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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Reynard" data-source="post: 9260149" data-attributes="member: 467">I agree that folks around the table need to trust one another to play in good faith. Part of that is making sure everyone has expressed their preferences, goals, and play philosophy clearly. They don't necessarily need to align in all ways, but they need to be understood and the people involved should make an effort to accommodate every participants' preferences. if someone's preferences are difficult to accommodate, they may not be a good fit for the group.Beyond that, what is or isn't under control of the GM is highly dependent -- not just on those preferences, but on the circumstances. Convention one shots are very different than middle of a home campaign sessions. The degree to which the GM has to control pacing is very different, and the degree to which the GM "carefully controls" anything is highly variably, not just between GMs or campaigns or adventures, but even between discrete moments of play.I think the first and most important choice in the whole process is the choice of game to play. That, by and large, sets the baseline expectations and at least implies information otherwise gone unsaid in Session 0. Too often, i think, the wrong game is chosen because the group just defaults to their favorite RPG even when it isn't the right choice, or the GM chooses a game because they know it will fill seats more easily than a different system. I know I have run games with D&D 5E for exactly that reason, when the game really should have been a different system.As it relates to combat and fudging: this is a thing that people argue about constantly. there is no right answer. Some people think the GM should fudge in order to produce the most entertaining outcome, while others consider any fudging as a form of cheating. For my part, I am of the opinion that once the swords and spells come out, all rolls are open and on the table and the dice fall where they may. The GM and players should be playing for keeps in combat, within the roles, motivations and personalities of the characters and creatures involved. But, others see it differently and consider a combat no less subject to the GM's storytelling responsibilities as any other part of the game.</blockquote>

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