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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AverageCitizen" data-source="post: 4992052" data-attributes="member: 57845">I may have mistaken your game style. There definitely are some people who like to keep DnD strictly to the battle grid, and that is fine. If that's not you, then in my admittedly broad generalizations I'd lump you in with the "game+" group. I hope I am not continuing to offend, because that really isn't my intent.Fair enough. I am beginning to suspect that our 'lists' of duties as a DM is more similar than you might think (probably due me not representing myself well) but the lists are in different order. Anyway, moving right along...Okay, so I don't mean to flog a dead horse, but this section of the post, submitted as a counter-point to my OP, shows that I have clearly failed to communicate my point of view so I am going to try to clarify and I'll try to be concise.I am very picky about my players, and I think this section of your post shows why. If the players are happier with an INT 25 villian making stupid mistakes then I don't play with those people. Its not fun for me. The players I have chosen to play with (I have a waiting list as well) are the ones that would be extremely dissatisfied if the Professor Moriarty in our campaign were to be stupid for no good reason. In fact, when I was first starting out I'd occasionally overlook some angle of the story or strategy that would accidentally allow for easy victory, and all of us were very disappointed with the outcome. I have run into a few really immature RPers who just want to win. I guess I shouldn't say immature, maybe they just use DnD to unwind and they want a punching bag. That's fine, but personally I can't stand power-gaming.Hear that everyone? I don't like power-gaming (not the people who do it, just the style). If you think I am advocating it, please reconsider my comments with that in mind. Notice the very end part about story and validation. Power gaming is an example of following all the steps I outlined originally except validation. IMO, in order for someone to really be satisfied with an outcome, it has to be hard-won as well as well delivered. I feel that power-gaming is like junk food. It might be sweet but it lacks substance and is ultimately less satisfying.Hopefully that makes me more clear. I guess theoretically if you were being as player-centric as I suggested originally, if you were stuck with a group of power-gamers that would be a problem. But that is why I pick my players. If you run a player-centric game, picking your players is picking your style.Yeah I agree with everything you said here. I have PC death sometimes, but you probably have a lot more. I very occasionally fudge the rolls, mostly if I feel like I made a mistake in planning, but not always. So yeah, we have some different playing styles. I probably would enjoy your game, its just I have my own style that emphasizes different aspects and it just sorta comes out that way. But those particular differences weren't what I was trying to contrast in the original post. I wasn't talking about making it easy or hard. If anything I think to err on the side of difficult is better, because then they might pull it off and it'll be even more satisfying, but if it's too easy then the game is already spoiled. I understand that I am probably difficult to follow right now, I think its mostly because my original post has been misinterpreted (my bad) and so the conversation has spread into several related but difficult to distinguish topics. Again, I apologize if I offended. But it is clear here that I have miscommunicated.The game/game+ statement came from the fact that I thought we were talking about story vs. the absence of story, not player pampering vs. tough love. Because of that, when you disagreed with me I figured you were in the DnD-dungeon-crawl-minis-combat-board-game camp. Some people don't like to mix their fiction with their tabletop gaming, and thats fine, but I think we both agree that there is a lot more to it.I'll admit that I do have disdain for certain play styles, but I have tried and will try harder to not vocalize it here because that is the rules of the forum. And you know, its a good rule, cause what do I know? I'm just some guy. I shouldn't be allowed to go rain on people's parades. I would like to point out that after learning about it, I really, really don't think your game is the type I was talking about in those comments.</blockquote>

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