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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Scribble" data-source="post: 4706322" data-attributes="member: 23977">Attacks happen all the time in the real world with the enemy having no knowledge beforehand of the impending attack for various reasons:1. Lack of ability to effectively communicate.2. Survivors are too worried about surviving then helping other survive.3. Fit Shappens.4. No survivors.5. Other stuff.Isn't this sentence indicating that you DO in fact put some DM input into the world and you DO in fact choose what the PCs will encounter.Whats the difference between you think logic says there should be warning of a dragon attack and you think logic says the people of the land choose to build their dwellings far away from the BIG threats of the world, and thus the giants live in remote places? (Especially if the giants know adventure groups LOVE to target them for all their phat loots.) And it makes realistic sense too: Osama Bin Laden... probably considered one of the most dangerous men alive- I don't think he lives in South Jersey.My point really is no matter how little DM input you strive for, at some point you're going to have some. Whether you like to create level appropriate challenges most of the time or just random groupings of encounters. In my opinion this is one of those why tabletop games rule moments.The DM can create a realistic world, but unlike a computer, can override that realism for the sake of "Yo man that kicked arse!"What Tolkien demonstrates is that the mechanics of being a solo author differ greatly then the mechanics of a group of people collectively playing an RPG.You cannot use an authors methods to further a "what happens happens" mentality, because nothing could be further from the truth in writing a book.In a book, what happens happens because the author believes it will make a better story. People are either ready for a dragon attack, or not ready for a dragon attack based on what the author feels will best further the story, and nothing else.In an RPG the "story" is being told by the DM, the Players, and the dice. Each one has input on what happens in that story.The DM has some input, the players have some input, the dice determine the final results. It's up to each group to determine if they lean towards any one group having more or less input.</blockquote>

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