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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ThoughtBubble" data-source="post: 2745130" data-attributes="member: 9723">So, originally I was going to post something that would get me a stern warning from the moderators. However, taking either extreme in this argument is a load of crap. The people on the pro-fudge side aren't "defending their game from the rules" or "destroying the the meaning of the players' choices" and the people on the rules side aren't "preserving player empowerment" or "sacrificing story for the sake of a boardgame".Now, fudging: Pro: Can help to keep the game on line, on track, and players happyCon: It's hard to know exactly where to draw the line and is easy to overuseNot fudging:Pro: The game unfolds as it will and the success of player actions isn't determined by gm momentary whim.Con: A 1 or a 20, or even enough 6's in one place can cut short a whole lot of threadsDo I fudge? On occasion. For example, in my M&M game, I let everyone know that if they do an action in a manner that I judge cool, it gets a bonus (a rough aproximation of the exalted stunt system). In that same game, a member of the enemy team would turn into water when hit by attacks. A player reasoned that water conducts electricity especially well and would deal extra damage from it. I hadn't planned it that way, but I decided to run with it. Also, there are times when a player does something out of the blue, and it'd just be out of genre and tone to fail, so I set the DC low before they roll.I've been in a campaign where a lot more was fudged. It didn't end up being very fun. A lot of stuff happened, or didn't happen because of "making sense", or staying within the story. Not all fudging has to be this way, but it happens.I prefer to avoid fudging rolls or changing the rules on the fly. The rules help serve as a cross section of reality that both sides can agree on. That's not an agreement that I want to go about changing. Mind you, adding action points to the agreement early on is a big help, and there are other ways to make the the game more forgiving and story friendly. All of which is good.Fudging scares me though. The problem is that fudging on in-game rolls is fuzzy. There isn't a definate line of where it becomes innapropriate. And the problem is that, once it holds the game in place one time, why not a second? Why not a third? Why not just nudge things so the players end up where you want them to, or the villian gets away or.... And before I know it, half the game looks like good situations to fudge in. Do I fudge, yes. Is it a tool I use often? No. The most heroic thing any of my characters ever did was to try and rescue her friends where it likely would have cost her life. It was worth it, to both of us, to risk the wrath of the furies.</blockquote>

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