Allowing for Awesome

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Allowing for Awesome

June 2, 2010 by middleagedm

I had a conversation with Paul, who plays the monk in my campaign, after our last session. This was right after his character had pretty much mopped the floor with the villains in the last encounter of the evening. You can read the play by play in my last blog post. The question he asked me was, and I can’t remember the exact quote as it was 2 am, was essentially didn’t I want to fudge it so his character didn’t drop the Hobgoblin Warcaster before he could even act in the encounter. I had to admit that there was a little part of me that wanted to give the Warcaster like 5 more hit points so he could unleash a little bit of smack down but I choose not to, as that just isn’t my style. I told him that what he pulled off was pretty friggin rad, and that really outweighs everything else. The game is all about being heroic and awesome, and that sequence was definitely both. I am a roll the dice in the open type DM, letting the chips fall where they may, and that’s how they fell that night. I am also not the kind of DM that wants to kill any PC, I do however want to make them bleed…a lot. Ideally I try and straddle that fine line between cakewalk encounters and TPK’s. With that in mind, I haven’t dropped any of my players in the last 2 sessions, so maybe I need to amp up some of the encounters, oh and next time I think I need to be mindful that the monk can do all kinds of freaky movement and attack. So what kind of DM are you?

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Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

6 Responses

on June 5, 2010 at 4:10 am | Reply Joyce

I haven’t much experience DMing; it was kind of motivated by revenge to give the usual DM of my group at the time a taste of his own medicine (he was the most horrible DM I’ve ever had). From a player perspective, though, I like to do some actual roleplaying with some fighting/action between. A session that is almost entirely roleplaying or entirely fighting is boring (in the first case, I’d rather watch a drama on TV, or the later, play a video game). The only exception is if you’re at a major plot point in your campaign. TPKs are never good. As for killing a character, I think it is reasonable to let a player find a way to ressurect their character (not typically a problem in higher level games), or to even fudge a roll so that they’re at negative hit points but not dead…. particularly when someone is really attached to their character. Afterall, it’s supposed to be fun, right?
- on June 6, 2010 at 5:31 am | Reply middleagedm
  
  lol, I have great empathy for whoever your DM is, I imagine your probably a handfull to mange at the table. you should read “Confessions of a Part-Time Sorcerous”. I hope you change your mind and let me run you guys through a mini-delve one night. I think we could even get Deepa to play.
on June 6, 2010 at 9:53 pm | Reply Joyce

LOL (literally) @ Deepa playing DnD. Thanks for the recommendation, I will pick up the book the next time I do some book shopping.

My husband is now the current DM. He describes my playing style as “like a halfling, regardless of whether or not [I'm] actually playing a halfling”. Apparently it gets even worse when we play with specific people who bring out my “halfling-ness”. The only situation that is worse is when the whole party decides to play a gnomes
on June 8, 2010 at 2:49 am | Reply GI

So basically your question is a complex question: To fudge or not to fudge?

You could have arguments all day long (and if you go on RPG forums, you can see it’s a highly debatable topic), but in the end it’s just DM preference. There is no right or wrong and both types of DMs have good and bad games.

In my opinion, when a DM never fudges either dice rolls or hit points (or even abilities), you’re making the game a simulation (similar to a video game). The only problem is, there is no reload option in this game and sometimes, you definitely wish you had one.

If you’re a DM who makes climatic encounters where the players barely win, chances are eventually the dice will fall badly for the players and they will die. TPK. And from experience, TPKs are a really shitty way to end campaigns and sour the RPG experience imo. If you’re a DM that has all easy encounters, you’re right, you don’t have to fudge and you can definitely roll in the open.

My preference is to fudge. Hardly at all, but sometimes.

Because maybe it’s cool that the PCs dropped the mage in one round, but MAYBE it would have been cooler (and a better story) if he got to do one final action before going down.

Also, I like a screen so that my players can’t read my module or Monster Manual. The downside is that it places a barrier between the players and me, which I don’t like.

Anyway, it’s just something to think about and like I said, it’s pure preference.
- on June 8, 2010 at 4:38 am | Reply middleagedm
  
  I agree with you whole heartedly, as there are no absolutes and sometimes you just need to fudge things. Sometimes I have decreased monster hp’s on the fly, not applied a condition or effect, or did not recharge a power when I thought I was going to TPK. I also play with a screen for some of the same reasons as you but role outside of it. I think that I do lean more to the let the chips fall where they may side of the equation, particularly because I think 4th edition with the new rules of dying gives you some decent leeway to drop a pc or 2 without too much fear of them actually dying. I am still learning the nuances of encounter design and player capabilities in 4th edition. The monk is certainly giving me a lesson in monster placement. The reason I didn’t fudge it in the above instance was more that I thought what he did was daring and awesome and I didn’t want to rob him of it, I think I would have felt kind of douchey. I also think my players would have sensed I fudged as well. But live and learn, and I will adapt. You can also fudge a dice role that is out in the open
- on June 8, 2010 at 5:20 pm | Reply middleagedm
  
  I think I would just add that I lean more towords fudging when trying to keep the players alive where as if they beat my monsters really easily I try and adjust and plan better for future encounters.