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<blockquote data-quote="Merlin the Tuna" data-source="post: 5109905" data-attributes="member: 55638"><p>A very simple example is a session I ran for some friends a couple weeks ago. I was guest DMing a short side-trek in an ongoing Keep on the Shadowfell game and, thanks largely to some positively ridiculous resource hoarding on the PC's part, 3 of the 5 party members were down with the battle only about half way through. A couple of fudges -- one miss from the monsters, and one artillery monster going down like the paper mache that he really was <em>not</em>, and the group pulls it out. But even with the monsters dead, they have to stay in initiative to see if they can stabilize the other party members before they bleed out for good. They (barely) succeed, and it's a nice memory for them of their group scraping by on the skin of their teeth. Without the fudges, they would have lost easily, and that becomes a memory of the time that I visited from out of state and killed their characters like a total jerk.</p><p></p><p>For a little background on my overall situation, I started playing D&D in college, about 4 years ago. When I eventually started DMing, I decided that I wouldn't be like those big old jerkface grognards that hide behind their screens. I'd be fair, and roll everything out in the open and never adjust die rolls. And then I discovered that the dice are stupid. Villains got derailed by a string of worthless rolls, turning what was going to be a triumphant victory into what is basically a joke and probably a waste of an hour of time spent running a combat. On the flip side, dramatic moments for the PCs fell apart because the numbers just weren't there.</p><p></p><p>The most vivid memory I have of the latter was from a 3.5E battle with a young-ish dragon and his hobgoblin allies for control of a bridge. Most of the hobgoblins are down, the dragon is at about 2 hitpoints, but the party is stretched just as thin -- we're at the point where a stiff breeze will knock over most of the combatants. The Knight PC, on his horse, has been disarmed somehow but, in order to keep the dragon from taking to wing in order to get away or make one last strafing run, bites his lip, draws his dagger, and charges. He rolls the dice, and it shows something like a 13, totaling something like a 23 to hit -- one lower than the dragon's AC. "Sorry, " I say, playing it by the books, "you're one short of hitting." Visible disappointment all around the table. The player follows my halfheartedly noting that his horse gets an attack too, and, stupidly enough, it connects for the kill. We collectively shake our heads and wrap things up in the next round.</p><p></p><p>I've just had too many sessions like that -- frequently with players afterwards saying things like "That's why you need to roll behind a screen" -- to put my faith in dice at those defining moments.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Merlin the Tuna, post: 5109905, member: 55638"] A very simple example is a session I ran for some friends a couple weeks ago. I was guest DMing a short side-trek in an ongoing Keep on the Shadowfell game and, thanks largely to some positively ridiculous resource hoarding on the PC's part, 3 of the 5 party members were down with the battle only about half way through. A couple of fudges -- one miss from the monsters, and one artillery monster going down like the paper mache that he really was [I]not[/I], and the group pulls it out. But even with the monsters dead, they have to stay in initiative to see if they can stabilize the other party members before they bleed out for good. They (barely) succeed, and it's a nice memory for them of their group scraping by on the skin of their teeth. Without the fudges, they would have lost easily, and that becomes a memory of the time that I visited from out of state and killed their characters like a total jerk. For a little background on my overall situation, I started playing D&D in college, about 4 years ago. When I eventually started DMing, I decided that I wouldn't be like those big old jerkface grognards that hide behind their screens. I'd be fair, and roll everything out in the open and never adjust die rolls. And then I discovered that the dice are stupid. Villains got derailed by a string of worthless rolls, turning what was going to be a triumphant victory into what is basically a joke and probably a waste of an hour of time spent running a combat. On the flip side, dramatic moments for the PCs fell apart because the numbers just weren't there. The most vivid memory I have of the latter was from a 3.5E battle with a young-ish dragon and his hobgoblin allies for control of a bridge. Most of the hobgoblins are down, the dragon is at about 2 hitpoints, but the party is stretched just as thin -- we're at the point where a stiff breeze will knock over most of the combatants. The Knight PC, on his horse, has been disarmed somehow but, in order to keep the dragon from taking to wing in order to get away or make one last strafing run, bites his lip, draws his dagger, and charges. He rolls the dice, and it shows something like a 13, totaling something like a 23 to hit -- one lower than the dragon's AC. "Sorry, " I say, playing it by the books, "you're one short of hitting." Visible disappointment all around the table. The player follows my halfheartedly noting that his horse gets an attack too, and, stupidly enough, it connects for the kill. We collectively shake our heads and wrap things up in the next round. I've just had too many sessions like that -- frequently with players afterwards saying things like "That's why you need to roll behind a screen" -- to put my faith in dice at those defining moments. [/QUOTE]
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