Player fudging in RPG's.

[Ezrael]

Oddly enough, as I get older, I find that I cheat accidentally, in that I can't read the dice and sometimes misread a 2 as a 12 or what have you. It's been happening enough lately that I'm going to start making sure I roll the dice where other people can see them just so I can avoid the problem. (It shoots me in the foot as often as it aids me...I rolled a 20 in combat the other day that I misread as a 2.)

 

[Hopping Vampire]

i know a guy that cheats EVERY chance he gets. it ticks me off.
i cheat as the DM when i realize that my NPC may be a bit to strong, or nor strong enough.

 

[Mr Fidgit]

This doesn't happen, because usually in my games, the DM rolls all the dice.

are you serious?


there's one person in our group who used to cheat constantly. i found it incredibly frustrating, especially when i was DMing. years later, i've given up looking over her shoulder. ironically, she's the person in the group who seems to enjoy the games the least.

so, to answer the original question, no, it's not prevalent, not that i've noticed. (and i have gamed with several groups, and several versions of several groups)

 

[drothgery]

are you serious?

[about the DM rolling all dice]

While that's kind of silly in a tabletop game, in a PBeM or message board game, it's hard to see how anything else (except a completely trusted e-roller) could work.

 

[Mr Fidgit]

now i get it. PBeM and message boards. e-rollers are not to be trusted

 

[Hygric]

Well, in my curent group, we have one person who I have to watch the dice rolls (or have another PC looking over his shoulder), but he is a 14 year old kid, so with a bit of luck, that will improve with time.

In a previous incarnation of our current group, we had one person who constantly cheated, on a large scale. We are talking about re-writing his character sheet between sessions, and adding one to all of his stats. Potions and scrolls mysteriously doubling in number, only recording half damage, buying his own copy of the module that I was running at the time, making up a vampire character with 45 freebie points instead of the normal 15, min-maxing to the nth degree by twisting rules etc etc. It actually took us quite some time to realize, and we no longer game with him or see him socially (we realized how much of a *not nice person* he was in general at about the same time).

 

[Piratecat]

Wrong kind of poll; you should have checked the "allow multiple answers" box!

I've lost a player for cheating before. He would consistently roll a die until it got a number he liked, then leave it, and announce the result when it was his turn. When I found out he was randomly making up how much money he had, after being warned that cheating was not allowed, I really lost my temper.

I should have asked him to leave then; instead, my process of disaffection was drawn out over a couple of months. He got bored with his new character, and I told him that instead of bringing in a new PC, he was better off finding a different game.

Sigh.

 

[WizarDru]

I've only ever had one player who cheated in 22 years of gaming. It availed him nothing. He was the sort of person who thought that he had to 'win' D&D...little realizing that you win by playing and having fun.

I never fudge die rolls any more, nor do I fudge encounters much. My players trust in the rules, and in the system as presented, grants both a feeling of verisimilitude and stability. If I change the rules on a whim, why even bother with dice? Yes, the story is paramount...but through the rules, not in spite of them. If my players outsmart me, then I say 'well played' and give a golf clap. I trust my players, and they trust me. Cheating is far too easy, if that's your intent, in this kind of game, but it really gains you nothing.

 

[Tiberius]

I have one player who tends to get great rolls for everything. It's rare to see this player announce a roll of less than a 10 on the die. Unfortunately, his dice are hard to read at the end of the table, but I've noticed that his math immediately improves when I ask to see his sheet. "Make a fort save." "35" "35? You're a wizard! I don't care if you've been reincarnated as a centaur, your save can't possibly be that high. Lemme see your sheet." "Oh, you're right. I mis-added. 22." Unfortunately, I have no direct proof, so I can't say anything.

-Tiberius

 

[novyet]

Oh yeah, I've known two players who cheated, and they did it all the time. Both were 2e players in a group I joined from work, and they would roll a die, and just announce whatever number they wanted. Their fighters always had 18/90 - 18/00 str, no attributes below 16, that kind of thing. They cheated to avoid death, on money, you name it. That was a main reason I left that group. It wasn't any fun, between the blatant cheating (so they could win, I never could convince them that you don't win in d&d), and the constant rules lawyering.