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* ''LetsPlay/PartyCrashers'': At one point in "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7Wo-nM0UYE We Added a Wheel of Punishments to Mario Party]]", one of Sophist's punishments was that his hands could not touch the controller. However, nothing was said about his hands being covered by something else, so he decides to wear oven mittens and hold the controller that way.
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* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'': Warfare is a noble pursuit in chivalry-obsessed Bretonnia, so it would shame any lord to hire mercenaries or let peasants fight independently. However, shepherds need to travel and keep their flocks safe, so there are quite a few companies of well-trained, well-armed freelance shepherds with [[TeamPet only one sheep]] to their name.
-->The pay is 50 pennies per day, but those nobles are remarkably careless about dropping purses of gold in front of the head shepherd.
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misuse; The lack of alignment restrictions on the warlock is not a "loophole" in the same way as a paladin, as warlocks are not bound to any code of conduct, even if they receive power from Hell. The warlock themself might invoke the trope by wording their Deal With The Devil such that the devil gets nothing out of it, but a Faustian Rebellion is always possible regardless of the nature of the contract.


*** Due to the fact that alignment-restrictions on classes don't exist in 5th Edition, Paladins are allowed to be Chaotic Evil but still serve justice and protect the weak (Oath of Devotion), while Warlocks are allowed to be Lawful Good mages whose powers come straight from Hell.

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*** Due to the fact that alignment-restrictions on classes don't exist in 5th Edition, Paladins are allowed to be Chaotic Evil but still serve justice and protect the weak (Oath of Devotion), while Warlocks are allowed to be Lawful Good mages whose powers come straight from Hell.Devotion).

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Removed an example which made absolutely no sense as written. If someone knows a way in which it makes sense, they can try re-writing it.


** If you have someone in a grapple, you can move them at a fraction of your normal movement speed, assuming they fail (or don't try) to resist. So if you have a half dozen people or so in a group hug and none of them resisting, they can travel faster than running speed. Get enough people and you can break the sound barrier.
** Further, all characters in a grapple are in the same square. There's also a rule that up to three people can grapple with one target. With some creative planning on the part of the grapplers, you can get it so that the entire population of a planet is in one square, which is 5 feet in game terms. There's also a rule as to what happens when players break a grapple (each member of the grapple is shoved to the nearest empty square immediately). This can result in characters going faster than the speed of light in order to land on a properly empty square.

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** If you have someone in a grapple, you can move them at a fraction of your normal movement speed, assuming they fail (or don't try) to resist. So if you have a half dozen people or so in a group hug and none of them resisting, they can travel faster than running speed. Get enough people and you can break the sound barrier.
** Further, all
All characters in a grapple are in the same square. There's also a rule that up to three people can grapple with one target. With some creative planning on the part of the grapplers, you can get it so that the entire population of a planet is in one square, which is 5 feet in game terms. There's also a rule as to what happens when players break a grapple (each member of the grapple is shoved to the nearest empty square immediately). This can result in characters going faster than the speed of light in order to land on a properly empty square.

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Did some minor cleanup for the D&D section


** Others recovered from infinite damage by drowning themselves. Taken literally, the drowning rules set your hit points to zero, even if they're negative. And then "It's Wet Outside" lets someone make a heal check to stop drowning.

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** Others recovered Some people figured out they could recover from infinite damage by drowning themselves. Taken literally, the drowning rules set your hit points to zero, even if they're negative. And then "It's Wet Outside" lets someone make a heal check to stop drowning.



*** If you have someone in a grapple, you can move them at a fraction of your normal movement speed, assuming they fail (or don't try) to resist. So if you have a half dozen people or so in a group hug and none of them resisting, they can travel faster than running speed. Get enough people and you can break the sound barrier.
*** Further, all characters in a grapple are in the same square. There's also a rule that up to three people can grapple with one target. With some creative planning on the part of the grapplers, you can get it so that the entire population of a planet is in one square, which is 5 feet in game terms. There's also a rule as to what happens when players break a grapple (each member of the grapple is shoved to the nearest empty square immediately). This can result in characters going faster than the speed of light in order to land on a properly empty square.

