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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Prakriti" data-source="post: 7895229" data-attributes="member: 6855149">Let me start by saying that fudging numbers is against my DM code. I would never do it. However, I find myself engaging in a different kind of fudging more and more: changing item locations (and other elements) mid-adventure.Maybe it's not fudging. Maybe it has a better name that I'm not aware of. All I know is that it's a great and dynamic way to handle pacing and storytelling within a game. It can be used to reward exploration, advance the plot, or impart information. Let me give a few examples:Rewarding Exploration The party is investigating an old house with a lot of fireplaces in it. Only one fireplace has any treasure inside (behind a loose brick). It would suck if the players investigated one fireplace, found nothing, and were discouraged from investigating any others. So instead of putting treasure inside only one of the fireplaces, the treasure now has no fixed location. It's inside whichever fireplace the party happens to investigate first.Advancing the Plot The party doesn't know it, but there's an important document inside the dungeon that will turn their world upside down and send them on their next adventure. Since finding the document is imperative to the plot, giving it a fixed location wouldn't necessarily be the best idea -- the party might never find it. So instead, the document is wherever the players happen to look. Do they search an old desk? Papers. Do they find a treasure chest? Papers. Do they search someone's body? Papers. It might seem ham-fisted, but it's better than having to nudge the party in the right direction later.Imparting InformationThe party is struggling through a dungeon that ends with a fireball-casting wizard. You want the players to know what they're up against so they can prepare accordingly (by preparing absorb elements, boosting their Dex saves, acquiring fire resistance, etc.). There's a clue in part of the dungeon -- maybe a large scorch mark that any Arcana-proficient character can recognize as the aftermath of a fireball spell. But if you want the party to have this information, then why leave it up to chance? Drop it into any room that the party happens to visit.So, what would you call this sort of thing? Is it fudging? And what do you think of it as a DMing tool? Is it wrong? Is it good? Do you ever do it yourself, or is it against your DMing code? Let me know!</blockquote>

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