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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Majoru Oakheart" data-source="post: 4886420" data-attributes="member: 5143">I just have to respond to this.  Not picking on you in particular, but I've seen this argument thrown around a lot.  The idea that if someone follows the rules without changing them that the game is somehow a computer game.  It's just plain wrong.Someone can like the idea that an orc with always give 25 xp and that their sword always does 1d8+5 damage regardless of the DM's mood or personal preferences while still appreciating that there is a human running their game who can respond to more than 3 set options when speaking to them.I mean, in a roleplaying game you can say "Why don't you and I make a deal?" and your DM(as the NPC) can think through the benefits and disadvantages of that deal and come up with a response.  You don't get that in computer games.  In a roleplaying game the DM can have the monsters run when they are losing, switch tactics when they realize the ones they are using aren't working, have monsters work together in very specific ways, adapt the story to make up for changes the PCs have done, change the monsters occuring in one encounter based on the outcome of another, and so on.To me, DMing is about those sort of decisions, not whether or not you feel like giving out the proper XP for defeating monsters.That having been said, I find myself seeing nothing wrong with what the DM in question is doing.  The REASON there are XP and Treasure rules in the DMG is to maintain game balance.  If game balance is maintained when he gives you less XP and gold but plays monsters tactically poor, then the reason for the mechanics is fulfilled and it doesn't matter that you level slightly slower or have slightly less magic items.It also might be slightly less fun in that you don't have as many cool new powers and items as you want.  And it isn't as much fun to fight monsters that aren't very surprising and extremely straightforward.But it is more of a slightly annoying thing than something I'd condemn a DM for.  My current DM doesn't hand out XP.  He gives us levels whenever he thinks we should get them.  He's also been handing out magic items piecemeal without much thought of how often or which items he gives us.  I have no idea how close to the guidelines in the DMG we are at this point.  Neither does our DM.  He refuses to actually READ the DMG because he started reading it and said "All it has is a bunch of advice on how to DM.  No rules or anything I need to know.  So I stopped."The people in our group have discussed the lack of treasure a couple of times.  Mostly in a sort of "I wish I had better equipment..and we might if our DM actually read the DMG....oh well, we'll make due" sort of way.</blockquote>

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