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*** ** If you have someone in a grapple, you can move them at a fraction of your normal movement speed, assuming they fail (or don't try) to resist. So if you have a half dozen people or so in a group hug and none of them resisting, they can travel faster than running speed. Get enough people and you can break the sound barrier.
*** ** Further, all characters in a grapple are in the same square. There's also a rule that up to three people can grapple with one target. With some creative planning on the part of the grapplers, you can get it so that the entire population of a planet is in one square, which is 5 feet in game terms. There's also a rule as to what happens when players break a grapple (each member of the grapple is shoved to the nearest empty square immediately). This can result in characters going faster than the speed of light in order to land on a properly empty square.



** [[SatanicArchetype Asmodeus]]' [[DaddysLittleVillain daughter]] Glasya is a master at exploiting loopholes. She's regarded as a RulesLawyer by the standards of an entire species of them, so she has a ''lot'' of experience with contracts. Her rise to Archdevil status came after a scheme where she managed to engage in quasi-legal counterfeiting by minting coins from lesser metals that had been temporarily transmuted into a specific gold alloy, then use these coins to buy souls that were then sold for profit again. Now, after her rise to Archdevil status, mortals most commonly bargain with her to get out of a contract with another devil, with her ''always'' finding a loophole that makes the contract void in exchange for said mortal pledging their soul to her instead.



* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', [[SatanicArchetype Asmodeus]]' [[DaddysLittleVillain daughter]] Glasya is a master at exploiting loopholes. She's regarded as a RulesLawyer by the standards of an entire species of them, so she has a ''lot'' of experience with contracts. Her rise to Archdevil status came after a scheme where she managed to engage in quasi-legal counterfeiting by minting coins from lesser metals that had been temporarily transmuted into a specific gold alloy, then use these coins to buy souls that were then sold for profit again. Now, after her rise to Archdevil status, mortals most commonly bargain with her to get out of a contract with another devil, with her ''always'' finding a loophole that makes the contract void in exchange for said mortal pledging their soul to her instead.
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Added the D&D examples to the tabletop games folder, moved from the board games subpage

