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<blockquote data-quote="merwins" data-source="post: 7348183" data-attributes="member: 6829883">The rules. Yep, those things that give a game structure, provide us with a generally equitable environment, and deliver a framework for shared communication. As a GM, you have the latitude to break the rules. Do it too much, and you might alienate your players. Do it too little, and you might stifle your imagination or cripple your storyline. For my own part, I NEVER break rules if I can help it. My players can count on support for my encounters in the basic rulebook. I retcon my storylines behind the scenes if I make a mistake in play that gives a character (or NPC) powers they shouldn't have, or if I forget something that they should have done but didn't. I don't follow CR guidance in the book. Short and long rests are handwaved, for the most part. I don't do travel distance, only travel time. But I'm curious. How closely do you hew to the rules? Example: I have a PC that's maxed out their Perception. Somewhere in the area of +22 or something stupid. Legally. It's okay. I don't care so much when monsters fail to surprise. But if I want a way to get a message to the PCs, it generally has to wait until they're out of &quot;gang&quot; mode and target someone than the Perception PC. Or I could do dead drops. Or patsies/couriers. Oh, just had a neat idea. Maybe I should start pinging on their perception with messages from someone that knows that ONLY THEY could see what's happening. Everyone else would think they were crazy. &quot;When those torches were snuffed out, the rest of them spelled out the rune we're looking for! Really!&quot;But the point is, I can't generally do non-dangerous perception-impinging things without breaking the rules somehow, or giving all my NPCs Invisibility, or some other nonsense.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="merwins, post: 7348183, member: 6829883"] The rules. Yep, those things that give a game structure, provide us with a generally equitable environment, and deliver a framework for shared communication. As a GM, you have the latitude to break the rules. Do it too much, and you might alienate your players. Do it too little, and you might stifle your imagination or cripple your storyline. For my own part, I NEVER break rules if I can help it. My players can count on support for my encounters in the basic rulebook. I retcon my storylines behind the scenes if I make a mistake in play that gives a character (or NPC) powers they shouldn't have, or if I forget something that they should have done but didn't. I don't follow CR guidance in the book. Short and long rests are handwaved, for the most part. I don't do travel distance, only travel time. But I'm curious. How closely do you hew to the rules? Example: I have a PC that's maxed out their Perception. Somewhere in the area of +22 or something stupid. Legally. It's okay. I don't care so much when monsters fail to surprise. But if I want a way to get a message to the PCs, it generally has to wait until they're out of "gang" mode and target someone than the Perception PC. Or I could do dead drops. Or patsies/couriers. Oh, just had a neat idea. Maybe I should start pinging on their perception with messages from someone that knows that ONLY THEY could see what's happening. Everyone else would think they were crazy. "When those torches were snuffed out, the rest of them spelled out the rune we're looking for! Really!" But the point is, I can't generally do non-dangerous perception-impinging things without breaking the rules somehow, or giving all my NPCs Invisibility, or some other nonsense. [/QUOTE]

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