My group's rules lawyer almost ruined a 4 hour game of Dune

Last Friday we ran Dune with the expansion and this one guy kept quoting the rulebook on every single combat step, dragging things out until midnight. I finally said, 'you know we can just agree on a house rule and move on,' and he looked at me like I insulted his family. We finished the last two rounds in 45 minutes without him pulling the book once, so has anyone else found that kicking the rulebook off the table speeds up EVERYTHING, or is it just my group?

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michaelrodriguez17d ago

That same thing shows up everywhere, not just at game night. People get so locked into the specific wording of a rule or a contract or a company policy that they forget the actual point is for everyone to have a fair and fun time. I see it at work all the time with these long process documents, someone will fight for twenty minutes over a procedure step that does not really affect the final result, just because it is written down. The real skill is knowing when the rule is there to protect something important and when it is just there to be followed. Your group finished in 45 minutes once you set the book aside, which pretty much proves the rules were slowing the game down, not making it better. Sometimes the best call is to just look at the situation, agree on something reasonable, and keep the night moving.