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* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
** {{Munchkin}}s can be even worse than {{Rules Lawyer}}s: some players go for full-blown LoopholeAbuse. The DM can, of course, veto any action you do or change the rules at any time with RuleZero, but it is not necessary to mention this for every example (D&D players have a penchant for seeking out loopholes for fun, without ever expecting to get away with abusing them).
** Perhaps the classic example was the 3.0 Edition "Bag O' Rats Fighter". This involved a Fighter using the ''Whirlwind Attack'' and ''Great Cleave'' feats while dumping a sack full of live rats at his feet to get an Attack of Opportunity for each of the rats he killed -- gaining a dozen or more extra attacks against his opponent in a single combat round! While technically legal according to the rules as written, no sane and reasonable DM should allow it. In 3.5 Edition, it got an ObviousRulePatch stating that when using Whirlwind Attack, the character wasn't allowed to make bonus attacks from other sources, like the Haste spell or Great Cleave feat.
** It was long believed that players could theoretically turn ''Locate City'' into a nuclear bomb. This turns out to not actually work, for fiddly technical reasons, but by the time that was discovered, the theory had been developed well enough to be quickly applied to a different spell that lacked those problems.
** Others recovered from infinite damage by drowning themselves. Taken literally, the drowning rules set your hit points to zero, even if they're negative. And then "It's Wet Outside" lets someone make a heal check to stop drowning.
** Passing an item hand to hand is a free action (doesn't take up time), so if you line up a few thousand people you can get an object to travel miles in six seconds. Then the last person throws it. This is commonly called the "Peasant Railgun". [[note]]The end result is a regular thrown object, since ''Dungeons and Dragons'' only bases thrown-object damage on the strength of the thrower and size of the object.[[/note]]
*** You can also have one player stand on another player's shoulders and pick him up as a free action. Then the other player picks him up. Since this is all a free action, there is no time for them to fall, and thus they can fly by repeatedly picking each other up in midair.
*** If you have someone in a grapple, you can move them at a fraction of your normal movement speed, assuming they fail (or don't try) to resist. So if you have a half dozen people or so in a group hug and none of them resisting, they can travel faster than running speed. Get enough people and you can break the sound barrier.
*** Further, all characters in a grapple are in the same square. There's also a rule that up to three people can grapple with one target. With some creative planning on the part of the grapplers, you can get it so that the entire population of a planet is in one square, which is 5 feet in game terms. There's also a rule as to what happens when players break a grapple (each member of the grapple is shoved to the nearest empty square immediately). This can result in characters going faster than the speed of light in order to land on a properly empty square.
** Dropping an item is a free action, as well. And if you happen to be fireproof and are standing next to an enemy while carrying, say, five hundred units of [[GreekFire alchemist's fire...]]Though the logistics of actually carrying all of it is a bit screwy in and of itself (seriously, you normally only have two hands with which to drop them).
** Perhaps the most true-to-form example of this trope (at least by the old name, Ain't No Rule) is that while the state of "Dying" is explicitly defined in the rules as far as what actions are acceptable, the state of "Dead" has no restrictions. There Ain't No Rule preventing a freshly-killed player from standing up and continuing the fight. Amazingly, this turns out to accidentally be patched by a literal reading of a completely different rule -- since a dead player has -10 HP, and -10 is less than 0, dead players are technically "incapacitated by nonlethal damage" at all times.[[note]]This is, of course, unnecessary, as RuleZero means the DM can just say "that doesn't work and you know it", but if you ever get into a fight with a RulesLawyer...[[/note]]
** There's no official restriction preventing you from using the spell ''True Creation'' to make planet-destroying quantities of antimatter.
** An intentional case was mentioned in the 3.5 ''Draconomicon'', when discussing [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampiric]] dragons. The text explicitly noted that they still had the usual vampiric weakness of being [[MustBeInvited unable to enter a dwelling without an invitation]]. It then went on to say that said restriction absolutely did ''not'' prevent a vampiric dragon from smashing the building in question to pieces and picking its victims out of the rubble.
** The various settings tend to have in-universe cases ''somewhere'' in all the history and organizations. For instance, [[TabletopGame/{{Eberron}} House Jorasco]] healers are not supposed to treat without payment in money... but there is nothing hindering them from ''lending'' the necessary money and then setting a task as repayment in kind for the loan.
** In universe, the infamous ''Wish'' spell. This spell can be cast by high-level wizards, or can be granted by a few select creatures (like djinn), but they should always be met with caution. It is explicitly stated in the rules that wishing for anything too powerful can result in a perverted or partial wish fulfillment. Too careless wishing can result in getting the exact opposite of what was intended, depending on the maliciousness of the creature and/or the DM. For example, when wishing for a mighty artifact, the caster might grant you the artifact...by teleporting you into the tomb where the artifact is located, in the middle of its undead guardians.
*** That being said, the spell description in the Player's Handbook ''does'' include a list of effects that the DM is supposed to let go through as intended by the character's player. Furthermore, this trope is also the reason why ''Wish'''s clerical counterpart, ''Miracle'', is considered to be somewhat safer, as Miracle is mechanically treated as a request to the cleric's deity to intercede on their behalf - and if the cleric asks for too much, the deity simply refuses the request.
** In the universe (or {{multiverse}}) there's also the case of the DealWithTheDevil (more or less literally). These vary, but may involve a MagicallyBindingContract that the fiend itself also has to follow, but which will ''definitely'' be written with loopholes to turn against the mortal party -- at least as much so as the fiend can make it, and they'll typically have centuries of experience. Both the LawfulEvil devils and the ChaoticEvil demons do this. (However, in an interesting interpretation, [[http://www.pathguy.com/baator.htm some guy who thinks about this stuff a lot]] claimed that Lawful Evil creatures will follow the spirit of the contract, not just the letter, since [[ExactWords twisting the wording]] would be Chaotic. This is still presumably meant to allow a higher-level Loophole Abuse. However, this is not the way it's usually seen.)
** In an earlier version, there was an item which made the wearer immune to ''death''. Not ''death-effects''. '''''Death'''''!
** Practically every rule in 5th Edition is open to discussion. Some examples include (and some may also apply to other versions):
*** The list of weapons you're proficient with states which weapons you know how to use, but not HOW to use them. Rogues in 5th Edition cannot use a club, but there's no rule saying they cannot hold their shortsword by the blade and use it to whack the enemies ''as if'' it was a club.
*** This is basically what medieval knights did when fighting other knights in platemail. The blade couldn't pierce the armor, so they used their swords as clubs instead to much greater effect.
*** Nowhere in the rules does it say that you have to actually fire an arrow to deal damage with a bow. Of course, it's assumed that a player who wields a bow would fire arrows from said bow, but the rules don't specifically state that this is a requirement.
*** They don't state that you ''have'' to use a bow as a ranged weapon either. A Longbow is still a Longbow, even if you use it to hit your enemies in melee, so according to the rules, it still deals full damage, not just 1 (Improvised Weapons are anything that doesn't outright resemble a common weapon-type. A Longbow will always resemble a Longbow which is a common weapon-type, thus preventing a Longbow from being an Improvised Weapon, and thus keeping its damage to 1d8 or 1d10 instead of just 1).
*** The rules aren't specific about ''how'' to actually use alchemical items, meaning you could easily get away with administering a vial of Holy Water to an undead or Acid to the guy you just beat up in a bar-fight. This way, you can save the vials for later use (like making your own alchemical items) or sell them and get a little money back.
*** The alignment table is a bit ambiguous at times. Particularly, it doesn't say that a Lawful Good Paladin (the typical paragon of all that is good and just) cannot start a crowdfunding campaign to help a village...using the villagers' own money! The rules just say that Lawful Good characters have to act according to local laws, be good towards others and bring evildoers to justice.
*** Furthermore, there's no rule saying that a Chaotic Evil character cannot have sympathy with the people he wrongs...or donate to charity.
*** Due to the fact that alignment-restrictions on classes don't exist in 5th Edition, Paladins are allowed to be Chaotic Evil but still serve justice and protect the weak (Oath of Devotion), while Warlocks are allowed to be Lawful Good mages whose powers come straight from Hell.
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** A Tribunal ruling banned magi from selling enchanted items to mundanes. The {{Item Craft|ing}}ers of House Verditius immediately employed non-magical middlemen to do the selling on their behalf. However, they voluntarily limited their sales in order to avoid legal repercussions.

