

Cancelling Rb skirmishes in FOTR and TTT block is not such a thing, bcause it already happened during that block, so thats the big difference. People KNOW that rule already.

Other house rules will just alienate players from GEMP.

[sgtdraino]

The problem with house rules is that they draw away new blood. Cause rules have changed, you have to redo things and its not worth it.

There is always going to be a learning curve with new blood. Last night I talked to a group of people who are new to Gemp, and had previously been playing online with each other for years via some sort of other method. One of them expressed frustration that his favorite decks were not legal for any formats, because apparently the whole time they'd been playing, they'd been using King block sites, but allowing all cards to be legal. Another way they played, was they'd bid to see what site path they'd use. The high bidder got to choose what block the site path comes from. I'm not sure they even realized until recently that they were actually operating under house rules, not official ones.

Well, surprise! The same goes for you guys. And that's not a bad thing! This idea of bidding for the site path is interesting, could make for an interesting new format. That group certainly seemed to like it, and maybe it's stuff like that we can explore on the new server.

Cancelling Rb skirmishes in FOTR and TTT block is not such a thing, bcause it already happened during that block, so thats the big difference. People KNOW that rule already.

Granted. But do you realize it's been at least eight years since it was legal to cancel Ring-bearer skirmishes?

It's a bit like pretending that certain cards were never errataed, or certain cards were never put on the X-list, because you liked the game better before Decipher changed the rules.

Other house rules will just alienate players from GEMP.

As shown in the above example, that is not necessarily the case.