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<blockquote data-quote="Clint_L" data-source="post: 9544020" data-attributes="member: 7035894">I agree with Charlaquin that if it is okay for the DM to secretly fudge, why not for the players as well? Why can't they also secretly &quot;curate&quot; their experience?I will suggest fudging if I think the situation calls for it. I have done so (rarely). Why not just have the discussion openly? It's a cooperative game. &quot;Hey, this critical hit will insta-kill Allen in his first combat of his first game, and he just spent hours building a character and even made a picture of them. What say his character is just knocked unconscious instead?&quot; Players all agree [that actually happened].When I used to secretly fudge it was always to make the adventure go in a &quot;better&quot; direction than the dice indicated. Since I stopped doing that, and always roll openly when possible, I have found that the story is better. I'm no good at deception, and it stresses me out. So players were always suspicious of me when I fudged, and with open rules they know there's no thumb on the scale: each inflection point in the game is earned by their choices and rolls. The rolls are way more exciting, an event in themselves (I've noted that even some DMs who normally roll behind a screen state that they will sometimes roll openly for a &quot;big&quot; roll).The biggest winner is...me. Because the story is less under my control, I get more outcomes that I never saw coming, and get to enjoy emergent story telling along with my players. And I don't have to engage in deceptive behaviour.There's no one true way, but having done both, I am never going back to always rolling behind a screen. Open rolling is way more fun, for me.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Clint_L, post: 9544020, member: 7035894"] I agree with Charlaquin that if it is okay for the DM to secretly fudge, why not for the players as well? Why can't they also secretly "curate" their experience? I will suggest fudging if I think the situation calls for it. I have done so (rarely). Why not just have the discussion openly? It's a cooperative game. "Hey, this critical hit will insta-kill Allen in his first combat of his first game, and he just spent hours building a character and even made a picture of them. What say his character is just knocked unconscious instead?" Players all agree [that actually happened]. When I used to secretly fudge it was always to make the adventure go in a "better" direction than the dice indicated. Since I stopped doing that, and always roll openly when possible, I have found that the story is better. I'm no good at deception, and it stresses me out. So players were always suspicious of me when I fudged, and with open rules they know there's no thumb on the scale: each inflection point in the game is earned by their choices and rolls. The rolls are way more exciting, an event in themselves (I've noted that even some DMs who normally roll behind a screen state that they will sometimes roll openly for a "big" roll). The biggest winner is...me. Because the story is less under my control, I get more outcomes that I never saw coming, and get to enjoy emergent story telling along with my players. And I don't have to engage in deceptive behaviour. There's no one true way, but having done both, I am never going back to always rolling behind a screen. Open rolling is way more fun, for me. [/QUOTE]

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