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DM advice: How do you NOT kill your party?
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<blockquote data-quote="The Crimson Binome" data-source="post: 7398305" data-attributes="member: 6775031"><p>The first rule of role-playing is, quite literally, "Thou shalt not meta-game." All of your advice violates that rule.</p><p></p><p>If the DM tailors the world to fit the capabilities of the party, then that's meta-gaming, and none of the players' decisions actually matter. You have essentially already decided the outcome, when you take their capabilities into account. If <em>you</em> consider their ability to handle a troll, <em>before</em> you decide whether or not there's a troll in that room, then <em>their</em> choice of whether or not to prepare for trolls becomes irrelevant - regardless of whether you decide to give them something they can handle, or to exploit a perceived weakness for the sake of drama. The <em>only</em> way for their decisions to mean anything is for <em>you</em> to not meta-game based on it.</p><p></p><p>The DM isn't a god. The DM is a neutral arbiter. The DM doesn't have opinions, or preferences; or if they do, they don't let those things cloud their judgment. The DM simply tells you what you can perceive, and role-plays the NPCs, and adjudicates uncertainty in action resolution.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="The Crimson Binome, post: 7398305, member: 6775031"] The first rule of role-playing is, quite literally, "Thou shalt not meta-game." All of your advice violates that rule. If the DM tailors the world to fit the capabilities of the party, then that's meta-gaming, and none of the players' decisions actually matter. You have essentially already decided the outcome, when you take their capabilities into account. If [I]you[/I] consider their ability to handle a troll, [I]before[/I] you decide whether or not there's a troll in that room, then [I]their[/I] choice of whether or not to prepare for trolls becomes irrelevant - regardless of whether you decide to give them something they can handle, or to exploit a perceived weakness for the sake of drama. The [I]only[/I] way for their decisions to mean anything is for [I]you[/I] to not meta-game based on it. The DM isn't a god. The DM is a neutral arbiter. The DM doesn't have opinions, or preferences; or if they do, they don't let those things cloud their judgment. The DM simply tells you what you can perceive, and role-plays the NPCs, and adjudicates uncertainty in action resolution. [/QUOTE]
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