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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 5319097" data-attributes="member: 996">I've been trying very hard to make my point without sounding insulting, but it's clearly not working, so I'm going to make one last try, then 'ban myself from the thread,' as it were.So, P1NBACK and I have been going back and forth about the issue of realism and fiction vs rules and playability.  P1NBACK is clearly a talented, experienced DM, and he has a group of players who, I'm guessing, have been together a while and who have a style of play that works for them.  I'm not saying it's a bad style of play.  Quite the contrary, it's what could reasonably be called an 'advanced' style of play, one that can give very good results, potentially 'better' than could be achieved with a more conservative style.  A more conventional style of play can still be fun, though, and it's, well... 'safer' or 'easier,' perhaps, for a less experienced or more casual group, or even an experienced, serious group that sees some turnover due to RL issues or otherwise can't count on everyone being on the same page, all the time.  If this topic had come up last year, I'd be much more in accord with P1NBACK, since I was in a group that had been together for 10 years, with relatively little turnover in that time, and we had a talented, experienced DM that we trusted to make good rulings, even on the fly.  The last year or so, though, that group started to fracture, and I'm now in a very new group that mixes experienced and inexperienced players, with a DM who is a very experienced player, but new to DM'ing.  So, I'm seeing issues like this from a different PoV.  If a DM - or even player - seeks the advice of an internet community about how a power or keyword is supposed to work, my assumption would be that he's not currently participating in the advanced styles of play that P1NBACK is used to (and I was accustomed to in the past), but, rather, is looking for a reasonable answer based on the rules of the game, that would fly in a more conventional or casual or varied group, perhaps even with the intent of 'settling' an argument.  While P1NBACK's advice would be a cool thing to shoot for in a stable group, I have to counsel some caution in attempting to adopt it.  Sticking to the rules, and handling house-rules up-front and consistently when you feel the need for them, is a more ...hmm... 'prudent?' ...course.</blockquote>

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