Finally got my game group to shut up and play without rules arguments after one simple trick

I started handing everyone a printed cheat sheet before setup and it cut our 20-minute rulebook debates down to zero at last Tuesday's session, anyone else tried this or got a better way to stop the bickering?

3 comments

3 Comments

elizabethtaylor1mo ago

Honestly just started doing this myself last month and it saved my group from breaking up over a dumb rules dispute about line of sight in a dungeon crawler. I used a half-sheet of paper with the most argued-about rules on it and laminated it at the library for like fifty cents. Color coded it by phase of the turn so during combat everyone can just glance down and see what they can do without asking me every thirty seconds. The key is keeping it short and using simple language not the exact rulebook wording that everyone argues over anyway.

henry_martinez1mo ago

Three sessions straight with zero rules fights after I started using a laminated color-coded card for combat actions... took me like an hour in Google Docs. The key was keeping it to one page front and back, no tiny font.

nelson.nancy21d ago

The color coding is what really made it click for my table too, @elizabethtaylor. I split combat into three columns: what you can do on your turn, reactions, and bonus actions, all separated by color so nobody gets confused when their turn rolls around. Little things like color coding for line of sight and range reminders keep the arguments from starting before the dice even hit the table.