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<blockquote data-quote="Imaculata" data-source="post: 7794228" data-attributes="member: 6801286"><p>Whenever I present my players with a situation, they state a goal and approach, and I rule accordingly. But that's not the whole story. Sometimes the players may state a faulty approach that tells me they may not have understood the situation correctly. While my players are allowed to make dumb decisions, I will always provide them with additional information if I believe they need it to make a good decision. My players are allowed to change their minds based on the additional information, because I don't do gotchas. And sometimes I'll just ask them if they're sure about their approach, just to mess with them a little. Muhahaha.</p><p></p><p>The situations I present to my players are not a game of "<em>guess the magic word</em>". I don't have any preference how a particular situation plays out. My goal is neither to have any particular player succeed or fail. My goal is to present them with excitement and fun, and try to rule as fairly as possible. But sometimes a player may surprise me by stating an approach that I feel cannot fail (or cannot succeed). In such cases, it is an automatic success or failure. Obviously an automatic success is the best possible outcome for the players, and they will try to think of an approach that has the best chance for success.</p><p></p><p>For example, if I present my players with a pit that they are expected to jump across, and they then bring a ladder and just walk across, that's an automatic success.</p><p></p><p>If they need to sneak past a sleeping dragon, and I have decided that the dragon relies on hearing the players, then obviously floating across the ground with a spell, would produce no sound and could be an automatic success (provided that they also cast the spell silently).</p><p></p><p>Simularly, lying to a guard while that guard has no reason to doubt the truth of their words, is an automatic success.</p><p></p><p><strong>This style is especially relevant in the current developments of my ongoing pirate campaign. Let me set the scene: </strong></p><p></p><p>A dangerous and intelligent monster is sleeping at the bottom of a lake, guarding an ancient temple. Over the course of several days, the players are preparing for a battle with this creature. Their goal is to make those preparations without tipping off this intelligent foe. They know the creature watches the shore and makes plots of its own to twart theirs. So the players have begun holding their meetings in secret, using counter measures against scrying spells/abilities, and being very careful what they say in public. Often they'll deliberately spout false information in public, in the hope of misdirecting their foe. </p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>As a DM:</strong></p><p></p><p>I try to to think like the creature and have it act in a way most effective to reach its goals (and benefitting the fun and excitement of the story), while also taking into account things it may not know, or any misconceptions it may have about the plans of the players. I resolve some of its decisions with intelligence checks versus bluff attempts by the players. I also try to surprise and shock the players with unexpected attacks and strategies by the creature<em>.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>As a player:</strong></p><p></p><p>For the players this means they need to strategize. They are not trying to guess what will net them an auto-success, but they are trying to think how they can outsmart this creature, and how they can withhold certain information from it, buying them extra time to prepare for the battle.<strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Imaculata, post: 7794228, member: 6801286"] Whenever I present my players with a situation, they state a goal and approach, and I rule accordingly. But that's not the whole story. Sometimes the players may state a faulty approach that tells me they may not have understood the situation correctly. While my players are allowed to make dumb decisions, I will always provide them with additional information if I believe they need it to make a good decision. My players are allowed to change their minds based on the additional information, because I don't do gotchas. And sometimes I'll just ask them if they're sure about their approach, just to mess with them a little. Muhahaha. The situations I present to my players are not a game of "[I]guess the magic word[/I]". I don't have any preference how a particular situation plays out. My goal is neither to have any particular player succeed or fail. My goal is to present them with excitement and fun, and try to rule as fairly as possible. But sometimes a player may surprise me by stating an approach that I feel cannot fail (or cannot succeed). In such cases, it is an automatic success or failure. Obviously an automatic success is the best possible outcome for the players, and they will try to think of an approach that has the best chance for success. For example, if I present my players with a pit that they are expected to jump across, and they then bring a ladder and just walk across, that's an automatic success. If they need to sneak past a sleeping dragon, and I have decided that the dragon relies on hearing the players, then obviously floating across the ground with a spell, would produce no sound and could be an automatic success (provided that they also cast the spell silently). Simularly, lying to a guard while that guard has no reason to doubt the truth of their words, is an automatic success. [B]This style is especially relevant in the current developments of my ongoing pirate campaign. Let me set the scene: [/B] A dangerous and intelligent monster is sleeping at the bottom of a lake, guarding an ancient temple.[I] [/I]Over the course of several days, the players are preparing for a battle with this creature. Their goal is to make those preparations without tipping off this intelligent foe. They know the creature watches the shore and makes plots of its own to twart theirs. So the players have begun holding their meetings in secret, using counter measures against scrying spells/abilities, and being very careful what they say in public. Often they'll deliberately spout false information in public, in the hope of misdirecting their foe. [B] As a DM:[/B] I try to to think like the creature and have it act in a way most effective to reach its goals (and benefitting the fun and excitement of the story), while also taking into account things it may not know, or any misconceptions it may have about the plans of the players. I resolve some of its decisions with intelligence checks versus bluff attempts by the players. I also try to surprise and shock the players with unexpected attacks and strategies by the creature[I].[/I] [B]As a player:[/B] For the players this means they need to strategize. They are not trying to guess what will net them an auto-success, but they are trying to think how they can outsmart this creature, and how they can withhold certain information from it, buying them extra time to prepare for the battle.[B][I][/I] [/B] [/QUOTE]
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