Solving Rules Discussions | Dungeon Master Daily

Every now and again, a rules discussion breaks out at the table (shocking, I know).

It’s only happened to me a couple times, though, and it’s always pretty quickly solved.

Now, it’s not because I know the rules like Jeremy Crawford. I’m pretty good with remembering them, but I forget things from time to time.

I do three simple things to avoid rules discussions in the first place, and to solve them quickly when they do come up.

Know the rules you know you’ll need. If you have a rogue, know the rules for hiding. If you have a grapple-build barbarian, know the rules for grappling. If your wizard took fog cloud, know the rules about obscured areas.
When a rules discussion comes up, just make a ruling. Even if it’s “wrong”. The rules are there to help you and your players have fun. Make a fair judgment based on your understanding of what you know, say “we’ll do it this way for now, and we’ll look it up later” and move on with the game. If you have a player who’s not willing to respect your authority as a DM in instances like this … well, that’s a different discussion.
Look it up later. You shouldn’t really ever have a rules discussion twice. Talk to the players in question, and figure it out together and make sure everyone is on the same page.

Problem solved!

Links:

Matt Mercer: What is Handbooker Helper? (YouTube)