THIS is why I roll in the open...

[Riggs]

Heh. Can you play the drums as well as Animal?

Sorry if I do sound authoritative, sometimes the internet does to my posts.
I admit that there are times (especially on ENW) where I do read a post or thread and seriously question how some folks play their games, but I try not to force my views where unnessecary.

You did, and I am glad I read through to this post before I jumped you. Only now do I see you didn't mean it to read that way. But it's kind of like me correcting your spelling on 'unnecessary' and acting like that wasn't a pissy thing to do, just helping your posting skills...

and

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rel
Aw, damn. I didn't realize I was doing it wrong. Thanks for clearing that up, DL.

No problem. Glad I could help.

Don't be a muppet, read my post as everyone else's is written, with an invisible IMO at the front.

This is a bit much. This is not "the internet" making you sound like a snot, it is you. You gave your reply and it was jerk-flavored. Keep the labels/names to yourself next time.

Kind of the same way that I'm happily married and my wife can trust me but I still don't hang out in singles bars or give long backrubs to Salma Hayek.

That's not realistic...you'd burst into flame after just a short backrub of her!

 

[ThirdWizard]

Question:

Say in round 1 the DM rolls a 14 to hit and hits the PC. Then in round 2 the DM rolls a 16 and misses the same PC.

Should the DM explain to the players why this happened? Should the players trust that the DM isn't fudging? Many players might think the DM is being inconsistant with his numbers, should they be reassured?

 

[swrushing]

And what they don't want is to have the story revolve around them. If it did then it would force them to work more and think more and make decisions that they don't want forced upon them. That's not why they are at the session. They're just there to hang out and have fun.

blinks... eyes widen...

WOW!

I can truly say i have never had players like that in my games, or if they were, i wasn't aware of them. it maybe be an outgrouth of my selection or prescreening but i have been pleased to run I guess most exclusively players who showed up wanting to have the campaign centered around them, who wanted to be the "key guy" critical to the scene and the resolution and be the mover and shaker. I really don't think i ever had anyone who was just wanting to "be there too" while the other players did the important stuff.

Again, probably more due to the types of players i prefer and my screening i reckon.

learn something new everyday.

hopefully, if i ever get some of those "just leave me be" types, i'll recognize it and not force them to do too much.

thanks!

 

[Crothian]

Question:

Say in round 1 the DM rolls a 14 to hit and hits the PC. Then in round 2 the DM rolls a 16 and misses the same PC.

Should the DM explain to the players why this happened? Should the players trust that the DM isn't fudging? Many players might think the DM is being inconsistant with his numbers, should they be reassured?

No, what the DM says goes. If you need him to explain things like this then there would be a trust issue and those are not good things.

 

[DragonLancer]

You did, and I am glad I read through to this post before I jumped you. Only now do I see you didn't mean it to read that way. But it's kind of like me correcting your spelling on 'unnecessary' and acting like that wasn't a pissy thing to do, just helping your posting skills...

Don't take this the wrong way, but why does it bother people that occasional spelling mistakes make it through?

This is a bit much. This is not "the internet" making you sound like a snot, it is you. You gave your reply and it was jerk-flavored. Keep the labels/names to yourself next time.

I could say that this post of yours is snotty (In fact I think it is). When posters (especially here on ENW) stop jumping me for having an opinion on something I'll stop using the term "muppet."

Now, I'm not here to moan at folks or be moaned at by others, but to share my views, opinions, and thoughts about D&D and gaming in general.

 

[Rel]

learn something new everyday.

hopefully, if i ever get some of those "just leave me be" types, i'll recognize it and not force them to do too much.

thanks!

Trust me when I say that I wish I'd learned this lesson long before I did. It would have saved a lot of frustration between a friend/player of mine if I'd just understood that in the spotlight is not where he wanted to be.

Nowadays I'm very communicative to the players about making sure that what I think they want and what they really want out of the game are the same thing. I think I'm doing a pretty good job but you can ask Riggs who posted upthread to find out if that is true.

 

[Rel]

When posters (especially here on ENW) stop jumping me for having an opinion on something I'll stop using the term "muppet."

But see most people here figure that if folks have an opinion then they'll say its an opinion and if something is a fact then they'll state it factually. On a board where rules and other such factual content is discussed making such a statement makes it sound like you're espousing the only correct way to do something. When you say, "The players are not meant to see what the DM rolls..." you're making a statement about what is meant to be and what is not meant to be.

Now, I can understand if you're response is "Of course I'm not saying that's the only way things could be. It's just my opinion that that's how they should be." But you could have said, "What works best for me is..." or "I've always done it this way because..." But you didn't. You didn't exercise any diplomacy so you should not be surprised if folks bristle a little.

Anyway, no harm, no foul as far as I'm concerned.

 

[DragonLancer]

But see most people here figure that if folks have an opinion then they'll say its an opinion and if something is a fact then they'll state it factually. On a board where rules and other such factual content is discussed making such a statement makes it sound like you're espousing the only correct way to do something. When you say, "The players are not meant to see what the DM rolls..." you're making a statement about what is meant to be and what is not meant to be.

Now, I can understand if you're response is "Of course I'm not saying that's the only way things could be. It's just my opinion that that's how they should be." But you could have said, "What works best for me is..." or "I've always done it this way because..." But you didn't. You didn't exercise any diplomacy so you should not be surprised if folks bristle a little.

Anyway, no harm, no foul as far as I'm concerned.

I agree. I have no hard feelings. We had a friendly dig and its done. Muppet being a friendly jibe where I live.

The way I talk and post is simply one where you can take it as having an "IMO" at whatever point. I read posts in the same way and I expect the same.

Anyway, back to the thread in discussion.

 

[Riggs]

Agreed, back to the thread...

And to contribute to the thread, I would be weighing the options of concealed rolling or not based on how confident I felt with the system I was DMing. I am a newbie DM, and so can expect to make lots of mistakes, including deadly ones to my NPCs or the party. So on the one hand I would think to conceal my rolls to help me get out of messes I didn't plan well enough for...but I also would think that the rolling and chance part of it would be as fun to see on the table as not and I could fudge the stats if I needed to fudge. Of course the idea is not to have to fudge at all.

Given mastery of a system I was running, I'd likely roll openly and watch the faces of the players.

 

[Akrasia]

I always roll behind the screen. Not because I fudge dice, but I use misdirection. I sometimes roll for no reason to make the players paraniod. That dopesn't work as well when they can se the die rolls.

Same here.

Plus it eliminates all the 'metagame' calculations that players could make if I were to roll in the open.

The 'rolling in the open' thing -- no appeal at all, for me. I would never DM that way.