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** A Tribunal ruling banned magi from selling enchanted items to mundanes. The {{Item Craft|ing}}ers of House Verditius immediately employed non-magical middlemen to do the selling on their behalf. However, they behalf -- but voluntarily limited their sales in order so as not to avoid legal repercussions.provoke the Tribunal to close the loophole.
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Several examples refer to the [[Administrivia/FormerTropeNamer old name]] of this trope, Ain't No Rule ([[AnimalAthleteLoophole named for a specific situational loophole]]). Compare ExactWords, NoManOfWomanBorn and PuzzleThriller.

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Several examples refer to the [[Administrivia/FormerTropeNamer old name]] of this trope, Ain't No Rule ([[AnimalAthleteLoophole named for a specific situational loophole]]). Compare ExactWords, NoManOfWomanBorn and NoManOfWomanBorn, PuzzleThriller.
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* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZqaYa3QmZY&ab_channel=TheBorderline this video]] the protagonists must at some point fulfill a challenge: breathe the air of three different countries in 24 hours. They notice that embassies are legally considered territory of another country, so they save themselves a long travel abroad.
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* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', [[SatanicArchetype Asmodeus]]' [[DaddysLittleVillain daughter]] Glasya is a master at exploiting loopholes. She's regarded as a RulesLawyer by the standards of an entire species of them, so she has a ''lot'' of experience with contracts. Her rise to Archdevil status came after a scheme where she managed to engage in quasi-legal counterfeiting by minting coins from lesser metals that had been temporarily transmuted into a specific gold alloy, then use these coins to buy souls that were then sold for profit again. Now, after her rise to Archdevil status, mortals most commonly bargain with her to get out of a contract with another devil, with her ''always'' finding a loophole that makes the contract void in exchange for said mortal pledging their soul to her instead.
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Updating TAS links


** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' [[http://tasvideos.org/3989M.html in 42 seconds.]]
** ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' [[http://tasvideos.org/2466M.html in four minutes.]]
** ''VideoGame/KirbysAdventure'' [[http://tasvideos.org/3318M.html in 36 seconds.]]
** ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' [[http://tasvideos.org/4490M.html in four minutes, with just one key and no stars.]]
** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'', the game which originally popularized [=TASing=], ''[[http://tasvideos.org/7273S.html in less than a second.]]''

