Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Should a GM be allowed to arbitrarily make things up as they go along?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Elf Witch" data-source="post: 6238949" data-attributes="member: 9037"><p>After reading all eight pages in one gulp I admit I am not sure what the problem is. </p><p></p><p>A DM changing the rues mid game without warning for no other reason then he does not like them or he is pissy because the players are tearing thorough is finally crafted encounter is bad DMing and could be seen as arbitrarily changing the rules and making players feel powerless. As a player you plan what you are going to do based on the rules. I think most agree this is not good.</p><p></p><p>But having to make a decision on the fly when the rules don't cover a situation or are not clear is one of the jobs of the DM. Every DM in my group including me have one table rule and that is in a situation like that we will make our ruling and move on. Rules argument suck the fun out iof a game in no time. Aster the session we all sit and discuss it and make a decision how to adjudicate the rule in the future. </p><p></p><p>In our group there are often game discussions of the various DMs on our house rules we all have different ones. One who is DMing right now has the rule that no not named mook can confirm a critical he does not think a hero should be taken out by random orc number 3. While I agree to a certain extent I practice what is good for the PCs is good for the NPCs. Which is why the players in my game don't ask for vorpol swords. The thing is we share players and I have never heard the players complain about the difference in house rules. </p><p></p><p>One comment I read is that it feel arbitrary if the party wipes out an encounter easily to add thing to make it more difficult. First of all how would the players know this. They should not be seeing behind the curtain. Second I do this but I judge my players if they look like they are having fun I may extended the encounter on the fly. I have also been known to wrap up an encounter earlier than planned because I can tell the players are getting frustrated or I realize oops I made this way to hard. I feel that my main job as DM is to make the game an engaging challenging fun game. </p><p></p><p>If my players don't or can't trust me not to being doings just to screw them over then there is no point in playing. I am not against them I want them to succeed but I will run the NPCs in the manner that fits their intelligence. </p><p></p><p>I think some of this comes from playing with DMs who become adversarial it is not the NPCs against the party it is the DM and I have played with DMs like that and it is not fun because the DM holds all the cards it is an uneven match.</p><p></p><p>Billy may have heard the horror stories of bad DMs or may not really be aware of the game works. If that is the case inviting him to watch might help. But there are certain Billys of the world who have a major issue with what they see as loss of control and the lack the ability to really trust others. I have over the years played with a few of them They are poison at the table, They see every failure of their PC as the DM is against them.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Elf Witch, post: 6238949, member: 9037"] After reading all eight pages in one gulp I admit I am not sure what the problem is. A DM changing the rues mid game without warning for no other reason then he does not like them or he is pissy because the players are tearing thorough is finally crafted encounter is bad DMing and could be seen as arbitrarily changing the rules and making players feel powerless. As a player you plan what you are going to do based on the rules. I think most agree this is not good. But having to make a decision on the fly when the rules don't cover a situation or are not clear is one of the jobs of the DM. Every DM in my group including me have one table rule and that is in a situation like that we will make our ruling and move on. Rules argument suck the fun out iof a game in no time. Aster the session we all sit and discuss it and make a decision how to adjudicate the rule in the future. In our group there are often game discussions of the various DMs on our house rules we all have different ones. One who is DMing right now has the rule that no not named mook can confirm a critical he does not think a hero should be taken out by random orc number 3. While I agree to a certain extent I practice what is good for the PCs is good for the NPCs. Which is why the players in my game don't ask for vorpol swords. The thing is we share players and I have never heard the players complain about the difference in house rules. One comment I read is that it feel arbitrary if the party wipes out an encounter easily to add thing to make it more difficult. First of all how would the players know this. They should not be seeing behind the curtain. Second I do this but I judge my players if they look like they are having fun I may extended the encounter on the fly. I have also been known to wrap up an encounter earlier than planned because I can tell the players are getting frustrated or I realize oops I made this way to hard. I feel that my main job as DM is to make the game an engaging challenging fun game. If my players don't or can't trust me not to being doings just to screw them over then there is no point in playing. I am not against them I want them to succeed but I will run the NPCs in the manner that fits their intelligence. I think some of this comes from playing with DMs who become adversarial it is not the NPCs against the party it is the DM and I have played with DMs like that and it is not fun because the DM holds all the cards it is an uneven match. Billy may have heard the horror stories of bad DMs or may not really be aware of the game works. If that is the case inviting him to watch might help. But there are certain Billys of the world who have a major issue with what they see as loss of control and the lack the ability to really trust others. I have over the years played with a few of them They are poison at the table, They see every failure of their PC as the DM is against them. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Should a GM be allowed to arbitrarily make things up as they go along?
Top