No term brings more fear to the hearts of a GM or DM, or to the players than Rules Lawyer. They get in the way of the story, the DM says. They balance the battle in favor of the monsters, say the players. They know every obscure rule in the book and tend to pull them out at the most inopprotune times. Sometimes, they even start to become munchkins. Where else do you think Pun-Pun the Kobold came from? Yes, our games would be much better off without Rules Lawyers, right?
NO! NO! NO!
One of the greatest things you can have in your group is the Rules Lawyer. They keep things grounded in reality, well, as real as Fireball spells and Dragons get. Rules exist for a reason. They exist to keep things in flow. And while I am a big proponent of "story trumps rules" and "setting trumps rules", I see the place for the rules in an RPG. Rules prevent players and the DM/GM from going mad with creative power. The rules make sure everything moves smoothely. And with RPG's and with how many rules some of them have, and with only so many hours in the day, not all of us can learn the rules in depth. So what are we to do?
Thats why Rules Lawyers are necessary. They dedicated the time to learn the damn rules. They sacrificed over time pay, some good TV, and possibly great sex to make sure they got it down good and right, and that they remembered it. These are the kinds of people who can make or break a campaign. This is why we should not punish our Rules Lawyers, we should, instead, train them. Of course I am being facetious, but if you can get your Rules Lawyers to do this, then you will have a lower stress environment to enjoy the role-playing and the game itself.
1. Story/Setting Trumps Rules: This is a major one, and sometimes is a bit hard to get through. Say you are playing a low-magic D&D setting, suddenly, a monster's Damage Reduction 5/- Magic would have to be changed and edited. Maybe you are playing another setting where your dwarves have more than one language unlike in the Player's Handbook (my personal setting has two, Deep and Upper Dwarven). Perhaps the DM/GM could write up a splat-sheet with the changes to the rules to help in this process.
2. Class Now In Session: The Rules Lawyer can be a major source of knowledge. Instead of groaning at the guy, maybe try learning from them. When I first played Lazlo, it was my first time playing rogue, and I mixed up the rules for flanking/sneak attack. The Rules Lawyer of our group corrected me, and I learned from the situation. Think of it this way, they learned the rules so you don't have to.
3. Fight Fire With Fire: Try learning some of the more in-depth rules yourself, on your own pace. If you love playing spellcasters, focus on that. For DM/GM's, take a moment to briefly reaquaint yourself with the traps, monsters, etc. This is where the test play could come in handy. This way, when the Rules Lawyer tries to correct a violation, you can immediately say "sit down, I took care of it."
4. When all else fails, try talking to the person. Tell them to relax a bit about the rules. No need to be confrontational, just let them, know. Rules Lawyers are people, not Kolyaruts, they are understanding and flexible. They are from Earth, not Mechanus (or wherever yout Lawful Neutral beings reside).
With this advice, you will have a properly trained Rules Lawyer. Remember, they learned the rules for you, use that to your advantage.
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