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<blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 2576996" data-attributes="member: 18280">Two More Judegment CallsWhen I was in high school, Lo these many years ago, my friend Keith decided to run White Plume Mountain.&nbsp; One of the encounters takes place in a room with a perilous way across a chasm from which hot mud (or was it lava?) bursts at (ir)regular intervals.&nbsp; My idea was to simply go around the burst area by climbing the walls.&nbsp; Keith said no.&nbsp; He wasn't used to DMing and there was no provision for that sort of tactic in the module.Did it make him a bad DM?&nbsp; In my eyes, no.&nbsp; I spent about 30 seconds trying to convince him to allow it, then got on with it another way.&nbsp; He was doing his best to make sure everyone was having as much fun as possible, and he wasn't comfortable with making judgement calls yet.&nbsp; That makes him a new DM, not yet a great DM, but also not a bad DM.&nbsp; Nor was I such a poor player as to suggest that either (a) because of common sense or (b) because of the Climb Walls check on my character sheet that he should change his mind once he'd ruled.&nbsp; Would I have liked another ruling?&nbsp; Yes.&nbsp; Did the rules support another ruling?&nbsp; Yes.&nbsp; Would arguing about it help the game, or help him to grow into his role as DM?&nbsp; No.&nbsp; And, later, he did become a much better DM.Last night, I ran a game.&nbsp; I had a PC try to use Disable Device to unlock a door by disabling the lock.&nbsp; I ruled that this would not be the case because Open Locks was a &quot;trained only&quot; skill.&nbsp; The player insisted that opening the lock (a barred double door) would be as simple as putting a wedge between the doors and lifting the bar.&nbsp; I told him that, while it might seem obvious to him, the skill system described what was obvious to his character.Needless to say, the player wasn't completely happy with this ruling.&nbsp; Does that make me a bad DM?EDIT:&nbsp; Should have mentioned that the player accepted the ruling nonetheless.&nbsp; He also tried to succeed with the action even after knowing my ruling.&nbsp; It turned out to be entertaining for us all.&nbsp; More importantly, the player didn't whine about not succeeding.&nbsp; We have some good players at my table.Should I have said, &quot;Hey, there should always be a chance?&quot;You can easily predict my answer!RC</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Raven Crowking, post: 2576996, member: 18280"] [b]Two More Judegment Calls[/b] When I was in high school, Lo these many years ago, my friend Keith decided to run White Plume Mountain. One of the encounters takes place in a room with a perilous way across a chasm from which hot mud (or was it lava?) bursts at (ir)regular intervals. My idea was to simply go around the burst area by climbing the walls. Keith said no. He wasn't used to DMing and there was no provision for that sort of tactic in the module. Did it make him a bad DM? In my eyes, no. I spent about 30 seconds trying to convince him to allow it, then got on with it another way. He was doing his best to make sure everyone was having as much fun as possible, and he wasn't comfortable with making judgement calls yet. That makes him a new DM, not yet a great DM, but also not a bad DM. Nor was I such a poor player as to suggest that either (a) because of common sense or (b) because of the Climb Walls check on my character sheet that he should change his mind once he'd ruled. Would I have liked another ruling? Yes. Did the rules support another ruling? Yes. Would arguing about it help the game, or help him to grow into his role as DM? No. And, later, he did become a much better DM. [COLOR=Lime]Last night, I ran a game. I had a PC try to use Disable Device to unlock a door by disabling the lock. I ruled that this would not be the case because Open Locks was a "trained only" skill. The player insisted that opening the lock (a barred double door) would be as simple as putting a wedge between the doors and lifting the bar. I told him that, while it might seem obvious [I]to him[/I], the skill system described what was obvious [I]to his character[/I]. Needless to say, the player wasn't completely happy with this ruling. Does that make me a bad DM? [INDENT]EDIT: Should have mentioned that the player [I]accepted the ruling nonetheless[/I]. He also tried to succeed with the action even after knowing my ruling. It turned out to be entertaining for us all. More importantly, the player didn't whine about not succeeding. We have some good players at my table.[/INDENT] Should I have said, "Hey, there should always be a chance?" You can easily predict my answer![/COLOR] RC [/QUOTE]

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