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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Summer-Knight925" data-source="post: 6239953" data-attributes="member: 80297">The best way to view it is comparing GMs to Musicians. Every Musician has a style, they acquire this from other musicians they like, personal experimentation, and personal tastes in music.But do musicians just change music whenever they want?As much of a shock it may seem, the answer is yes, musicians have the ability to change how a certain song sounds and thus alter the entire meaning.Eurythmics song "Sweet Dreams" is not altogether creepy, the lyrics are more about heartbreak and how people suck.Now enter Marilyn Manson's version, which goes from 'they hurt me people suck' to 'they're stalking me right now to hurt me I should buy a gun'Was music changed?Yes.Was it broken?No.This is the important part of GMing and why I am using this analogy. It's one thing to makeup rules on the fly, musicians improve from time to time, why not GMs? Changing something to better suit the situation of a game is like changing a note in a song or the rhythm, etc. ect. And musically, there are so many different genres and tastes in music that you can make anything into anything and someone will like it.This doesn't mean it's for everyone. As a GM, you are running a game, and thus you have your specific goals and concepts and ideas, as well as morals and beliefs on PCs, what they can and cannot do, and how to solve problems. Can a GM change rules on the fly?Yes.And they should. If a GM cannot alter rules for a situation to better suit the players, the encounter, and the problem, then they might not be that great of a GM. Playing table top RPGs is a lot like being a pirate, and as Captain Jack Sparrow once said (and this is not an exact quote) the rules are more of guidelines. In my group, we roll up stats differently to better create a heroic atmosphere for high fantasy games that are often deadlier than what the rules say it should be (characters fighting CRs higher than they should in the case of my Pathfinder game, but because of how their stats are, it balances out and creates the same challenge as if the stats were rolled normally, the only difference being you don't get useless characters at times). I have designed Archetypes specific for my own setting, magic items that suit the lore of the world better, spells that make sense for the world, things all GMs should do if they are as enthusiastic about the setting as I am about mine. This isn't bad, in fact this is what makes pen and paper RPGs so great.However, I can see where 'Billy' may be worried.A good GM alters the rules to fit the situation, but does so to encourage balance, fairness, logic, and fun.A bad GM alters the rules off the cuff for no reason.Being a GM has some requirements, it's a prestige class after all, and one of them is they cannot be chaotic evil. At least a good GM can't. As a GM you need to have reasons for what you do, logic first and foremost. So the elven wizard player complains that his totally awesome description of hitting the ogre didn't kill it because he rolled poorly on the damage, does a GM change it to help this player?I wouldn't.I'd explain how their description is not 100% sound and that the attack the wizard made has variables, as represented by the dice, and thus rolling poor on the attack means that swinging your Master's sword in the fashion you did failed to cut through the thick hide of the brute before you. This isn't changing the rules.But what if the elven wizard player wants to use shocking grasp on the ogre from a few feet away since currently the ogre is standing in a pool of water?I would either use the excuse "well the nature of magic is such...", or perhaps I am feeling the idea here, and would allow the wizard to use the spell, but it would do less damage and the Ogre gets a save against it. After all, water does conduct.  The important part, if the GM allows the player to use shocking grasp in a pool of water, is that this continues to work, and not just for the player, but for other spellcasters as well, and suddenly it isn't a snowflake encounter, but rather a table-specific rule that allows spell casters to do such. A good GM doesn't change the rules whenever they want, a good GM changes the rules for a situation, and then keeps that ruling throughout. I mean, imagine how much fun it would be to play a game of MTG and have the ref give a ruling on a card in a game, and then the next time you use the card in the same game, you are given a different ruling.</blockquote>

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