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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 3694576" data-attributes="member: 19675">andA lot of people, myself included, dog Kevin Sembieda's mechanics for RIFTS.  Like many other games of its era and since, it uses an escalating hit point system.However, Mr. Sembieda went on record in his own publications as saying that, regardless of HP, if you have your PC do something suicidally stupid like put a blaster rifle's muzzle in his mouth and pull the trigger (assuming the PC can take damage from that blaster, of course), your PC is dead.His rationale: an escalating HP system is an abstraction of how proficient a PC is at avoiding damage.  If the PC chooses not to avoid the damage, he takes the realistic results of his actions.On that point, he and I agree totally, and I run my games accordingly.andFiat isn't neccessarily a deviation from the rules- remember Rule Zero?A GM's responsibility in any RPG is to run a fun, fair game for all involved- himself included.  If the GM has to alter certain aspects of the RAW to achieve that, so be it.For the most part, I don't fudge in favor of the players or NPCs.  However, I have on occasion fudged in favor of the storyline of the campaign.***I followed the links to each of the games listed:And should I choose to run a psychopathic killer out on a first date with Miss Victim...er...Buffy Lancaster?I read this (<a href="http://www.lumpley.com/games/dogcerpts.html#whats" target="_blank">http://www.lumpley.com/games/dogcerpts.html#whats</a>) section.  Its a game set in the Utah of frontier-era America.  Death was everywhere- disease, blizzards, etc.  The game acknowledges that a character may be a "remorseless monster" or subject to the supernatural...or even Demons.I'm sure a GM could make a campaign in that game as lethal as he cared.Destiny is tricky.  Just because you've been told by some wierd old woman that you're the lost son of the last King who will rise up to overthrow the reign of Amhyr the Usurper doesn't mean that the fortune you've just been told is true.  Perhaps she gives that fortune to every 5th male traveller she encounters who fits the general description...Perhaps she's just a loony.I'll give you those...in part.  GM fiat can't exist without a GM, true, but if the concensus of a group in Universalis or player attitude in Polaris is towards a highly lethal playstyle, then the game will be as lethal as any run by a killer GM.Those games don't eliminate the ability to alter the lethality of the game, they just alter who has the power to do so.You can if you're playing a Who Framed Roger Rabbit campaign...with acetone.Every one of the RPGs I've ever played has either explicitly or implicitly allowed or expected houseruling and GM fiat.</blockquote>

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