Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6194877" data-attributes="member: 42582">I was focusing on the idea that the GM is final arbiter of events within the game.In Gygaxian play as described in his PHB and (in less detail, I thnk) in his DMG, the GM is not the final arbiter of events within the game. Events within the game emerge from the interaction between the PCs, as played by their players, with the setting elements that the GM has either created in advance or is generating via random rolls. The goal for players is to show off their skill (and Gygax makes repeated references to skilled players, and repeated criticisms of players who are unskilled).The whole idea of skilled play in Gygax's sense - that, through skilled play, the players can have their PCs overcome challenges and achieve their goals within the gameworld - entails that the GM is not the final arbiter of events within the game. The players' skill is the ultimate determinant. (And the only time that Gygax canvasses fudging dice in his DMG - and then with some hesitation - is if the oddities of the dice rolls are going to bring an undeserved consequence onto a PC whose player has nevertheless played skilfully.)</blockquote>