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Message: <blockquote data-quote="howandwhy99" data-source="post: 6308515" data-attributes="member: 3192">Let's not ridicule the actual hobby here. That is what a DM is and why they have rules to follow. They are a referee for the game, they are never a player. Like any referee they are never in a position to actually be a player.That's very true and true for DMs as well. There is no role in a game where one person gets to tell a player how they must play. DMs are referees in that they only convey the current set up.  They don't get to choose to manipulate it like a player.Initial conditions, like any rule, is set before play begins. Improvising behind the screen robs players of being able to actually play a game. So... the orcs are on the road because the generation rules put them there. It is a combat because the players engaged with the orcs in combat (or perhaps their PCs couldn't get away). Either way it is up to the players to game the current design, not the DM. Ironically wandering monsters are rolled, not made up by the DM. I don't see how that relates.But what you are saying harms the role of DM so that they can no longer be runners of games. What you are suggesting is a deliberate interferer with a game. Someone who is outside the game rules, not playing, but moving pieces around and directly impacting the game so players can no longer partake in a game. To me, that's not just a bad role in a game, but a mockery of games. Rule Zero isn't a rule that should be in any game. "Quit following the rules" is quitting the game. It's something we don't want fellow players to do, but we definitely don't want referees to do. More than anyone they are there to keep the game fair. Why even have a DM in that case (or a game?) if you're not going to allow a gameable situation for players to play?Remember, the only stuff a DM may tell the players is rule content. This is not created by them after the game (campaign) begins. They are never content creators after the clock starts just as the referee in Mastermind never changes around the code behind the screen after that game starts. And of course DMs are refereeing between the players. Every player is on his or her own side, that's one of the most important design elements of Dungeons & Dragons. Heck, of any cooperative game. The rules the DM uses are supposed to support, but never require the tactic of cooperation. This is what makes it a cooperative game. This keeps the players from feeling compelled to follow the group and not think for themselves.</blockquote>

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