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<blockquote data-quote="Water Bob" data-source="post: 5867957" data-attributes="member: 92305">My players wouldn't agree with what I've said until I asked them to name who has died (nobody in this campaign).&nbsp; I keep the perception of danger high--which, I think is what my player in the OP was percepting in my game.&nbsp;He doesn't know what goes on behind the GM's curtain.&nbsp; For example, last game session, it looked like I pushed my players to the very limit (one had 2 hp, one had 6 hp, and a demon was flying around with five undead wiggling their way towards them).&nbsp;The undead, excited to ultra speed with the prescence of the demon, followed the PCs for hours--about 8 hours, in fact, deep into the night, during a horrible thunder and lightning storm.&nbsp;I was rolling exhaustion on the PCs.&nbsp;From the PCs' point of view, the situation looked impossible.&nbsp; It looked like I was out to kill them.&nbsp;But really, what I was doing was setting them up for a huge success.&nbsp;Had one of them gotten into real danger, I had some contingency plans that would make sense &quot;in game&quot; that would happen, just barely saving the PC's arses.&nbsp; It wouldn't look like the GM helping the PCs at all.&nbsp; It would look like the GM finally allowing something to &quot;work&quot; in the PCs' favor.&nbsp;But, I didn't have to pull out that contingency plan because one of the players came up with an idea...and I let it work.&nbsp;Now, the player feels like he came up with an idea that saved the party.&nbsp; The other player is greatful to him for saving their butts.&nbsp;(And the poor old GM gets no credit...&nbsp; <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/cry.png"&nbsp; class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":.-(" title="Cry&nbsp; &nbsp; :.-(" data-shortname=":.-(" />&nbsp; ...but, that's OK.&nbsp; My job is supposed to be invisible here.&nbsp; Otherwise, I break the players' suspension of disbelief.)&nbsp;I'd prefer my players thinking that I run a &quot;tough&quot; game than them knowing the reality.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Water Bob, post: 5867957, member: 92305"] My players wouldn't agree with what I've said until I asked them to name who has died (nobody in this campaign). I keep the perception of danger high--which, I think is what my player in the OP was percepting in my game. He doesn't know what goes on behind the GM's curtain. For example, last game session, it [I]looked[/I] like I pushed my players to the very limit (one had 2 hp, one had 6 hp, and a demon was flying around with five undead wiggling their way towards them). The undead, excited to ultra speed with the prescence of the demon, followed the PCs for hours--about 8 hours, in fact, deep into the night, during a horrible thunder and lightning storm. I was rolling exhaustion on the PCs. From the PCs' point of view, the situation [I]looked[/I] impossible. It looked like I was out to kill them. But really, what I was doing was setting them up for a huge success. Had one of them gotten into real danger, I had some contingency plans that would make sense "in game" that would happen, just barely saving the PC's arses. It wouldn't look like the GM helping the PCs at all. It would look like the GM finally allowing something to "work" in the PCs' favor. But, I didn't have to pull out that contingency plan because one of the players came up with an idea...and I let it work. Now, the player feels like he came up with an idea that saved the party. The other player is greatful to him for saving their butts. (And the poor old GM gets no credit... :.-( ...but, that's OK. My job is supposed to be invisible here. Otherwise, I break the players' suspension of disbelief.) I'd prefer my players thinking that I run a "tough" game than them knowing the reality. [/QUOTE]

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