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How Important Is Rules Knowledge In Being A Good D&D DM?
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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 3316873" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>I have no idea why you'd need to luck up rules in every encounter unless you are in a high level campaign with alot of spell slingers. In any event, its time for you as a DM to put your foot down. Inform the players that you are wasting too much time looking up and arguing over the rules, and its reducing your enjoyment of the game. Tell them that players aren't allowed to crack a book at the table for the entire session. If PC casts a spell that the DM isn't completely familiar with, if you can't quickly summerize what the spell does without flipping open a book, then you aren't allowed to cast it.</p><p></p><p>That's what the PC's are doing wrong. Getting them to stay focused on the game will solve part of your problems.</p><p></p><p>The other problem is what you are doing wrong. Briefly, you are allowing metagame information to creep into your roleplaying. You are letting the crunch get in the way of the fluff, and you've fallen into the trap of communicating only crunch with the players. You have forgotten the DM's first rule of fluff. As long as the fluff doesn't impact the mechanics, any sort of fluff is allowable under the rules. So go ahead and have the NPC throw the crossbow away in frustration. So long as it isn't an actual attack, it is a free action. Dropping an object in a free action. How that action is described is up to you and any description you give it as a DM is a valid one so long as you don't change the crunch. By all means, you are the DM - add colorful fluff to the crunch. Allow the PC's to add colorful fluff to the crunch, just so long as they adhere to the same standard. If the PC's wants to throw his crossbow away in frustration, let him do so just so long as he understand that if he wants a chance for it to actually hit the evil wood warping druid, he has to use an action. But if he doesn't want to use an action on his crossbow tossing, it doesn't matter how he describes it and he should be encouraged to describe in as exciting and flavorful of a manner possible.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 3316873, member: 4937"] I have no idea why you'd need to luck up rules in every encounter unless you are in a high level campaign with alot of spell slingers. In any event, its time for you as a DM to put your foot down. Inform the players that you are wasting too much time looking up and arguing over the rules, and its reducing your enjoyment of the game. Tell them that players aren't allowed to crack a book at the table for the entire session. If PC casts a spell that the DM isn't completely familiar with, if you can't quickly summerize what the spell does without flipping open a book, then you aren't allowed to cast it. That's what the PC's are doing wrong. Getting them to stay focused on the game will solve part of your problems. The other problem is what you are doing wrong. Briefly, you are allowing metagame information to creep into your roleplaying. You are letting the crunch get in the way of the fluff, and you've fallen into the trap of communicating only crunch with the players. You have forgotten the DM's first rule of fluff. As long as the fluff doesn't impact the mechanics, any sort of fluff is allowable under the rules. So go ahead and have the NPC throw the crossbow away in frustration. So long as it isn't an actual attack, it is a free action. Dropping an object in a free action. How that action is described is up to you and any description you give it as a DM is a valid one so long as you don't change the crunch. By all means, you are the DM - add colorful fluff to the crunch. Allow the PC's to add colorful fluff to the crunch, just so long as they adhere to the same standard. If the PC's wants to throw his crossbow away in frustration, let him do so just so long as he understand that if he wants a chance for it to actually hit the evil wood warping druid, he has to use an action. But if he doesn't want to use an action on his crossbow tossing, it doesn't matter how he describes it and he should be encouraged to describe in as exciting and flavorful of a manner possible. [/QUOTE]
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