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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Aenghus" data-source="post: 6233008" data-attributes="member: 2656">To create a flawed analogy, the failure mode of DM fiat is the "divine right of DM's" which leads to pesky treasonous players prattling on about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and the rule of law not of men.DM fiat without moderation by setting, precedent, player expectations, "common sense" or ,yes, rules has produced the worst games I have ever seen (briefly). DM fiat is the primary hammer of railroading DMs, frustrated novelists, and referees who just don't want the players to mess with their nice clean gameworld. So it's unsurprising that the term carries negative emotional connotations for me.I find unmoderated DM fiat only appropriate for surreal settings and/or horror games. Most game genres need to be understandable to the players so they can act within it in a reasonably reliable way. A world that only exists in the DM's head is IMO too inaccessible for most players. So in the interests of a playable game, DM fiat is moderated by consistency concerns, precedent established by previous rulings, player expectations and the rules of the game. I think the vast majority of DM's will admit that a certain amount of DM fiat is needed to keep the game moving. That "certain amount" is a subjective quantity, that will vary from game to game, campaign to campaign, decision to decision due to many factors, including player preferences. I use DM fiat mostly for setting details and throwaway NPCs, and as sparingly as possible for anything seriously affecting player actions.Also, making decisions is tiring. Making DM fiat the primary mechanic IMO makes too much work for the average DM, and makes lots of standard PC actions into exercises in negotiation, bogging the game down. And I think rules should be aimed at the average DM, who needs all the help he or she can get, and doesn't a bunch of extra work making unnecessary decisions.</blockquote>

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