NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 8161266" data-attributes="member: 6790260">Have not read most of the thread, but IMO [USER=6801845]@Oofta[/USER] you're forcing a false dichotomy here. That is, "DM has absolute and unquestionable authority" and "DM makes final calls" are two distinct things. You can avoid the former yet keep the latter. Compare vetos. US Presidents have much power, and specifically veto power. Congress formally calls most shots, and CAN override...but rarely does. A veto is not formally absolute, but in practice almost always the "last word."*DMing can work similarly. Players have a lot more influence than you give credit for, and it's not like they're obligated to play. After all, without them there is no game, just as without a DM there is no game. If a DM truly upsets her whole group, they'll tell her off, and likely force the DM to back down or reevaluate. (Unless she childishly flips the table when challenged, but I'm assuming good faith here.) Yet in practice, DM veto is usually fatal to player opposition, and DM insistence is usually heeded even over personal protest. The analogy isn't perfect, but it covers well enough the difference.I'll let Jefferson cover this "DM makes final call" without "DM's power is absolute+unquestionable" idea:"Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed."So yeah. I reject the idea that DMs have absolute, unquestionable power. I do not reject that DMs make final calls. It works out pretty well, especially when you have people participating in good faith. IMO, much better than absolute and unquestionable power, as such diplomacy makes players feel valued and supported.*As of 12/20/20, there have been a total of 1516 ordinary vetoes, of which 111 have been overridden, a rate of only 7.3%. When over 90% of non-pocket vetoes are not overridden, I think it's safe to say that the veto is, in fact, almost always the last word.</blockquote>

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