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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cadence" data-source="post: 6194921" data-attributes="member: 6701124">In the 1e DMG Gygax explicitly says that everything doesn't need to be created in advance or via random rolls: pre-planned rolling of random encounters should be disregarded if the party was already adequately challenged (pg. 9),  experienced DMs can create improvise on the fly (pg. 87), ad hoc adding thieves and new taxes if you gave them too much treasure (pg. 92) , and metagamely using ethereal mummies and bolts from the blue to send a message to troublesome players (pg. 110).And he does not restrict fudging to "arbitrat[ing]" away an unlucky death.  Two paragraphs before death is brought up he says:He even explicitly says the DM is the final arbiter:As seen in his use of "arbitrate" in the reversing death quote and his green-lighting of fudging if "you would like it to occur", it reads to me that he clearly thinks the DM does have the ultimate power to disregard the rules within the game whenever he thinks it makes the game better...  but if he uses that power too often it is to the detriment of the game and that some rules (system shock rolls, pg. 110 again) should not be fudged.  So I don't think it's fair to claim that the DM described by Gygax for 1e was the same as the DM of platonic pre-planned 4e.  And I think that Gygax might say that the DM does have "general authority to suspend or disregard the action resolution mechanics" (contra your phrasing in #393 above), albeit they should use that authority very judiciously.Of course as @<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/member.php?u=6696971" target="_blank">Manbearcat</a> notes, the post-Gygax 2e seems much more strongly in the DM deciding things camp, with the remark on reaction rolls being only for DMs that "don't have a clue about what the monster will do." (2e DMG pg. 102) and the entire section on "Fixing Things in Play" such as having monsters inexplicably flee or miss when they should have hitif the encounter is too hard (2e DMG pg. 103)</blockquote>

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