Can a GM cheat?

[kamosa]

What if your players knew you were cheating (or "doing your job" by fudging rolls, etc.)? Would they not feel disappointed? Would they not feel more like the GM's puppets than player characters?

Depends on how the breaks of the cheating go.

If you always have to cheat the rolls to save the party because you made the monsters too powerful, then the players will be disappointed. Nothing gets old like have the GM bail you out of every combat. Your players feel like they don't have an effective character and they don't feel like they earned any of the glory of the adventure. After a while they will get bored watching you solve your own adventure by cheating the situtation.

If you always have to cheat the monsters up because you made them too weak, same thing. The players will feel like their hard work is for naught, because no matter what they do, the monsters always go down at about the same point. Why try hard to win the combat if taking it easy and not risking your character gets the same result.

Like most things in D&D, it comes down to GM - Player trust. If your players trust you as GM then a little fudge every now and again is just part of the game that keeps it fun. If they don't trust the GM, it is seen as a major problem that can ruin the fun of the game.

 

[Zimri]

Depends on how you define cheat.
My opinion is it is impossible for a GM to cheat given that Rule 0 is sacrosanct. If you are making up the rules you can't break them.

Can a GM do things that are unethical of course she can, but should do so sparringly.

In the game I am a player in I don't want us to catch that dagblamed gnome that sent us plane hopping yet. I would rather not catch him until campaigns (not story arcs) end. we have been fighting him and his imp since level 1 and he has managed to elude us and make our lives difficult. Nearly having him succeed in his plans for world domination (and marrying our gnome wizard/thief) and then stopping him at the wedding is what I would prefer.

I also don't mind dying as long as it is my fault not that of the dice.

DM fudging/manipulation should lead to fun, frustrating fun perhaps but fun.

 

[Silver Moon]

I mean the GM made them up to begin with, how is it cheating if they alter it in mid game instead of between sessions?

It depends on the situation. I know one DM who it is very annoying to play with because he will change things within his modules during the game when the players come up with something he hadn't thought of to counter his challenges. He'll also add things that weren't there if he hears an idea during players brainstorming sessions that he likes better than what he had originally planned. This greatly hinders the group discussion aspect of the games, as we are reluctant to say things in front of him. We've taken to doing most of the major group planning during his modules via email between game sessions rather than at the table, which isn't as much fun.

 

[Caspian Moon Prince]

Fudging on dice rolls definitely isn't cheating. If the DM was taking an adversarial role in DMing(which is a BIG no-no) then it would be. In most cases, fudging dice rolls is to create a fun game for all around. I've done it plenty of times, but never with the intention of beating on the PCs. The art is not letting your players know when you are doing the fudging.

 

[Wombat]

There's cheating and there's cheating...

Sometimes I change monster/adversary stats mid-adventure because I realize that I statted things too hard/too soft. I also have PrCs and races available to NPCs that are not available to PCs, but they know that is the case (e.g. I don't allow Evil characters in my games, but Evil PrCs are still an option for NPCs)

Equally there is fudging on dice rolls, sometimes for the characters, sometimes against, for dramatic tension, and sometimes just to aid the players. I don't do this often. OTOH, I dislike "wargame mentality" creeping into my games -- my games are not about Winners and Losers or Tactical Simulations, but about storytelling, ergo the occasional fudge is there to enhance the tale. Again, the players know this.

The point is to be fairly upfront about such matters. RPG rules, by their nature, are flexible and even ignorable at times. As long as the players and the GM are on the same page in this regard, all is well. If you have different playbooks, however, things can get ugly fast...

 

[Chris Parker]

Bah, I have to cheat all the time. Sometimes Ive grossfully underestimated the partys power and have to ad hoc the boss I spent last night building Players just dont enjoy a battle when it lasts only one round (Much less one turn - Damn you Iajitsu Masters!)

There are other times when a PC gets critted a dozen times in the first session of a campaign and is dropped to less then -10 hp, despite having a high HP. Thats when you ask "How much more Hp do you have? 4?" ((looks at the damage dice in front of him, that read in the low 20's)) "Okay, your at -7 now."

 

[ThoughtBubble]

Well, in the most ambigous terms possible, yes a GM can cheat.

How do I know? As a player I know that I've felt cheated before. And as a GM I have (in my youthful hubris) cheated players out of things they had earned.

Is fudging a die roll cheating? I don't know.

I guess cheating is, in this context, as much defined as a feeling of being cheated as it is a break from the rules.

 

[Darklone]

It depends on the group. I had groups who wanted me to cheat, in other groups everyone rolls openly on the table.

 

[Hand of Evil]

My job as a DM is to make sure my players have fun and enjoy the game (me too). Situations occur where it is in the best interest of the game that adjustments are made. If this is cheating, yes.

 

[diaglo]

when a DM refuses to give necessary information about common things to the players...


DM: you come upon a circle of logs with a red bouncing, hissing, entity in the middle.

Players: we attack with our weapons

DM: roll init

Players: ....



the bouncing, hissing, entity was a fire. the circle of logs was in the middle of a campsite.

the pcs used up valuable resources.... and then the DM springs an attack on them from behind by the camp's original inhabitants... goblins with 3 lvls of rogue....


Players: this is Bullpuckey

DM: you don't have any ranks in Survival or Knowledge (nature)

Players: i think i've seen a fire before in my character's lifetime.