Our group split down the middle on house rules for Catan, so we tried both for 3 weeks
Our Thursday group in Columbus had a big fight over house rules for Catan. Half the table wanted the friendly version where you always get something on a bad roll. The other half wanted straight rules, no trading help, no mercy. We ran version A for 3 weeks, then version B for 3 weeks. The friendly games ended in about 55 minutes and people stayed happy. The strict games dragged past 2 hours and two players quit coming. I picked strict because I thought it would sharpen us up, and it just made the table quiet. Which way would you go, or is there a middle rule that actually works?