Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 7843777" data-attributes="member: 177">If you are viewing the GM as an antagonist, well, you're done anyway - you've already effectively argued that the GM has the right to set arbitrarily high bonuses on their own rolls, so you are the one giving them unlimited power to ruin fun.  If you view the GM as a co-conspirator in generating fun, then - the GM is given some design guidelines for the skills and stunts on NPCs, and a budget of Fate points to work with sets a bar.  These comprise a limit on GM power, not an extension of it.Again - that's kind of the point here.  The system expects the GM to actually be following the guidelines, which recommends limits on skill bonuses for various types of NPCs.  Limits + budget = limited GM power.  If at any time you assume unlimited GM power, yes, that power is open to abuse.  Go figure :/Okay, so, here's a thought - if your experience with the system is limited, rather than make a whole stack of what you admit may be poorly founded assertions, and then arguing with folks when they suggest they may not be accurate, you might try instead asking questions.  The result is apt to be a more constructive discussion.But, rather dig into this hole, let us make it simple - if you don't want to have the GM paying to resist those... then when you are GMing, don't do that!  You'll have the points for other things, then.    That's a choice you, as a GM, can make.  Passive defense or opposition is for when the NPC is unimportant (so, really only for Nameless NPCs), or the NPC is legitimately caught unaware or occupied and unable to act or engage.  The GM is not supposed to set static difficulties round by round in an extended conflict.   The ability to always set whatever desired bonus they want on any roll is not an intended level of GM control in FATE.  They are expected to follow guidelines for NPC creation, and use the FATE point pool to interact with character and scene Aspects - this ensures a certain balance/sharing between GM and players, and that the NPC's results are narratively consistent with the scene framing.All-in-all, your argument seem to end up in the realm of "Well, if I ignore the details of how the rules say I should run the game, I don't need this mechanical element!"  In effect - Yes you can house-rule away the GM Fate Point Pool.  Congrats!  But you will find that the game then runs almost entirely on GM Fiat, which seems to be a result you want to avoid, since you have stated an aversion to the potential of the GM ruining player fun.</blockquote>

Verification