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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jeff Wilder" data-source="post: 5166176" data-attributes="member: 5122">I don't actually use a screen, except off to the side as a reference.  (I compulsively fiddle with dice, so making secret rolls to avoid any metagame thinking isn't a problem for me.)Generally speaking, I don't need it.  In the rare situations like you described, where plausibility is stretched to the breaking point, I appreciate it.  If there'd been any groans of disbelief, I definitely would have.  My players know I wouldn't deus ex machina them like that, but it could certainly happen that a new player or convention group would be skeptical.Just as an aside, here's something that I very well might have done, as DM, knowing there is an escape route:Give the PCs Spot checks (or Survival, for tracking).  Those who make the DC notice detritus in the corridors which will, if they're paying attention, give them a clue that there's an entrance closer than the one they came in.  (You could make it more satisfying by requiring, say, a Knowledge (nature) check.  "Friends, that's the crushed frond of a queen's ear fern, but I didn't notice any of those near the entrance.  There must be another way out!")If the players survive by dint of their own (and their PCs') skill like this, it's likely that you'd never hear those groans of disbelief in the first place.  And it doesn't matter that you didn't specifically make mention of those details in your notes, of course.  As a DM, inventing details for the players is what you're supposed to do.But here's the thing: once I decide to do this (which isn't fudging, IMO) and the players roll the dice, I will abide by the results.  If I've given them a chance, and they all blow their rolls, then so be it.  They may or may not find the other exit by blind luck, but I've done my job as DM.Oh, and as another aside, coincidentally, a very similar experience on Sunday, during my M&M game:The players were battling Queen Mab, in the Realm of Faerie, and she was beating their asses, turning them into hedge-pigs, charming them, and so on.  All (almost!) of her powers were at X rank, so the saving throws were 10+X.  The heroes were handily making or failing the saves all day.Finally, though, they're preparing to combine attacks for a devastating salvo on Mab.  She gets to go first, though, and attempts to charm the melee brick, which would be devastating to their plan and their chances of winning.  "DC 23," I say, as I've been saying all day, and he rolls ... and gets a 22.  Ouch.But I look at my notes, and, damn it, this particular power is DC 22, because she can split it up among multiple targets.  So I have to say, "Wait ... actually, you made it."  My players know I don't fudge, but the circumstances of that screw-up were a little much, so, yeah, I showed them Mab's stat-block: Blast 13, Snare 13, Blah 13, Yadayada 13, Emotion Control 12.</blockquote>

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