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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Shaman" data-source="post: 1998200" data-attributes="member: 26473">I screen rolls only because I find it heightens the players' sense of mystery.Good gamers can roleplay their characters' surprise and fear and curiosity, but I find the experience of the game is enhanced if the players are feeling something like these emotions as well. Not knowing whether or not I tanked a save or if the bad guy was weaker than they thought helps to maintain an aura of mystery that I think is integral to a good game.I generally don't fudge rolls, sometimes to my detriment - for example, in my PbP game an NPC was shot and wounded by the PCs. This guy was supposed to be a fairly tough, cagey opponent:  instead, first I tanked his Cool check, so instead of engaging in a running battle with the legionnaires he surrendered almost immediately, and second, he failed his level check and succumbed to Intimidation and gave up a whole bunch of my plot to the PCs, instead of leading them into an ambush as planned. Fudging the rolls would've resulted in a very different game up to this point, but that's not the way the winds of chance decided to blow.In any event, I don't think the players' knowing what's happening behind the screen - "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!" - adds anything to the game. As far as the players not trusting the GM to be fair, well, what the @#$%& are you doing spending your leisure time with someone you don't trust?!?</blockquote>

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