For me, it was: “If it’s going to help your players have more fun, cheat. Fudge a die roll. Make shit up. The dice don’t tell you what needs to happen, your players’ reactions do.”

Obviously, many people will disagree with this, but I’ve always appreciated this advice, and I believe it has made me a better GM.

  • iamthetot@piefed.ca
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    4 days ago

    My opinion is not based on continuous fudging.

    Perhaps I can reword my opinion to be better understood. You don’t need to agree with it, but this is my opinion.

    The GM fudging is removing the agency of the players, by deciding that the rules of the game (Eg, the dice result) do not at an arbitrary time serve the story that the GM thinks is best.

    Challenge: would you be okay with a player lying (fudging) a dice result to facilitate a result that they found more fun?

    • Kichae@wanderingadventure.party
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      4 days ago

      iamthetot > would you be okay with a player lying (fudging) a dice result to facilitate a result that they found more fun?

      Thank you. No GM is going to accept their players declaring a bad roll to be a good one, instead. Cheating players is one of the more common GM complaints. I’m not sure why GMs seem to think that’s a one-way street.

    • mr_noxx@lemmy.mlOP
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      4 days ago

      That’s an ad hominem argument, I’m afraid. The player isn’t responsible for running the game - at least not in the same capacity. The GM is the one who either selects the adventure to run or writes it themselves. The players (at least not in any game that I’ve ever participated in over the last 30+ years) do not. As the one who is doing all of the legwork in creating, hosting and running the game to maximize the enjoyment of the group, overlooking a few terrible dice rolls here and there isn’t going to make me lose any sleep. In fact, in just about every TTRPG rulebook you will find an entry that states, in one form or another, that the GM is the final arbiter of the rules - up to and including overriding them as they see fit. Do things differently at your table, if you like. You don’t have to agree with me, either. Different strokes and all that.