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The quoted section of the DMG makes clear that the ruling has really nothing to do with the text of the ritual. The DM is simply advised to rationalize his decision to the player in terms of the rules, but the real motivation for the call is given clearly in the passage. Now, ironically, many...

I never suggested you follow anyone's advice blindly. I suggested that you be familiar with reasoning that MC gave on why you shouldn't nerf player abilities out of hand. Referencing that stood for me having to restate it in it's entirety. It's the reasoning that matters, not the person. I...

Since when did you guys become such advocates of truth-telling? :-) So what if I'm lying to myself? Isn't that a good thing? :-) Isn't that what's advocated in the DMG anyway? You must be telling me that i'm a good DM. :-) Thanks. Not only am I lying to myself, but I'm lying to you too...

Was it crappy advice when Gary Gygax blasted his players with bolts of lightning? :-) If Gary Gygax jumped off a bridge, would you? Seriously, why is what Gary Gygax writes even relevant unless appeals to authority count for something. "I'm a lich and I've DMed for 1000 years so do what I...

I'm not surprised. In fact my informal tally of people who agree with me and those who disagree seems to indicate that everyone who disagrees with me also seems to disagree with what I claim that the paragraph is saying, but then strangely also *would* agree with it *were* it saying what I...

But that's not the reason. In fact, the DMG makes it pretty clear what the reason is. What you're talking about is the *explanation given to the player*, which is not the reason, which I why I describe it as lying. Because if it was a matter of the player not being specific enough, then the...

Here's an excerpt from the PHB page 10 paraphrased: "Dave (DM): Isidro is pretty stealthy. (Dave compares Isidro's Stealth check result to the Perception check result of the monsters he knows are in the next room. Camp's roll beats the Perception check, so the monsters don't know the...

In fact, if my "experience" has any bearing here, it's taught me how to handle the unknown in ways that aren't as lazy as "no, you can't." In fact, plenty of people on both sides of this issue have given much better advice than what's given in the DMG here. It's such a big part of the game...

Your definition of "improvising" apparently (to extend from the DMG passage) involves making misleading statements (ie. lying) to the player in order to rationalize a decision to do something with the game that is completely contradicted in other sections of the DMG? It doesn't actually...

Are you sure? :-) Dividing people into "literal" and "not-literal" sounds pretty black and white to me. I'm not one of those people that says something and then contradicts it in the same breath. (I'm probably talking about the DMG here.)

That point, when I read it strictly, is not really what I'm talking about AFAICT. Of course the "context" of my own post was the joking title of "part 1 of 1000" which would lead one to reasonably believe that I have 1000 things I don't like about the 4E DMG. One could readily, but I would...

DMG: "don't let them short circuit your whole adventure by using rituals, either." That's not an example. That's advice. And then the example proceeds to demonstrate use of the advice. An example to demonstrate advice does not make that big of a difference between the two. The advice in...

I don't know what argument you're referring to. There are many lines of reasoning that have been introduced here. To people that don't agree with me *none* of my statements are helping my argument, are they? Maybe you can be specific about what points you take issue with. I can't be sure...

Lying to the players is offensive and not sound IMO, and something that some of you IMO need to address head on instead of pretending it's not there. Well if context is so important then why was it ignored by the very passge I quoted in the OP? And if you actually APPLIED the advice that you...

No "context" does not mean that I can give a speech standing next to a dictionary and every time I say something foolish I can then pull out the dictionary and then claim that there was other stuff I was about to say that invalidated it. That's becoming a very old trick. The author establishes...

Are you "stuck" on the idea that I'm stuck on the idea? Maybe I just *have an idea*. Maybe what some of you are saying to counter the idea that I'm "stuck on" is not very convincing. The above statement is an example. And here's why: First of all there is some question about how absolute...

This sort of attitude was EXACTLY my motivation for the thing about "adults" in the OP. In both other sections of the DMG as well as other posts on this thread, people mention the philosophy that players and DMs are somehow co-creators of the so-called "story" in the campaign. But then pretty...

The DM is not eliminating an option - he's eliminating a result. Obviously, and logically, if another ritual, other action, or even series of actions produces the same results in a way that was not conceived of by the DMs "plans", the DM is within his "rights" to nerf the idea. And to do so...

What is? I've already addressed this issue to some extent above. I'm not talking about some recollection I have. Look at the priorities that are established in the sections that you're quoting, shall we? "Honoring the implicit contract about how the rules relate to the game is important, but as...

CommentS? As in "more than one"? I don't know what you guys are talking about. As I explained above, there was only one paragraph that even discussed Wyatt personally at all - and that was the discuss the issue of the interpersonal problem that Wyatt's advice here would cause IME. I didn't...