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** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' [[http://tasvideos.org/3989M.html [[https://tasvideos.org/3989M in 42 41 seconds.]]
** ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' [[http://tasvideos.org/2466M.html ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'' [[https://tasvideos.org/2466M in four minutes.]]
** ''VideoGame/KirbysAdventure'' [[http://tasvideos.org/3318M.html [[https://tasvideos.org/3318M in 36 35 seconds.]]
** ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' [[http://tasvideos.org/4490M.html [[https://tasvideos.org/4490M in four minutes, with just one key and no stars.]]
** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'', the game which originally popularized [=TASing=], ''[[http://tasvideos.org/7273S.html ''[[https://tasvideos.org/4567M in less than a second.]]''
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** A Tribunal ruling banned magi from selling enchanted items to mundanes. The {{Item Craft|ing}}ers of House Verditius immediately employed non-magical middlemen to do the selling on their behalf. However, they voluntarily limited their sales in order to avoid legal repercussions.
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** {{Defied|Trope}} by the "Silver Consensus" that at most two pounds of magically-created silver may be traded to mundanes per magus per year, to avoid crashing the economy. If a magus tries to flout this by creating gold and gems instead, they're not only punished, but [[HumiliationConga mocked for their unoriginality]].
** Magi swear not to "interfere with the affairs of [[{{Muggles}} mundanes]] and thereby bring ruin on my [fellow magi]", theoretically on pain of death. In practice, the Order cares about protecting itself, not mundanes, so harm that doesn't bring negative attention to the Order is often excused. One magus successfully defended himself by establishing that he [[LeaveNoWitnesses never left witnesses alive]].

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** {{Defied|Trope}} by the "Silver Consensus" rule that at most two pounds of magically-created silver may be traded to mundanes per magus per year, year to avoid crashing the economy. If a magus tries to flout this by creating gold and gems instead, they're not only punished, punished but [[HumiliationConga mocked for their unoriginality]].
** Magi swear not to "interfere with the affairs of [[{{Muggles}} mundanes]] and thereby bring ruin on my [fellow magi]", theoretically on pain of death. magi]". In practice, the Order cares about protecting itself, rule is to protect the Order, not mundanes, so harm that doesn't bring negative attention to the Order is often excused. One magus successfully defended exonerated himself by establishing that he [[LeaveNoWitnesses never left mundane witnesses alive]].
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* ''TabletopGame/ArsMagica'': The [[MagicalSociety Order of Hermes]] is a loose coalition of overlapping factions with variable goals, so the success of this tactic largely depends on whose toes are being stepped on.
** {{Defied|Trope}} by the "Silver Consensus" that at most two pounds of magically-created silver may be traded to mundanes per magus per year, to avoid crashing the economy. If a magus tries to flout this by creating gold and gems instead, they're not only punished, but [[HumiliationConga mocked for their unoriginality]].
** Magi swear not to "interfere with the affairs of [[{{Muggles}} mundanes]] and thereby bring ruin on my [fellow magi]", theoretically on pain of death. In practice, the Order cares about protecting itself, not mundanes, so harm that doesn't bring negative attention to the Order is often excused. One magus successfully defended himself by establishing that he [[LeaveNoWitnesses never left witnesses alive]].
** The Transylvanian Tribunal is limited to five [[HomeBase Covenants]], as a result of a ruling after Tremere's attempt to seize power over the Order. So except for Coeris, they don't use Covenants much at all; they use ''oppidia'', which are outposts in the Tribunal that have a different administrative role.
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* ''WebVideo/JetLagTheGame'': All players, especially Sam, sometimes use unconventional readings of a task to complete it in an untraditional way. This includes an instance in season two where Sam and Joseph interpret "Ascend 152 meters to a high point" to include running up and down a small incline twenty-eight times.
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compare Exact Words


Several examples refer to the [[Administrivia/FormerTropeNamer old name]] of this trope, Ain't No Rule ([[AnimalAthleteLoophole named for a specific situational loophole]]). Compare NoManOfWomanBorn and PuzzleThriller.

