Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Corathon" data-source="post: 5654970" data-attributes="member: 22238">You're right of course, that no one is completely unbiased. That's not necessarily a bad thing. My choices and my biases make it my world instead of something generic.That said, I try to play fair. I don't (and can't) think of everything ahead of time, so I react based on what the NPCs are and what the characters do. If I'm in doubt about how some NPC will react to a PC, I let the dice decide (modifed by the appropriate modifiers). Even if something is decided ahead of time e.g. "the wolves are starving and attack if they can catch one or two characters alone" the players may be able to change it by casting speak with animals and/or giving the wolves some food, or by a show of force that scares off the pack, etcLikewise I try to choose the consequences of failure based on what is most logical or "realistic" rather than arbitrarily. So if you are defeated by intelligent foes they may take you prisoner and then ransom or enslave you  - or sacrifice you to their spider goddess. If you're defeated by crocodiles they'll likely just eat you.As a player, I want there to be a possibility of death and even TPK, but the risks of other kind of failure (loss of status, loss of wealth or magic, crippling, energy drain etc) are also motivators. So, I disagree withyour "D&D is an illusion" thesis.</blockquote>