Bending the Rules?

I usually lean towards bending with consequences. I think a good policy is to sort of vaguely define the requirements, so you can twist it to actually be what you want later.

Virgin magic might "burn away impure souls" or something, so it works but you die or take damage or are cursed. Maybe sacred prostitutes can use it okay, since sex is a religious act for them; the creepily lecherous but virgin priest can't pull it off.

>>54346784
Honestly?
Never done the "prophecied magic weapon" thing, not even once.
It focuses far too much on one player, and it's a group entertainment thing so that's both not fair and not appropriate.
Which isn't to say that magical weapons don't have stories behind them in my games (they all have so far), they just aren't part of any Arthurian style legendary prophecy of any kind whatsoever.
Weirdly, a favorite weapon of one of my group was an axe I'd specifically designed to have a fairly unremarkable backstory since the player mentioned he didn't care too much, but somehow it ended up being the most popular thing I'd ever written for the group's magical gear.

Kinda like a weapon version of that one-off random NPC that you make up just to fill a scene and for some reason they just attach to them.

>>54346784
The needs of the game outweigh the needs of the setting.
Though I wonder why you would ever not word a prophecy in a way that it sounds meaningful, but can easily be interpreted to apply to anyone of note.

I roll with magic that has arbitrary requirements like bloodline work only with that bloodline, irregardless of morality of the wielder unless I want to change shit for plot reasons.

>>54346880

Well, the "Maiden has great power, gives it up along with her virginity" thing is pretty common, but it leads to horrific implications like rape being a weapon of war.

>>54346905

Yeah, but the prophecy was something like "Only a member of House Ambrose, bearing the True Blood, may take up the blade of the apocalypse."

>>54346784
Scientology has ceremonial swords now.

>>54346784
>should he still be able to pull it off?

No rules are rules whether established by the mechanics or the fiction.

>>54347417
Highly specific prophecies like that are great story tools for video games and books but are usually more trouble than they are worth in group based table top RPGs. If every one is ok with one person getting to be King Arthur and everyone else just being The Knights of the Round Table it's fine but not every one is fine with this than noone should be King Arthur.

>>54346784
As a GM, the rules are my rules. If the players don't know about the changes, then they don't happen.
If they don't see the dice result, it could be anything.

>>54348621

To be fair, it's not really meant for the PCs. The PCs were supposed to deliver a magical weapon to a castle on the border. They were cautioned that anyone not of the bloodline would be struck down.

So in the middle of a fight against the demon pursuers, one of the PCs decided to draw it. I'm honestly leaning towards 'struck down', since the warnings weren't just for show.