standard-rules.* is, to quote from its Preface, This document is presented as a set of Standard Rules for Assassin games; that is, a compilation of the most-used rules of actual Guild games. NO CLAIM IS MADE THAT THESE RULES ARE BEST IN ANY WAY NOR THAT THEY HAVE PRESCRIPTIVE FORCE---JUST THAT THEY ARE, IN PRACTICE, STANDARD. rules-template.* is, to quote from its beginning, This is a template for game-specific rules sets based on the Standard Rules. It's easy enough to write such rules without it, but it can at least serve as a convenient checklist, so you probably want to at least glance through it. Note that the Assassin Game Template should include a rules template which is based on this one and also uses Template features. (It's probably in LaTeX/Central/rules.tex.) Obviously the checklist here will always be at least as up-to-date as that in your copy of the Template, and sometimes more so, so you may want to look at this one anyway while filling that in. For changes between editions of the Standard Rules, see the Edition History appendix therein. Changes from the *last* edition are also highlighted via changebars and margin notes. These may not show up properly in a DVI or PDF viewer; the PostScript is always best. The Games-by-name subdirectory has the rules of every non-SIK, non-party game run in the Guild, from academic year 1990-91 on, for which I've been able to find latex or plaintext rules. The Games-by-time subdirectory contains the same, as symlinks with names like "1992_1993-04.tex" for the 4th such game in the 1992-93 academic year; these are there to make it easy to look through the last N years' of games and so on, especially when grepping is suitable. These rules sets are what were used to compile the Standard Rules in the first place, weighted by recentness, and are the main input used in revisions. Zero-length files serve as placeholders for games whose rules I haven't been able to find text (or source code) for yet; help filling these is appreciated. There is a rules-discussion@mit.edu list to discuss the annual revisions of the Standard Rules; anyone who has used the Standard Rules (as GM or player) is welcome to add themselves via blanche rules-discussion -a $USER if on Athena, or by mail to rules-editors@mit.edu otherwise. Send comments and suggestions to rules-discussion or rules-editors.