Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 6393337" data-attributes="member: 58197">It doesn't have anything to do with trust; it has to do with not wasting everyone's time.If there is an ambiguous rule in the PHB, one of my players may look at it and think it obviously means X, while I look at it and think it obviously means Y. It's quite probable that neither of us will realize the disconnect until the player tries to apply that rule in the game. Then the game stops while the player and I sort things out. That is precious game time being wasted because the rule is unclear. Furthermore, it means now I have to remember what we settled on and apply it consistently.If the rule is clearly written, and I don't like the way it's written, guess what? I'm the DM. I can change it. I don't need strategic ambiguity to give me permission. But now I know that I'm changing a rule, and that I'm going to need to tell my players about it. No confusion.The ruleset should be compact, simple, and clean. Its scope should be limited; many things should be left to the DM's judgement (trying to eliminate any need for DM judgement was the great mistake of 3E and 4E). But it should be clear when something is being left to the DM's judgement. Within the limited scope of the rules, there should be as little ambiguity as possible.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dausuul, post: 6393337, member: 58197"] It doesn't have anything to do with trust; it has to do with not wasting everyone's time. If there is an ambiguous rule in the PHB, one of my players may look at it and think it obviously means X, while I look at it and think it obviously means Y. It's quite probable that neither of us will realize the disconnect until the player tries to apply that rule in the game. Then the game stops while the player and I sort things out. That is precious game time being wasted because the rule is unclear. Furthermore, it means now I have to remember what we settled on and apply it consistently. If the rule is clearly written, and I don't like the way it's written, guess what? I'm the DM. I can change it. I don't need strategic ambiguity to give me permission. But now I [I]know[/I] that I'm changing a rule, and that I'm going to need to tell my players about it. No confusion. The ruleset should be compact, simple, and clean. Its scope should be limited; many things should be left to the DM's judgement (trying to eliminate any need for DM judgement was the great mistake of 3E and 4E). But it should be [I]clear[/I] when something is being left to the DM's judgement. Within the limited scope of the rules, there should be as little ambiguity as possible. [/QUOTE]

Verification