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Message: <blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 6005042" data-attributes="member: 22424">Thanks for doing so!Like Dannyalcatraz, I'm going to answer...Fantasy, sci-fi.Any is fine. Just tell me up-front, please.Yes.I'm sorry, but I have no interest in GNS theory.90%+ of the enjoyment of the game comes from the people around the table. So, good DM and good players.Depends on the game. For D&D-ish games, DM+5 players seems to work well. For most other games, GM+3 is about right. Going below 3 players tends not to work terribly well; going above 6 likewise.Designated, for the duration of the campaign.Um, average? The 3e DMG gave percentages for "easy", "challenging", "overwhelming" encounters; that always seemed about right to me.As I said in that thread, in most cases I consider the possibility of character death a must, but prefer it to be quite rare. My preference would be a "three-strkes" policy - one bad roll won't kill a PC, but a sequence of three is fair game.Ooh, that's a complex one!IMO, the GM should always be willing to answer any and all questions the players may have (subject to what their characters would know), and should err on the side of too much information (since he's the only conduit by which the players gain information).However, except with beginner players, the GM should not be offering hints, advice, or reminding players of character abilities that they've missed - it is the player's responsibility to play their characters.My preference is for the character to be written out, if practical, or to fade into the background if not. PCs of absent players should generally gain an equal share of XP, as having a PC fall behind is likely to lead to that player having less fun in future, which may well lead to further absenteeism in future.There are a few games I'll run (mostly traditional), but I'll play just about anything. Heck, if you're fool enough to want to run FATAL, I'm not going to say no out of hand.It's a mistake to consider this an either/or.Simple book-keeping exercises should be handled away from the table. That includes shopping trips, levelling up, and the like.Likewise, the DM shouldn't just insert time-wasters into the game. If we're talking with the guards at the gate, it must be for some reason - either the players have decided to stop for the conversation, or the DM is introducing characters, or doing world-building, or something's happening, or...I have very limited time for gaming. If you take up a significant amount of that time for no good purpose, then I won't be happy. But the moment you do have good purpose (whatever that is), then go for it!Go for it. We have mobile phones, email, message boards... if there's something you want to discuss, then please do so.</blockquote>

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