From the Q&A: What is the "Stafford Rule"?

From our Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: What is the 'Stafford Rule'?

A: When Chaosium founder Greg Stafford passed away in 2018, John Wick reminded everyone of the 'Stafford Rule': “The older I get, the more I hear young RPG designers say ‘Never been done before!’ And then I just point to stuff Greg Stafford wrote about a few decades ago... Greg was brilliant. He was ahead of time. You know the Stafford Rule? Every game designer knows the Stafford Rule:

'If you believe you've come up with a clever mechanic, Greg Stafford already did it.'"

You can read John's tribute to Greg in full here.

P.S. Although the 'Stafford Rule' is really about revolutionary game mechanics, we do cheekily reference it in this recent parable linking happenings in a fictional setting (Greg's Glorantha) to real world drama.