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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Imaculata" data-source="post: 6801986" data-attributes="member: 6801286">I tend to be very open about when I fudged, and when I didn't. For example, when a cannibal was about to kill a level 1 player character, I had the cannibal try and drag his unconscious body into the jungle instead. This gave the party the opportunity to catch up with the cannibal, and save their unconscious friend.I explained why I did it (I thought it as more interesting story-wise), and my players agreed with my decision. I also discussed with them how one of our fellow players had a tendency for suicidal behavior, which I tried to discourage. This sometimes meant I had to fudge a little, to prevent an outright death of his character (which has happened about 4 times in the campaign now). But I also explained to them that this did not mean that I would prevent all deaths, just the ones that felt unfair, or due to a player's clumsiness. I often try to offer an opportunity for the players to recover from a mistake, but if they mess that up too, then it really is game over.For example, the very same player had a random encounter with 4 Aswang (vampire-like bat creatures with a stun ability). Instead of just running, he decided to fight them, which he was sure to lose. A poor decision on his part, but I can't blame him entirely for overestimating his own abilities. So I made a secret roll to see if there was a chance the local guards would be able to hear his plight. I made a listen check fair and square, and had a paladin of the local church come to his aid who succeeded on his Listen check. It still was a pretty close battle, and both him and the paladin almost bit the dust. But they were victorious in the end, and heavily wounded. I was being pretty lenient by having the paladin show up. While it made sense story-wise, and considering how close he was to a church, it still was a case where I fudged things a bit more in his favor. I figured this was also an excellent opportunity for me to introduce a new npc, which would shine a more positive light on an organization that the players disliked. I discussed this and the other example with my players a few weeks ago, and we talked at great length about when it was alright to fudge, and when it wasn't. I explained how I always fudged in their favor, to maximize fun, and never in the favor of the villains.</blockquote>

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