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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6852809" data-attributes="member: 42582">There does seem to be a diversity of approaches, yes. As I said upthread, I'm not implying this is bad (or good). I'm just curious.I wasn't meaning to say that it couldn't be done. But I don't think it is such a strong default. Apart from anything else, I think that 5e assumes as a default a much richer and more expansive gameworld than the classic dungeon, and so it is much less likely that the GM will have all the key points noted and more likely that the GM will have to make some sort of judgment call on the spur of the moment, possibly in the context of improvised fiction and backstory as well.(In the classic game, this move away from either pre-prepared notes or straightforward random rolling was, I think, most common in city adventures. I think that 5e, by default orientation, perhaps tends to bring this sort of play more front-and-centre than in the classic game.)This approach seems to be based on what, upthread, I called the "objective" ingame situation. It reminds me of the GMing advice in Moldvay Basic, and of the approach to setting DCs (but not to deciding if a roll is required) in Burning Wheel.This looks similar to the sort of approach [MENTION=97077]iserith[/MENTION] describes.Some of this also looks similar - the issue of "uncertainty" is settled by considering the in-fiction situation. But some of it is also driven by "meta" considerations ie giving the players the information that is vital for the scenario.This leaves it open, though, what makes a door "ordinary" or "special". Is that ascertained by reference to the in-fiction circumsances, or by "meta"-considerations.The same question arises with respect to "exceptional circumstances". Are circumstances exceptional because of in-fiction considerations? Or "meta" considerations?The description of doors needing locks or passwords sounds like the relevant consideration is in-fiction circumstances. But the desire to avoid grind sounds like a "meta", pacing consideration.In my own GMing (which is not 5e GMing - at the moment I'm running a 4e game and a Burning Wheel game) I have come to use only "meta" considerations to decide when a roll is needed. If it is needed, then it has to be made even if the chance of success if (near-)automatic - because the making of the roll might trigger other factors within the overall resolution system.</blockquote>

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