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<blockquote data-quote="FormerlyHemlock" data-source="post: 7002715" data-attributes="member: 6787650">Rhenny, yes, the DM could do that, with his eyes open and knowing full well that the DC is unusually low/task is unusually easy. (As Saelorn points out, he'd also want to have some kind of reason in mind that the ogre knew the tree to be rotten; because the game world is infinite-resolution, it is possible that the explanation may come to the players' attention at some point.) That would come under the heading of &quot;excellent DM who is doing something bizarre on purpose.&quot; My experience leads me to believe that the other explanation is usually more likely in the general case; so I probably wouldn't stick with a DM who did this kind of thing right off the bat. But if the DM had previously established credibility with me, he can get away with more.You can't ask for suspension of disbelief on the one hand and do things that actively destroy it on the other. (This is as true of fantasy novels and science fiction as RPGs.) If I hated the movie Interstellar because the physics was so obviously wrong, you can't just tell me to &quot;suspend disbelief.&quot; Or rather you can tell me that, but to no avail--I'm still not going to watch your movie again, and I probably won't watch another movie by the same writer/director either.As an aside, yes, rolling dice behind a screen can create suspicion and ruin fun too. I'm surprised you even ask that question in a tone that implies you think it never happens.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="FormerlyHemlock, post: 7002715, member: 6787650"] Rhenny, yes, the DM could do that, with his eyes open and knowing full well that the DC is unusually low/task is unusually easy. (As Saelorn points out, he'd also want to have some kind of reason in mind that the ogre knew the tree to be rotten; because the game world is infinite-resolution, it is possible that the explanation may come to the players' attention at some point.) That would come under the heading of "excellent DM who is doing something bizarre on purpose." My experience leads me to believe that the other explanation is usually more likely in the general case; so I probably wouldn't stick with a DM who did this kind of thing right off the bat. But if the DM had previously established credibility with me, he can get away with more. You can't ask for suspension of disbelief on the one hand and do things that actively destroy it on the other. (This is as true of fantasy novels and science fiction as RPGs.) If I hated the movie [I]Interstellar[/I] because the physics was so obviously wrong, you can't just tell me to "suspend disbelief." Or rather you can [I]tell[/I] me that, but to no avail--I'm still not going to watch your movie again, and I probably won't watch another movie by the same writer/director either. As an aside, yes, rolling dice behind a screen can create suspicion and ruin fun too. I'm surprised you even ask that question in a tone that implies you think it never happens. [/QUOTE]

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