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<blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 9183441" data-attributes="member: 6877472">The &quot;shadiness&quot; is my opinion.&nbsp; Given my druthers, I'd rather do things another way, but sometimes circumstances don't allow for it.&nbsp; I find myself needing to make adjustments right here and now, not course correct in the future.&nbsp; I cannot, however, agree that the players are cheated when given the experience they wish to have instead of the one they would have gotten otherwise.We live in a world with many kinds of diversions.&nbsp; People will gravitate towards the diversions they prefer.&nbsp; If they're not getting what they want from a D&amp;D game, they'll go do something else.&nbsp; When I screw up, I tell my players I did so.&nbsp; I don't necessarily tell them what I'm going to do about it (since I might not know myself in the moment), but I do let them know what I'm trying to do.D&amp;D is a game.&nbsp; It's all fake.&nbsp; If you scrutinize any part of it closely, you're going to see it's held together with abstractions and fiat the way my car is held together with baling wire and duct tape.&nbsp; The DM is the stage director, moving actors and sets around behind the curtain, the players are the audience.&nbsp; That my preference is to do this as little as possible because I don't like it doesn't mean I'm going to insult people who have a different opinion by calling them &quot;cheaters&quot;.Nor do I think of it that way.&nbsp; It's a method of running the game that has been enshrined by years of DM advice, a lot given by actual people who make the game.&nbsp; As much as I love the ideal of the DM and the players being on a level field, all being forced to follow the same rules, with as little fiat as possible, the reality is, the rules must serve the game.&nbsp; If following the rules makes the game harder to run, harder to play, and less fun for the people playing it, the rules must be changed or discarded.And the primary power of the DM is &quot;you decide what the rules are&quot;*.&nbsp; However, the corollary to this, and something every DM must be mindful of is, &quot;there is no game without the players&quot;.&nbsp; If they don't like the way the game is being run, they'll go do something else.*I'd rather this be &quot;the group decides what the rules are&quot;, but often times when I've talked to my players and said &quot;so I'm thinking about this rule, and changing it, what do you think?&quot;, I rarely get useful input, lol.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="James Gasik, post: 9183441, member: 6877472"] The "shadiness" is my opinion. Given my druthers, I'd rather do things another way, but sometimes circumstances don't allow for it. I find myself needing to make adjustments [I]right here and now[/I], not course correct in the future. I cannot, however, agree that the players are cheated when given the experience they wish to have instead of the one they would have gotten otherwise. We live in a world with many kinds of diversions. People will gravitate towards the diversions they prefer. If they're not getting what they want from a D&D game, they'll go do something else. When I screw up, I tell my players I did so. I don't necessarily tell them what I'm going to do about it (since I might not know myself in the moment), but I do let them know what I'm trying to do. D&D is a game. It's all fake. If you scrutinize any part of it closely, you're going to see it's held together with abstractions and fiat the way my car is held together with baling wire and duct tape. The DM is the stage director, moving actors and sets around behind the curtain, the players are the audience. That my preference is to do this as little as possible because I don't like it doesn't mean I'm going to insult people who have a different opinion by calling them "cheaters". Nor do I think of it that way. It's a method of running the game that has been enshrined by years of DM advice, a lot given by actual people who make the game. As much as I love the ideal of the DM and the players being on a level field, all being forced to follow the same rules, with as little fiat as possible, the reality is, the rules must serve the game. If following the rules makes the game harder to run, harder to play, and less fun for the people playing it, the rules must be changed or discarded. And the primary power of the DM is "you decide what the rules are"*. However, the corollary to this, and something every DM must be mindful of is, "there is no game without the players". If they don't like the way the game is being run, they'll go do something else. *I'd rather this be "the group decides what the rules are", but often times when I've talked to my players and said "so I'm thinking about this rule, and changing it, what do you think?", I rarely get useful input, lol. [/QUOTE]

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