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DM - Adversarial or Permissive?
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<blockquote data-quote="Thunderfoot" data-source="post: 5835084" data-attributes="member: 34175"><p>You've received some great advice on this situation so I'll leave that be.</p><p></p><p>But I can help you out a bit on assumptions as a DM. I have, unfortunately, a metric butt ton of experience with that.</p><p></p><p>Rule 1) Never assume your players will do anything, even if they normally do it one way doesn't mean they won't do it differently today.</p><p></p><p>Rule 2) When going over a situation in your head, always think of the absolute worst case scenario you think your players can put themselves in and then multiply that by 10 and extrapolate. </p><p></p><p>Rule 3) If you get to a point where you have either painted yourself into a corner or they have gone so far off course that you are beyond lost. Stop the game, admit what happened and if possible take a few minutes to fix it or wrap for the night, give some bonus XP for their ingenuity and drive on next session.</p><p></p><p>I have three examples of my own play that prove my experience -</p><p>1) as a very young DM a player was playing a paladin who (in 1st ed) used his Detect Evil to peg a group of oncoming enemy and helped set up an ambush to even the odds. They used lantern oil and a canopy from a bed (along with the wizard's <em>Burning Hands</em> spell) to create fiery death for a large war party of orcs.</p><p></p><p>2) An Ogre fighter (2nd ed) pulled the a barn door off of an out building and used it as an arrow shield to move the party from point A to point B while under attack from a large group of archers. </p><p></p><p>3) A wizard bypassed an entire planned wilderness encounter when he remembered he had a <em>Teleportation</em> scroll in his possession. He concentrated on the party's base, cast the spell and seven days of overland travel were pitched into the garbage (3rd ed)</p><p></p><p>In every situation, I gave the player's the benefit of the doubt because frankly, every solution was damned clever and well within the character's standard actions. In the first it literally saved their bacon. In the second it gave them a tactical advantage as they were able to get under cover and then take out the archer groups one at a time. In the third it was a mixed blessing, they missed three re-occurring bad guys, but also missed meeting a very helpful NPC. (whom they never did run into.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Thunderfoot, post: 5835084, member: 34175"] You've received some great advice on this situation so I'll leave that be. But I can help you out a bit on assumptions as a DM. I have, unfortunately, a metric butt ton of experience with that. Rule 1) Never assume your players will do anything, even if they normally do it one way doesn't mean they won't do it differently today. Rule 2) When going over a situation in your head, always think of the absolute worst case scenario you think your players can put themselves in and then multiply that by 10 and extrapolate. Rule 3) If you get to a point where you have either painted yourself into a corner or they have gone so far off course that you are beyond lost. Stop the game, admit what happened and if possible take a few minutes to fix it or wrap for the night, give some bonus XP for their ingenuity and drive on next session. I have three examples of my own play that prove my experience - 1) as a very young DM a player was playing a paladin who (in 1st ed) used his Detect Evil to peg a group of oncoming enemy and helped set up an ambush to even the odds. They used lantern oil and a canopy from a bed (along with the wizard's [I]Burning Hands[/I] spell) to create fiery death for a large war party of orcs. 2) An Ogre fighter (2nd ed) pulled the a barn door off of an out building and used it as an arrow shield to move the party from point A to point B while under attack from a large group of archers. 3) A wizard bypassed an entire planned wilderness encounter when he remembered he had a [I]Teleportation[/I] scroll in his possession. He concentrated on the party's base, cast the spell and seven days of overland travel were pitched into the garbage (3rd ed) In every situation, I gave the player's the benefit of the doubt because frankly, every solution was damned clever and well within the character's standard actions. In the first it literally saved their bacon. In the second it gave them a tactical advantage as they were able to get under cover and then take out the archer groups one at a time. In the third it was a mixed blessing, they missed three re-occurring bad guys, but also missed meeting a very helpful NPC. (whom they never did run into.) [/QUOTE]
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