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Several examples refer to the [[Administrivia/FormerTropeNamer old name]] of this trope, Ain't No Rule ([[AnimalAthleteLoophole named for a specific situational loophole]]). Compare ExactWords, NoManOfWomanBorn and PuzzleThriller.
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[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': The ''[[BigBookOfWar Codex Astartes]]'' states that Space Marine chapters can exceed the normal limit of 1,000 brethren if they're engaged in a crusade. So the Black Templars chapter simply declared themselves to be perpetually crusading, allowing them to have as many troops as they can raise.
[[/folder]]
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Moving Visual Novel examples to the subpage


[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'': Monokuma establishes strict school rules with harsh penalties if anyone breaks them, but delights in both abusing ExactWords himself and seeing his students do the same.
** Students aren't allowed to sleep outside of their rooms, but they are allowed to sleep in ''each other'''s dorms, which sets up the first mystery as Makoto and Sayaka switch rooms.
** In the second chapter of the first game, one's e-handbook will only allow you into the appropriate changing room for your gender, and lending out E-handbooks is forbidden. However, as Byakuya points out, ''borrowing'' another person's e-handbook isn't forbidden, and e-handbooks from dead students are kept in the main hall, so you can avoid all rule-breaking by going there and swiping a dead student's e-handbook- after all, it's not like ''they'' can be punished for lending out their e-handbooks. [[spoiler: It's implied that Byakuya stumbled upon Chihiro's corpse in the girls' changing room when he was testing this theory out for himself.]]
** Monokuma ''tries'' to use this defense for [[spoiler: forging Sakura's suicide note]] in chapter 4, claiming that it doesn't count as tampering with the crime scene because he didn't alter the scene itself (the note was in Aoi's bedroom) and [[spoiler: the note never explicitly ''stated'' it was Sakura's suicide note]]. Makoto doesn't buy it, and it's later pointed out that having to resort to bending the rules so badly means that Monokuma is getting desperate.
** A spoilery example of this trope is the reason ''2'''s killing game happened. [[spoiler: As an AI taking on the role of "teacher" in the LotusEaterMachine that the game is set in, Monokuma is forced to obey the rules and can't erase them (though he can set up new ones), and one of these rules is that the 'teacher' (Monokuma, usurped from Usami) can't interfere with the students unless they break a rule. Monokuma wants the students all dead for his plan, so he sets up the killing game to encourage students to break the "no violence" rule by killing another student; once they've done that, he can execute them.]]
** Used against Monokuma in chapter 5, although it only becomes clear in hindsight: [[spoiler:when the students have to uncover the traitor or face execution, things seem hopeless until Chiaki starts discussing the traitor's motives in a way that makes it clear she's talking about herself, while also calling attention to some overlooked info that confirms it. As the final chapter reveals, Chiaki was actually an AI programmed to not reveal her identity, but she decided that she could avoid violating that directive by merely leading the others to figure it out instead.]]
* In ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'''s backstory, citizens of Hinamizawa [[BigDamPlot protested the construction of a dam that would flood their town]] by, among other things, [[LoudOfWar chanting Buddhist sutras at an extremely high volume outside the construction site]] so their protest would qualify as a religious service, and therefore protected speech, and the police would be forbidden from doing anything to stop them.
* ''VisualNovel/MagicalDiary'':
** At WizardingSchool Iris Academy, class exams take place in dungeons, and generally the only rule is "find the exit". In one exam, an illusion is hiding the exit, and the student is expected to use magic to break the illusion. However, [[AwesomenessByAnalysis Ellen is smart enough to just deduce where the exit is on her own]] without even needing to use magic. She passes the exam, but [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome her professor basically equates what she did to cheating, since the exam was meant to test one's magical ability.]]
** The player can do something similar in a different exam; the key to the exit is locked in an exploding chest, but if your Strong is high enough, you can survive the damage you take from the explosion and proceed to pocket the key. Just like the above example, your professor isn't very happy with you if you do this.
** The sworn vow of a witch or wizard is absolutely binding, and due to this, two characters accidentally find themselves in a MagicallyBindingContract when they make a ChildhoodMarriagePromise. They're horrified to learn that they have to marry each other once they turn eighteen, or else they'll both die. Eventually, a loophole in this is found: [[spoiler: the characters promised that they would ''marry'', not that they would marry ''each other''. The player character can offer to marry her instead to fulfill the requirement on her end.]]

[[/folder]]
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Moved Visual Novel examples into their own category.

