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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 9599460" data-attributes="member: 6785785">No. Why are you making up nonsense examples when people have already shared reasonable examples with you?If it’s a DC 20 Athletics check to jump a 20 foot chasm on Monday, the. It should be a DC 20 Athletics check to jump it on Tuesday. Or to jump another 20 foot chasm on Saturday. If there’s some reason that the DC on Saturday’s chasm is different, then the GM should communicate that to the players. Why do you say that? It seems to me to be a pretty foundational element of RPG play. The GM should be consistent in application of rules, the world that’s portrayed should be consistent… it comes up in all kinds of ways. Maybe your players don’t trust you? Maybe that’s why it doesn’t work for you? Maybe… if your history of posting here isn’t some Ali G level bit but is actually an accurate portrayal of your games… you’re not a very good GM? Or at least, not for the players you have? Maybe… just maybe… instead of fighting every single suggestion made to you, instead if arguing against every example of play that works differently than yours… maybe you should listen? I don’t know… just asking questions. Because I can tell you for a fact that what I suggested does work. Especially if you go one step further and tell them why the DC is different. “oh right… it’s DC 25 because of the slippery conditions due to the rain”. That usually resolves the issue entirely. There’s this impulse that many GMs have… and it seems particularly prevalent among folks who primarily have run D&D. I think it’s likely a byproduct of older elements of play… with the dungeon as puzzle and players marshaling their resources to solve the puzzle… and it carries over through to today even though that’s not typically the way the game works anymore. That impulse is to withhold unknown information at all costs.Anything that isn’t immediately obvious to the characters must be withheld until the proper step is taken by the players. They don’t find the secret door because they didn’t say they search the mantle specifically. Or they don’t hear anyone down the corridor because they didn’t ask for a Perception check. And so on.This impulse may have its place from time to time… but as a default approach? It’s awful. There’s so little to be gained by it.</blockquote>

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