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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Seramus" data-source="post: 9747747" data-attributes="member: 6812658">The realistic answer is that GM's don't have any limitations, beyond the players choosing to abandon the table. But the overwhelming majority of GMs submit themselves to the illusion of limitations, both in the service of using game mechanics to generate results instead of freeforming the outcome, and in the service of making their players feel empowered and safe in their game.Some actions by a GM can shatterer the social contract (prompting people to leave the table) so fast your head can spin. Most probably fall in the middle ground where their GMing preferences are not quite aligned perfectly with their players, some frictions happen now and then that require discussion, and hopefully a happy and enjoyable night is had most of the time.As for creativity, I've never found that limitations help me personally. But I have found that random results do. That is to say, I have a background in freeform roleplaying where I controlled every outcome in the game, and that grew very dull. Introducing the randomness of dice forced me to improvise wildly and rapidly in a way that absolute power didn't - I loved it! Of course, you could say randomness is a form of limitation, and you probably aren't wrong.</blockquote>