DM's: How much cheating do you have to do?

[Negflar2099]

Since 4e came out I've made a conscious decision to not cheat as much. I used to cheat in 3e all the time, either to keep the players alive or to keep my enemies from dying in one round (no dig on 3e, it just happens.) Not cheating is hard. Two players died and I've had a few monsters go down quicker than I wanted (and some didn't get to use their cool special abilities ) but I've managed to stick to it. I'm happy to say that since 4e I had to cheat only a few times to keep a total TPK from happening (and that was because I didn't scale for fewer characters like I should have). Very cool.

What is everyone else's experience? If you DM how often do you fudge rolls or change monster abilities behind the screen?

 

[Obryn]

I roll all my dice in the open. It lets me more openly root for my players, and deflect any blame onto the dice.

In the rare occasions where I fudge, I just "forget" a modifier or add an extra one and let them think I screwed up.

-O

 

[Crothian]

I never fudge dice rolls, but the players seem to think I do at times

 

[National Acrobat]

No cheating at all. In my group, all dice rolls are done out in the open, from character creation through to saves, attacks, damage, etc. No fudging. Whatever happens, happens.

 

[Mark]

What is everyone else's experience?

DMs can't cheat. However, in life and death situations, where the players are already privy to all of the mods and gadgets the enemy might have, I just roll in the open.

 

[FATDRAGONGAMES]

Lots.

 

[Wyrmshadows]

I roll in the open. It wasn't until I was playing for quite a number if years before I knew that some DMs hid their roles. I will, if things go bad because of my own bad planning, occasionally alter the stats of enemies but will never do this to the detriment of the party. I won't allow my bad planning to kill my PCs. However, if they die due to bad rolls or foolishness then they die.


Wyrmshadows

 

[Hussar]

I started rolling in the open quite a while ago. It does make the game MUCH more lethal. But, I like the fact that it's absolutely fair. And, frequently the dice tell stories that are more interesting than what I would come up with by nudging the odds.

 

[Umbran]

As Mark said - the DM is fundamentally incapable of "cheating". But despite that some folks would guess that this attitude would lead me to a lot of fudging of dice rolls, I find I don't need to do so often. But then, I tend to run games where the combat is less the meat and potatoes, and more the side dishes of the overall game. Still necessary and tasty, but not most of the mass on the plate.

 

[Graf]

I used to cheat.. now I think it's a waste of time.

Accept that you do not control your destiny... and find peace through gaming.