D&D General No two people ever seem to play D&D the same way, but we can usually find people to play with anyway.

[MGibster]

I've found very often that topics which generate a lot of interest in online forums don't seem to be discussed so heavily in face-to-face encounters. I'm willing to bet that most people at my FLGS don't care whether or not the Ravenloft setting has changed since the 1990s, most of them probably know very little about the names of those credited in D&D books (Orion who?), and they don't spend a lot of time talking about the implications of ability score increases. I'm not arguing that these aren't important topics, they're just topics I typically don't see outside the online world.

 

[Charlaquin]

This is a place where it is helpful to remember language. "Feeling" can speak of the character's emotional state, or it can indicate a sensation or impression - as in, "You get a feeling you are being watched." "You get a bad feeling," can be the shiver up the spine, or the momentary dropping in the pit of the stomach that is commonly used to indicate wrongness, but not the character's actual emotional state. It would be better if the GM used more descriptive language for the sensation, but them not doing so doesn't mean they are intending to dictate the character's emotional state.

Oh, for sure. And like I said, I might grumble a bit internally at the word choice, but that’s about it. Unless the DM was constantly narrating how the characters feel, it wouldn’t be a problem for me.

 

[Istbor]

I think it is a definite forum thing, and an internet thing.

I also liken it to how I am as a player after looooong stints of being just DM. Occurrences where the DM of that game makes a ruling or interprets a rule different to how I would, or how I understand it. At little voice inside wants to go "well actually', but I try my best to punch that voice in the head. I take a breath, and remember, that the DM makes the rules for their world. If they say this works that way, then it works that way.

I think my most memorable example was the 5-foot-step that some older editions used, that doesn't exist in 5e. It used to grind on me in this one game, but no longer.

 

[Charlaquin]

I think it is a definite forum thing, and an internet thing.

I also liken it to how I am as a player after looooong stints of being just DM. Occurrences where the DM of that game makes a ruling or interprets a rule different to how I would, or how I understand it. At little voice inside wants to go "well actually', but I try my best to punch that voice in the head. I take a breath, and remember, that the DM makes the rules for their world. If they say this works that way, then it works that way.

I think my most memorable example was the 5-foot-step that some older editions used, that doesn't exist in 5e. It used to grind on me in this one game, but no longer.

It can be really hard not to back-seat DM, especially when playing with a fairly new DM.

 

[Istbor]

It can be really hard not to back-seat DM, especially when playing with a fairly new DM.

It is even harder if that new DM legitimately asks you for advice or has questions about rules. So hard. It does seem to get easier though as time goes on.

 

[Charlaquin]

It is even harder if that new DM legitimately asks you for advice or has questions about rules. So hard. It does seem to get easier though as time goes on.

New DM: “How would you handle [specific thing]?”
Me: “Oh, you know, I’d probably have ruled the whole situation a bit differently, so it’s kind of hard to say. But I think the call you made was fine in that context.”
Also me: Internally screaming