Rulings of Cool

A couple of days ago, my friend Isaac at Afraid of Encounters prompted one of our group chats with a fun prompt from Bluesky. For the record, my three descriptors are cooperative, contemplative, and environment-oriented This discussion revealed that "rule of cool" was a common response, which elicited some lamentation (qualified by the lamenter admitting that it is pure pettiness). Isaac asked whether any OSR blogs have talked about the Rule of Cool, and Sam Sorensen's Doing a Cool Move was cited. Great writeup, but ultimately not germane to an interesting observation that I want to explore. Har at viendhita asserted that "rulings over rules" can fall within the purview of "rule of cool", and Dante at The Dolent Chronicle added that the popular usage of the term encompasses just about anything that isn't following rules-as-written. I couldn't quite stomach this, so I wanted to meditate on my reaction and figure out where the daylight between the two might be. My first-cut distinction…