Cheating?

[pawsplay]

RPGs are just more fun if there's a real chance the Joker will gank Batman. That's what makes RPGs fun.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

As a player: I don't cheat. I'm the guy reminding the DM to deal poison damage. :\

Oh, we do that all the time, too. "Remember, you moved, you can't make a full attack". "Remember that you're still stunned". "Don't forget the -2 moral penalty!" "Misses you even if flat-footed?"

We have a player that always leaves the impression he cheats (whether DMing or playing) (in fact, we observed him doing it by changing a dice roll per HAND once.).
In our Shadowrun (3E) game, countering his cheating was called "Dispel Combat Pool". "Dodging the third shot at you this round? How many dice do you have in your combat pool" "Oh, er, yes,er, I guess I'll have to take this shot." He also developed the "Morph Grenade" - flashbang, offensive, defensive, concussion - that could change in mid-flight. Off course, the real WTF was that he fired grenades after everyone has consciously put silencers on their weapons... But I digress.
For the record, I think he has gotten better. (He doesn't cheat as obviously as he used to , but most importantly, his tactics seem to have improved)

 

[Blue Sky]

Once and a while, I'll fudge the dice as a player.

Higher and lower, for the record.

In a 7th Sea game, I had a rivalry going on with another player, who would roll a few points higher than me. Occasionally, if I got a poor roll when he got a good one, or vice versa, I'd change mine to a few points lower than his, just to continue the joke.

 

[billd91]

Put me down in the "DM's can't cheat" camp.

 

[Treebore]

This. DM can't cheat.

There ya go. Its only bad if the DM isn't doing it to improve the game play.

For instance, I don't have HP's fixed for monsters. They don't drop until their max HP's is exceeded or the fight has reached the right level of toughness. Then they start dropping/dying.

Gives me better control with regards to PC death and TPK's, and ensures the fight gives the players the right amount of worry to make winning a adrenaline rush.

I don't do this with every encounter, not even every key encounter. Just when I am not sure what the outcome will be. I'll adjust HP up or down, depending on how tough the encounter is turning out to be.

It doesn't eliminate PC death, or even TPK's, but it certainly does maximize the "fun" of the encounters.

So as long as it increases the fun of game play, it isn't cheating, its doing the job of being DM. Of course the DM needs to be capable of being honest enough with themselves to know who's game play is being improved. Theirs, or the whole groups.

 

[Treebore]

I disagree. Much like Congress, the DM has the power to change any rule, but they are still bound by it.

You and Whisperfoot are saying the same thing. Just approaching from different perspectives.

 

[Enverxis]

I have cheated as a player in the past (years ago now), because our DM was a bad DM who went on power trips (frequently we got knocked out without any say and thrown into a gladiator pit if we didn't do what he wanted us to do, or we got captured by 40th level Assassins =/).

My most hilarious "cheat" was taking advantage of rule knowledge and using a repeating crossbow with my monk character and rolling attacks for all five shots in the same round at level one. Worked for about 2 sessions until the DM actually decided to check the Players Handbook because it seemed overpowered.

I eventually took over DMing and my players (same group) still cheated because of habit from the old DM, to counter this I significantly scaled up the challenges they faced (didn't really matter, they still always won easily because there was one player who used to never roll under 15 (inc. bonuses)

Now we're all older and wiser, and understand that cheating just ruins the fun of the game, that's probably why we didn't play for five years.

 

[Shining Dragon]

If I cheated, I'd then be wondering why I'm playing a game that involves dice rolling and, thus, the chance of failing.

 

[pawsplay]

For instance, I don't have HP's fixed for monsters. They don't drop until their max HP's is exceeded or the fight has reached the right level of toughness. Then they start dropping/dying.

That reminds me of Dragon Warrior 2. The monsters level up as you do... hence, there is no incentive to level up, and some reasons not to. In this scenario you describe, there is no reason to do any particular thing; instead, players would just whatever they felt like.

 

[billd91]

That reminds me of Dragon Warrior 2. The monsters level up as you do... hence, there is no incentive to level up, and some reasons not to. In this scenario you describe, there is no reason to do any particular thing; instead, players would just whatever they felt like.

Players doing whatever they want to isn't exactly a stinging indictment of a way of playing.