It's been a bit since I've posted, and now we're on a new site! This one has been stewing on my mind for a bit, prompted by it being a fairly common discussion in the TTRPG space. I've never really liked the Rule of Cool, even before I got serious about this hobby, and hopefully this post will illuminate why.

I'm defining the "Rule of Cool" as the changing or ignoring of game rules to fit a really cool or interesting action attempted by a player. This is mostly how I've seen it used, both in real life discussions and on the internet. I've also heard it called the "Rule of Fun", but for this post it'll be the same difference. There's also a category that is not often ascribed the term, in which players receive bonuses for cool or novel ideas: think inspiration. I have some opinions on these, but they don't belong in this discussion here.

As a last hedge, my issue with the Rule of Cool (which I will abbreviate to ROC for the sake of redundancy) isn't the cool part. Like anyone else, I enjoy cool and awesome ideas at my table. I thrive off of them, even. Yet, I have never really had to invoke the ROC. My problem with it is the underlying implication of cool things being "outside" the rules, and the need for a release-valve rule to allow them.

The ROC only exists when players at the table, GMs included, take the ruleset they play as the ultimate authority of the game. Because their game is defined by the rules as they are written on the page, whenever something interesting or cool happens outside of them, there must be some solution to close the gap between what exists within the rules and what doesn't. Sometimes the solution is to deny the action due to it not being within the rules; a common example being when a magic user attempts to do something with a spell not listed within it or contradictory towards some set aspect of it. A common example would be attempting to whiff a magic missile and shooting a wall instead of a creature. This is often the worst solution to the problem, in my opinion. It actively stifles ingenuity in favor of keeping the written rules happy.

The other answer for these tables is to form an agreement and invoke the ROC, suspending or changing the written rules in a particular instance. I refer to this as a release valve, opened when the rules become too overbearing and must be politely sidelined.

The ROC never comes up in my games, for one very important reason: the written rules are never placed above me or the other players at the table. A post by Ms Screwhead of the WasitLikely blog on the system being a player and not the game itself is sort of the direction I'm heading here.

I value the in-fiction game world more than I value the rules I'm using at any given time. That's where the game resides in my head, and not in the rules. So the Rule of Cool never has to be invoked. Any cool thing that makes sense is automatically part of the game. The rules function more as guidelines, easily tossed when the fiction demands it.

I can go on, but none of this is terribly novel or interesting. The ROC isn't cool because it isn't really all that useful. TTRPGs are, in my heart, about roleplaying interesting game fictions with unique challenges. The rules just help give us a push in that direction.