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Message: <blockquote data-quote="robconley" data-source="post: 8165252" data-attributes="member: 5636">Tabletop roleplaying doesn't work if the referee is not a fair arbiter. Keep in mind that the first tabletop roleplaying campaign out there Blackmoor didn't have a setup where the referee was running the "opposition". There were players playing the good guys and players playing the bad the guy. While Dave Arneson was running some NPCs, he mostly adjudicating between two opposing group of players. Later he did run the Blackmoor Dungeon where he handled the monster. But even then there were players who were involved like Sir Fang the Vampire Lord.I am describing this bit of history to illustrate that the referee being a fair arbiter lies at the heart of tabletop roleplaying. WIthout it none of it work.It now about having power. It about the fact that a major reason why tabletop roleplaying works is the players only know what their character knows. Nor is dispersing the decision making about the setting, it locales, creatures and characters is a magic bullet for making a campaign better. Instead of relying on one guy getting it right, now you have to rely on the group getting it right. It can work, but small group dynamic ensures that there will be as many negative outcomes as there with a single human referee although they will be different.</blockquote>