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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Blue" data-source="post: 9595655" data-attributes="member: 20564">Then why not just make that the default in the rules?"The rules do not run the game" is sophistry.Can we run a roleplaying game without any rules whatsoever?  Absolutely.But looking out there, it seems we prefer having rules.Rules are a shared understanding of the "physics" of what happens.  They describe the mechanical aspects of what is happening.  When some of the people are expecting things to happen based on that agreed-on shared understanding and others change it willy-nilly, that doesn't sit well.If as a player I said "no, while that check hits my AC, I feel like I dodged so I won't take any damage", that's "The DM and players running the game" instead of the rules.  And that doesn't fly at the majority of tables.This is in the D&D forum, so I won't go off on other systems where the GM can "cheat" if they don't follow the rules laid out before them, but even looking at 5e what you have allowed in the DMG is rulings - corner cases where the rules are silent or incomplete (because there's a cost to complexity) where the DM makes a ruling.  And not enshrined in the rules are house rules, but those are changes made in advance, so they are part of everyone's shared understanding.A player or DM who was inconsistent about following the agreed-on shared rules hurts the table as a whole.No, actually, you aren't.  At least not as a universal.  Again, 5e has specifics in the DMG, where the only thing that is allowed by the rules is:"The rules don't account for every possible situation that might arise during a typical D&D session. For example, a player might want his or her character to hurl a brazier full of hot coals into a monster's face. How you determine the outcome of this action is up to you. You might tell the player to make a Strength check, while mentally setting the Difficulty Class (DC) at 15. If the Strength check is successful, you then determine how a face full of hot coals affects the monster. You might decide that it deals ld4 fire damage and imposes disadvantage on the monster's attack rolls until the end of its next turn. You roll the damage die (or let the player do it), and the game continues."This is what new gamers for the past decade have been learning from -- claiming culture allows you to ignore it all is ignoring how that selfsame culture is maturing and changing as the number of RPG players explode.And here, since you're using TTRPG and not just D&D, I'll point you to PbtA games where what the GM has very specific rules, guidance, agendas, and what you are supposed to do since there is a lot of player authorship in those games -- as opposed to the "god mode" of D&D.This is more than a bit insulting to new DMs.  A hope that easy and known fix -- something alrady errata'd -- is included in the rules means they shouldn't even play the game at all according to you?  Ugh, that's a fairly repellant position.Heck, I've read through errata and Sage Advice and was glad for others giving thought and correction to issues, that being a sign that we should give up the hobby is just... I think I need to end it here, the more I think on your position that they shouldn't be in the hobby at all, the less what I want to write contributes to a productive discussion.</blockquote>

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