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<blockquote data-quote="SteveC" data-source="post: 3855682" data-attributes="member: 9053">Well, I hate to break this to you, but what I'm talking about are the majority of GMs that exist in the world. All of the examples I've seen have been with gamers in the 21+ age group...heck, many of them were with GMs over 40 with a wife, kids, and a very normal life.One of the primary reasons that skill systems and highly detailed systems of play were developed was just for this reason.Now I gave a very extreme example, but things like this happen all the time when your GM just has to wing a skill system. In cases where there is neither a skill system, nor an extremely robust task resolution system, the GM has to make rulings on many issues off the cuff all the time. Even a very good GM will have his opinions on &quot;the way things should work&quot; and that's something that's perfectly fine in general, but when it predetermines the options that a group has, it becomes a bad thing. It also leads to situations where characters are either far too powerful or can't do anything, even if the GM is a nice and reasonable person.Are these &quot;bad GMs?&quot; I'd say no, they're just GMs that come to the game with a particular mindset, which is far too often one that they don't talk about, and may not even know that they have.--Steve</blockquote>

[QUOTE="SteveC, post: 3855682, member: 9053"] Well, I hate to break this to you, but what I'm talking about are the majority of GMs that exist in the world. All of the examples I've seen have been with gamers in the 21+ age group...heck, many of them were with GMs over 40 with a wife, kids, and a very normal life. One of the primary reasons that skill systems and highly detailed systems of play were developed was just for this reason. Now I gave a very extreme example, but things like this happen all the time when your GM just has to wing a skill system. In cases where there is neither a skill system, nor an extremely robust task resolution system, the GM has to make rulings on many issues off the cuff all the time. Even a very good GM will have his opinions on "the way things should work" and that's something that's perfectly fine in general, but when it predetermines the options that a group has, it becomes a bad thing. It also leads to situations where characters are either far too powerful or can't do anything, even if the GM is a nice and reasonable person. Are these "bad GMs?" I'd say no, they're just GMs that come to the game with a particular mindset, which is far too often one that they don't talk about, and may not even know that they have. --Steve [/QUOTE]

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