I have a confession to make -- I don't always follow the rules.

Worse still, I'm not talking about the occasional rules flub or being swayed by a dubious but well-intentioned player's argument. I'm not even talking about my handful of house rules. I'm talking an intentional and blatant disregard for the rules of the Dungeons & Dragons game. Heck, I don't even always follow the rules when I run RPGA Living Forgotten Realms games. I'm a bad man.

That seems terrible, doesn't it? After all, I am one of the developers of the game. I should view the rules as sacrosanct, right?

No. And neither should you.

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About the Author

Born on a stormy Christmas day, in our nation's capital, during the Nixon administration, the stars were definitely wrong when Stephen Radney-MacFarland came screaming into the world. Spending most of his impressionable years as a vagabond and ne're-do-well, Stephen eventually settled in the Northwest to waste his life on roleplaying games.

Once that RPGA guy, Stephen is now a developer in RPG R&D where he doesn't create the traps… he just makes them deadlier. He also teaches a class on roleplaying design for the Art Institute of Seattle, molding the minds of young and upcoming designers. Be afraid. Be very afraid.