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<blockquote data-quote="The Shaman" data-source="post: 5454501" data-attributes="member: 26473">In our group we had four dungeon masters who switched off running games; all of us had player characters in the party because we rotated the chair behind the screen. My character was not an npc - it was my player character.When I referee, I run dozens of npcs in a game, and I have to make choices based on what they know and don't; often I have to feign ignorance of the adventurers' plans in order to make decisions for the npcs based on what the character knows rather than what I know. I regularly play a game with 'two minds,' that of a more-or-less omniscient referee and that of a character inhabiting the game-world.The idea that a referee is inherently 'too invested' in a player character to do this fairly and consistently presumes that the referee lacks the requisite maturity to maintain that duality. Though I've heard horror stories about this, personally I can't recall encountering it first-hand with any of the groups with which I've played.I've certainly sent my characters to their (possible) deaths over the years; in one instance, my dwarf fighter was sent to open a door which I as the dungeon master knew was trapped with yellow mold, and when the spore cloud exploded all over him, I left it to one of the players to roll my save for me. If the players had any doubts about my ability to run a pc in the game impartially, that dispelled them.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="The Shaman, post: 5454501, member: 26473"] In our group we had four dungeon masters who switched off running games; all of us had player characters in the party because we rotated the chair behind the screen. My character was not an npc - it was my player character. When I referee, I run dozens of npcs in a game, and I have to make choices based on what they know and don't; often I have to feign ignorance of the adventurers' plans in order to make decisions for the npcs based on what the [I]character[/I] knows rather than what [I]I[/I] know. I regularly play a game with 'two minds,' that of a more-or-less omniscient referee and that of a character inhabiting the game-world. The idea that a referee is inherently 'too invested' in a player character to do this fairly and consistently presumes that the referee lacks the requisite maturity to maintain that duality. Though I've heard horror stories about this, personally I can't recall encountering it first-hand with any of the groups with which I've played. I've certainly sent my characters to their (possible) deaths over the years; in one instance, my dwarf fighter was sent to open a door which I as the dungeon master knew was trapped with yellow mold, and when the spore cloud exploded all over him, I left it to one of the players to roll my save for me. If the players had any doubts about my ability to run a pc in the game impartially, that dispelled them. [/QUOTE]

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