Sacrosanct
Legend
A player who has a secret and doesn't inform the DM impacts the game zero. A DM who keeps secrets can still have those secrets impact the game a lot.
A player who has a secret and doesn't inform the DM impacts the game zero. A DM who keeps secrets can still have those secrets impact the game a lot.
Not well. There is no good substitute for a real person.Unpopular answer: you can do without the Dungeon Master.
Not well. There is no good substitute for a real person.
Or you could drop the whole pretext for opening up that can of worms and instead focus on the actual point of the thread -
Shush you!Yep.
Though the last part of that statement really makes me want to ask - what is a non-real person?
Why is a new GM less likely to know about practices that can reduce the burden of GMing? Because they are not shared, or demonstrated, but other GMs. That's part of gatekeeping -- the hoarding of knowledge.In the strictest sense, "important" was arguably not the best term to use for this topic as it is extremely subjective. Important with respect to what? In the sense that everyone's fun is equally important? In the sense of whose authority or responsibility is greatest? Something else?
I disagree with your conclusion, that believing that GMing is hard, necessarily amounts to gatekeeping. Yes, in theory a new GM could use all sorts of shortcuts to lighten their burden. However, in practice, a new GM is the least likely to actually know about such shortcuts.
If you try to dissuade potential GMs from GMing by saying it is hard, that is gatekeeping. Acknowledging that GMing is challenging in a thread, the majority of whose participants are probably already GMs, is not gatekeeping IMO.
You can argue with the GM about anything. If I say no paladins allowed in my campaign, you can argue the point. Doesn't mean the GM lacks the authority to do so.And, absent any other reason to be uncomfortable with the scene in question, were I the player I'd likely challenge that authority on the spot.
An argument would probably follow.
Depends.
What if the player has a deeper reason for haggling with the merchants (which the GM may or may not even know about!)? Maybe the player is thinking along lines of the PC establishing contacts for later reference, or casing shops for later thefts, or trying to establish her character as being a diehard cheapskate in order to influence later negotiations over treasury division. It might be ages until any of this comes to light.
Players can have secrets too.
Exactly. This is one valid way of cutting a scene short, if a bit heavy-handed and probably not repeatable very often.
Why is a new GM less likely to know about practices that can reduce the burden of GMing? Because they are not shared, or demonstrated, but other GMs. That's part of gatekeeping -- the hoarding of knowledge.
GMing is not hard, unless you conflate your preferences for what's actually required. Too many of us do this, and those preferences become another lock on the gate.