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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ThirdWizard" data-source="post: 2248817" data-attributes="member: 12037">I guess we get back to the whole fundamental difference thing again. I pride myself on my ability to make a great game within the structure of the rules. I, personally, think the mark of a good DM is knowing how to DM using the rules and not having to change them in order to help along the story or some "vision" of what he thinks the game should be. Thus, I see making house rules on the spot during game as a weakness (my own personal oppinion that I hold myself to, please don't take offense). The DM wasn't able to make the game work, something went wrong, so he was forced to change the world to fit the story. In my mind, the story isn't something I write, but something that happens, and the rules are one of the means to discover just what that progression is. I often don't know what the NPCs will do until they do it, and I never know what the PCs will do until they do it.See, if things arn't going the way I planned, I don't sweat it. If something is messing with the game like those outrageous Diplomacy builds I see on the boards, I'll probably talk it over with the player, but I'm not going to suddenly shift gears and run the skill differently, for example. If someone invests a lot into something only to find the ability not working as they origionally thought it would, then I've done something wrong. And if I start throwing modifiers at the PCs that they couldn't anticipate, then I don't feel that I'm being fair to my players. Likewise, they don't want me to make things artificially easier for them. They would hate that.I'm not talking about adjudication of events that arn't covered in the rules. I'm not talking about handling an avalanche of snow, or pulling a rug out from under someone, or jumping from a horse onto a racing buggy while manacled to a very angry german shepherd. I'm talking about defined rules. If you have reach you can't charge into a square adjacent to the enemy; magic missiles always hit ethereal targets; a spellcaster's DC is 10 + ability score modifier + spell level. I can see no reason to ever ever change these during gameplay.And, I've seen no examples of good mid-game rules changes, either.I do all kinds of crazy stuff outside of game. The last game had an NPC that could (1/day) make a crystaline shield appear that moved to intercept any attacks until shattered. I make new templates all the time, as well as new monsters. I love to alter existing monsters to give the PCs fresh new experiences. Unique magical items are always prefered to DMG ones, and most wizards encountered have a unique spell that they researched. And, I have lots of house rules. So, don't misinterpriet that I never step outside the words in the rulebooks, I do. I just do it out of game and it always fits into the consistancy of the world that the game takes place in.[EDIT: If I'm misinterprieting any of what you or Celebrim are debating, then I'll gladly admit that]</blockquote>

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