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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Professor Phobos" data-source="post: 4033361" data-attributes="member: 18883">Yep. One of my biggest problems with the idea that "Everyone plays by the same rules" is that not everyone has the same obligations, responsibilities and requirements.Players have to run one character. That character (for D&D purposes) has all kinds of options and tricks and stuff to make running one character interesting.Now, most players, like most DMs, could probably keep track of PC-level complexity characters in numbers greater than one. But not by a very large number.Many posters here argue that if NPCs aren't run by the same rules as PCs, it is unfair. I would argue that it is unfair if they are. A GM has so many demands on his time and attention already, refusing to allow him time-saving options with regard to the mechanics is downright cruel. Part of the reason there are more players than there are DMs is because DMing is hard and time-consuming. You're often in charge of managing, scheduling and hosting the game sessions. You've got to know the rules and world well enough to explain it to new players. You've got to prepare adventures. You've got to run adventures. You've got to make sure everyone has fun. If you put a lot of work into an adventure, the PCs can (and will) go completely outside the bounds of what you thought likely to occur you won't have anything prepared, and they'll hate you for it. Or you rail-road them back to stuff you have prepared, and they hate you for it. Or you try and improvise, and they hate you for it because your stories or characters aren't consistent and you're obviously making stuff up as you go. The more complex the rules, and the more rigidly the DM is expected to adhere to them in matters not directly pertaining to the PCs, the more work he has to do. And I, and many other players my age, do not have the time. We get maybe four spare hours a week to game. We want a lot to occur in that time- multiple combats, multiple scenes, lots of stuff happening. We don't want to have to do a lot of prep work to get ready for it, because we don't have the time. I will take "simple and fast, but requires discretion" over "slow and complex, but has all the answers for you" any day of the week.</blockquote>

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