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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hjorimir" data-source="post: 2016341" data-attributes="member: 5745">Words of Wisdom: Know your audience.ForceUser, let me start that there is no wrong or right way to play D&D (or any role-playing game for that matter); just as members of this community will argue crunch vs. fluff (or context), people can argue the various nuances of any campaign. If you’re having fun, you’re doing it right. That beings said, it is just what it seems to be – a difference in play styles.No matter how hard you stir, you cannot mix oil and water.As I have gamed with you for many, many years I will offer in the following candid observation: sometimes you move beyond being a “simulationist” and make things difficult just because you feel they should be difficult from a literary stance.There is a fine line between players enjoying a challenge and players who are frustrated. Obviously, we (the old-school crew) have some pretty think skin and laugh in the face of danger (‘cus we’re jaded like most veteran players). But the young player still sees D&D as a game you can win, which means it is a game you can lose. Death equates to losing the game. Whereas, if my character dies, I see the opportunity to make a new character (so many I want to play, so little time to play them all). ForceUser, your strength as a DM has always been your outstanding ability to breathe life into the world and the various NPCs the player interact with. When you find your groove in a campaign, it feels more like I’m a character in a series of books than a D&D game…and that’s how I like it. You focusing on the realism of the game is a disservice to your creativity and to the enjoyment of your players. Yes, I’ve always advocated that a DM needs to have a firm understanding of the rules (and I will stand by that statement). But that is only the beginning to being a great DM, not an end.Your understanding of the rules has obviously grown over the last year or so to the point that I no longer feel like I need to question the things you’re doing while running a game (I’m sure you recall the times I was a royal pain as I challenged almost everything going on – how you put up with me I will never know). Take that as the compliment I mean it to be. Now that you have that grasp of the mechanics, you would be well served by relaxing a bit and getting back to your love of the role-play. Your monk in my campaign is a perfect example. I love watching you bring that character to life. With him you seem more focused on the background and the environment than you do the numbers. The context is where it’s at!You and I often reminisce about some of the amazing games we’ve had in the past. But if you look at them with a critical eye, those games have not necessarily been grounded as tough, in-your-face, simulation games. They were fun more due to characterization than anything else.That’s my 2c.</blockquote>

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