A rules lawyer is a participant in a rules-based environment who attempts to use the letter of the law without reference to the spirit, usually in order to gain an advantage within that environment. The term is commonly used in wargaming

Wargaming

A wargame is a strategy game that deals with military operations of various types, real or fictional. Wargaming is the hobby dedicated to the play of such games, which can also be called conflict simulations, or consims for short. When used professionally to study warfare, it is generally known as...

 and role playing game communities, often pejoratively, as the "rules lawyer" is seen as an impediment to moving the game forward. The term may have originated in military service, with sea lawyer (in the Navy

Navy

A navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...

) and "barracks lawyer" in the United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

. Nevertheless, the habit of players to argue in a legal fashion over rule implementation was noted early on in the history of Dungeons and Dragons. Rules lawyers are one of the "player styles" covered in Dungeon Master for Dummies. The rules of the game Munchkin

Munchkin (card game)

Munchkin is a card game by Steve Jackson Games, written by Steve Jackson and illustrated by John Kovalic, that has a humorous take on role-playing games, based on the concept of munchkins ....

include various parodies of rules lawyer behavior.

External links

— Loke advocates Games Masters using rules lawyers to their advantage, by turning the other players against them. — a description of two “rules-lawyer traps": always insisting upon following the rules and believing that there should always be a rule to cover every situation — which lists the rules lawyer's two weapons as “an onslaught of evidence, textual readings, precedent, and reasoning” and the “dreaded filibuster”.