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* LoopholeAbuse/VisualNovels
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** Used against Monokuma in chapter 5, although it only becomes clear in hindsight: [[spoiler:when the students have to uncover the traitor or face execution, things seem hopeless until Chiaki starts discussing the traitor's motives in a way that makes it clear she's talking about herself, while also calling attention to some overlooked info that confirms it. As the final chapter reveals, Chiaki was actually an AI programmed to not reveal her identity, but she decided that she could avoid violating that directive by merely leading the others to figure it out instead.]]
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* ''VisualNovel/MagicalDiary'':
** At WizardingSchool Iris Academy, class exams take place in dungeons, and generally the only rule is "find the exit". In one exam, an illusion is hiding the exit, and the student is expected to use magic to break the illusion. However, [[AwesomenessByAnalysis Ellen is smart enough to just deduce where the exit is on her own]] without even needing to use magic. She passes the exam, but [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome her professor basically equates what she did to cheating, since the exam was meant to test one's magical ability.]]
** The player can do something similar in a different exam; the key to the exit is locked in an exploding chest, but if your Strong is high enough, you can survive the damage you take from the explosion and proceed to pocket the key. Just like the above example, your professor isn't very happy with you if you do this.
** The sworn vow of a witch or wizard is absolutely binding, and due to this, two characters accidentally find themselves in a MagicallyBindingContract when they make a ChildhoodMarriagePromise. They're horrified to learn that they have to marry each other once they turn eighteen, or else they'll both die. Eventually, a loophole in this is found: [[spoiler: the characters promised that they would ''marry'', not that they would marry ''each other''. The player character can offer to marry her instead to fulfill the requirement on her end.]]
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** A spoilery example of this trope is the reason ''2'''s killing game happened. [[spoiler: As an AI taking on the role of "teacher" in the LotusEaterMachine that the game is set in, Monokuma is forced to obey the rules and can't erase them (though he can set up new ones), and one of these rules is that the 'teacher' (Monokuma, usurped from Usami) can't interfere with the students unless they break a rule. Monokuma wants the students all dead for his plan, so he sets up the killing game to encourage students to break the "no violence" rule by killing another student; once they've done that, he can execute them.]]
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* ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'': Monokuma establishes strict school rules with harsh penalties if anyone breaks them, but delights in both abusing ExactWords himself and seeing his students do the same.
** Students aren't allowed to sleep outside of their rooms, but they are allowed to sleep in ''each other'''s dorms, which sets up the first mystery as Makoto and Sayaka switch rooms.
** In the second chapter of the first game, one's e-handbook will only allow you into the appropriate changing room for your gender, and lending out E-handbooks is forbidden. However, as Byakuya points out, ''borrowing'' another person's e-handbook isn't forbidden, and e-handbooks from dead students are kept in the main hall, so you can avoid all rule-breaking by going there and swiping a dead student's e-handbook- after all, it's not like ''they'' can be punished for lending out their e-handbooks. [[spoiler: It's implied that Byakuya stumbled upon Chihiro's corpse in the girls' changing room when he was testing this theory out for himself.]]
** Monokuma ''tries'' to use this defense for [[spoiler: forging Sakura's suicide note]] in chapter 4, claiming that it doesn't count as tampering with the crime scene because he didn't alter the scene itself (the note was in Aoi's bedroom) and [[spoiler: the note never explicitly ''stated'' it was Sakura's suicide note]]. Makoto doesn't buy it, and it's later pointed out that having to resort to bending the rules so badly means that Monokuma is getting desperate.
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* The famous [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIE-5hg7FoA Apple MacIntosh 1984 Commercial]] is often stated to have only aired once, during the 1984 Super Bowl on Jan. 22 1984. However in order to qualify for the prominent [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clio_Awards Clio Awards]] it had to air at least once in 1983 so they purchased time to run it on a small station in Twin Falls, Idaho shortly before midnight on Dec. 31 1983. It was likely only seen by a few hundred people at most. This was way before social media could spoil it so the result was the ad made it’s impact and is often regarded as the Greatest TV Commercial ever.

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* The famous [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIE-5hg7FoA Apple MacIntosh 1984 Commercial]] is often stated to have only aired once, during the 1984 Super Bowl on Jan. 22 1984. However in order to qualify for the prominent [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clio_Awards Clio Awards]] it had to air at least once in 1983 so they purchased time to run it on a small station in Twin Falls, Idaho shortly before midnight on Dec. 31 1983. It was likely only seen by a few hundred people at most. This was way before social media could spoil it so the result was the ad made it’s its impact and is often regarded as the Greatest TV Commercial ever.

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