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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ExploderWizard" data-source="post: 6589575" data-attributes="member: 66434">Everything depends on the type of game all the participants have agreed to play. Using a movie analogy, if someone was really excited to see movie A and their friend proposed going to see movie A ,but then at the theater got tickets for movie B instead without consulting or informing their friend, that would be ok? If the person who wanted to see movie A just wanted an evening at the movies it might be alright, but if the only reason he/she was bothering to go to the theater at all was for movie A and the friend who bought the tickets KNEW that, it would be a dick move. The same applies to gaming. Be honest with people about the kind of game you want to run and if it doesn't sound like fun to them then find players who it WOULD be fun for. Assuming all participants are on board with how the game is being conducted, nope, no wrong way at all. The key with not fudging is that it is indeed a GAME and sometimes good planning is enough to win the day and sometimes the dice just HATE you and your plans get done in by the fickle finger of fate. The same can happen in the opposite instance; your plans are half baked and by all rights your entire party should be monster poop, but somehow the dice were hot and the day was won. For those that enjoy this play style, not knowing if either of these are going to happen (for players or the DM), is part of the fun. As a DM I would be bored to death if I nudged outcomes toward a certain desired state. Since I do all the prep, and know what is going on behind the scenes, the unpredictability of play is what keeps me coming back for more. A skilled DM factors in players plans BEFORE the odds of success are determined. If the plan is literally foolproof in a given instance there is nothing wrong with declaring the odds of success at 100% and just describing how well the plan worked. That isn't cheating. The DM determines when the dice are rolled and what the odds of success are. A fair game means that once those odds are set and the die is cast, the result is the result. If you find the dice deciding things is too arbitrary then its time to put a bit more thought into factors being used to determine those odds. The rules can only provide a framework. It is still up to the DM to provide real time situational data that could impact the odds of a given die roll. Simply put, if the dice could produce a result that is unacceptable-DON'T ROLL THEM.</blockquote>

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