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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wild Gazebo" data-source="post: 5742736" data-attributes="member: 24413">The 'purpose' of dice isn't tension and excitement.  But, the mere act of rolling said dice coupled with something 'hanging in the balance' can 'add' to tension and excitement.  I'm sorry...I thought your problem was with not seeing 'fudging' as a tool...not 'rolling dice'  I thought that was so systemic to the game it didn't need the literal outline.No, I think you are in the majority.  I've never felt the slightest pang of tension watching a random die roll across the counter.  I don't feel any drama when I imagine a sphere dropping from a predetermined height in a mythical 'physics' world so that I can determine the relative gravity either.  But, I can get a little choked up if I have a character I've been playing for the past 4 years teetering on the edge of a cliff with a pit of lava below and a balor looking down over him threatening to push him over--he's at 2 hp--and the DM looks at me with a glint in his eye and says "If this die rolls a 12 or higher Lector will fall to his fiery death" and then the Dm casts the die across the table letting it spin extra-long.The die has become a great tool for the improvement of the game...it is adding tension and excitement to the gaming experience.  Whereas the fudging of a die in this situation could hinder the gaming experience.Yes.  If you have some strange arbitrary system of childish interference I imagine an environment of distrust and spite could definitely be harbored. And the players would never know if the results rolled would be pertinent...and then that crazy DM could go play by himself somewhere.    Perhaps I'm talking out of turn here; but, I'm assuming that fudging happens out of sight of the players.  It's the DMs roll to create a fun experience for his players and if you can't trust the person running the game I'm not sure how anyone could enjoy the game regardless of the rolls. Yes.  If there are no rolls you have a storyteller experience.  That's why they are good as 'tools' to avoid that kind of mediocrity.That is why the analogy is apt.  Rolling is a good tool...and fudging is a good tool.  Only a fool wouldn't use the best tools available to him.Ahhh. I think I'm getting a glimmer of understanding here.  I really couldn't fathom your reasoning with the exception of some obscure authority figure complex that was triggering a paranoia that culminates with a complete lack of trust...which is really not fair of me:  its just the only thing I could think of.You think that fudging fundamentally changes the game-play of the system.  Right?  So that the simple change of a point here and there messes with the probability of the whole schematic of the game...like a butterfly flapping his wings in China or the ability to count cards in a revolving five deck system.There might be something to this.  But, the demonstrable results would be so small that I would have a hard time catering to them.I find it hard that game-play can be seriously effected by the 'hidden' change of a single result to heighten story continuity.  If there were some kind of public retractions, or obvious arbitrary shenanigans I could understand a serious breach of trust and I would have a hard time playing with these mythical people...simply for the sake of continuity.  I mean who wants to play in a game were the rules change every session?But, this isn't what people are talking about.Fudging...like rolling...can be used to heighten a gaming experience.</blockquote>

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