Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
What Rules do you see people mistake or misapply?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Satyrn" data-source="post: 7109037" data-attributes="member: 6801204"><p>Well, ideally when I rule in such a way it's meant to enhance the fun of the players.</p><p></p><p>The invisible statue example, for example, just doesn't seem like it would be fun if they wind up just spotting it as they enter the room. And since the whole point, in the fiction, to making a statue invisible is so that it isn't automatically seen, I wouldn't want to apply a rule that says "you know an invisble object is present but not its exact location" or the like since it would invalidate the fiction, and just be less fun than I think it ought to be </p><p></p><p>Now, that's also assuming that none of the players are playing a Sherlock Holmes who has declared that he's analyzing every room he enters. That's a player who wants to find the mysteries overlooked by normal people and it would be fun to roll the dice to notice signs of the hidden statue - or even skip the dice roll and describe those signs for him and give the player the fun he wants.</p><p></p><p>Every aspect of play is important to me when deciding whether to invoke a rule or invent one for the moment. There is no absolute for me. I aim for a balance of what makes sense and is fun.</p><p></p><p>And we probably all agree that getting screwed over by the DM is not fun. In every ruling I make, I try not to screw over the players. It's a guiding principle.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>When it comes to an invisible stalker in a room with the pie - Well I'm gonna skip over how I'd decide to rule. Let's say that for whatever reason I chose to simply rule that the players do not detect it. What I absolutely am not going to do next is have the invisible stalker attack. That would be totally screwing over the party.</p><p></p><p>I would do is something along these lines: as the players linger in the room, I'd tell them they see the steam rising from the pie swirl in a breeze. Let them investigate it, give another clue let them continue investigating. There could be dice rolling involved, or they do something that I rule flat out works. And the players get the fun (I hope) of working out a little mystery.</p><p></p><p>Or if they fail in their investigation, or fail to even bother investigating, or whatever and I deem it's time for Mr Stalker to attack then he's going to get the jump on them, but I'd probably still let them make a Perception check to avoid surprise, because not getting that roll at some point might feel like getting screwed over.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I should add that I am regularly surprised by what unfolds during my game, because when I said "every aspect of play is important to me when deciding whether to invoke a rule or invent one for the moment," I meant it - and the biggest input, the largest source (by far) of those aspects of play are my players: What their characters are doing; what they expect the result of their actions to be; all the crazy ideas they come up with. What is likely to be fun for them.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Satyrn, post: 7109037, member: 6801204"] Well, ideally when I rule in such a way it's meant to enhance the fun of the players. The invisible statue example, for example, just doesn't seem like it would be fun if they wind up just spotting it as they enter the room. And since the whole point, in the fiction, to making a statue invisible is so that it isn't automatically seen, I wouldn't want to apply a rule that says "you know an invisble object is present but not its exact location" or the like since it would invalidate the fiction, and just be less fun than I think it ought to be Now, that's also assuming that none of the players are playing a Sherlock Holmes who has declared that he's analyzing every room he enters. That's a player who wants to find the mysteries overlooked by normal people and it would be fun to roll the dice to notice signs of the hidden statue - or even skip the dice roll and describe those signs for him and give the player the fun he wants. Every aspect of play is important to me when deciding whether to invoke a rule or invent one for the moment. There is no absolute for me. I aim for a balance of what makes sense and is fun. And we probably all agree that getting screwed over by the DM is not fun. In every ruling I make, I try not to screw over the players. It's a guiding principle. When it comes to an invisible stalker in a room with the pie - Well I'm gonna skip over how I'd decide to rule. Let's say that for whatever reason I chose to simply rule that the players do not detect it. What I absolutely am not going to do next is have the invisible stalker attack. That would be totally screwing over the party. I would do is something along these lines: as the players linger in the room, I'd tell them they see the steam rising from the pie swirl in a breeze. Let them investigate it, give another clue let them continue investigating. There could be dice rolling involved, or they do something that I rule flat out works. And the players get the fun (I hope) of working out a little mystery. Or if they fail in their investigation, or fail to even bother investigating, or whatever and I deem it's time for Mr Stalker to attack then he's going to get the jump on them, but I'd probably still let them make a Perception check to avoid surprise, because not getting that roll at some point might feel like getting screwed over. I should add that I am regularly surprised by what unfolds during my game, because when I said "every aspect of play is important to me when deciding whether to invoke a rule or invent one for the moment," I meant it - and the biggest input, the largest source (by far) of those aspects of play are my players: What their characters are doing; what they expect the result of their actions to be; all the crazy ideas they come up with. What is likely to be fun for them. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
What Rules do you see people mistake or misapply?
Top