From: James Hazelton
Also, I'm glad that, after hours of debate, we finally went with the Gygaxian approach to the card text. ("It is the spirit of the game, not the letter of the rules, which is important. Never hold to the letter written, nor allow some barracks room lawyer to force quotations from the rule book upon you, if it goes against the obvious intent of the game.")
I find something to be said on both sides of the issue. On the "rules as written" side, for example, sometimes one can find possible plays which are enjoyable and add to the game, even if not originally imagined.
But even if we all want to follow the spirit of the original intention, there can be a problem determining what the original intention was. Different people read the rules differently. A lot of the differences come from incomplete and misunderstood readings, but not all of them. There will always be times when informed, intelligent, impartial players will interpret rules differently -- what is obvious to one is not to another.
That's why it's good to have FAQs and other rules clarifications from designers and publishers. Thanks Andy!
Regards, Bryan