mfc@hp-pcd.UUCP (mfc) (07/16/84)
It has come to my attention that fudging the dice by a DM seems
to be considered unethical to some people. While I don't condone
whole-sale manipulation by the dungeonmaster, I feel that there always
comes a time (as was suggested in an earlier note) that total reliance
on the rolled dice values simply does not work!
All of you that have DM'ed at one time or another, I'm sure, have
had a situation arise in your game where reaction rolls for NPC's or
'to hit' rolls for your encounters or ... (I could go on forever) what-
ever, would have, if followed blindly, have destroyed the current vein
of the campaign you have so carefully constructed. This is the type of
situation which occasionally justifies fudging the dice.
The whold point here is to maintain a pleasing balance of events
and outcomes so that the game remains consistantly entertaining to your
players. Most dice fudging will be in the players favor but an occasional
streak of unreasonably long 'good luck' on their part sometimes even de-
mands a little dice fudging against them (moderation HERE, please!).
Blind obedience to a set of random numbers changes FRP from an
entertaining escape from reality to a boring exercise in probability.
As a long-time gaming buddy of mine always says,"The dice never lie.
That's the DM's job!"
Kavik (a.k.a Mark Cook)dave@uwvax.ARPA (07/19/84)
> I fudge the dice only to insure randomness. That is, if an incredible > streak of bad (or good) luck threatens to make the game uninteresting > (Yawn. another dragon?) then it seems appropriate to keep the players > off guard. Most monsters (we're talking monsters worthy of a party which fights dragons) have a great deal of non-randomness about them. Who is to say what method of attack a minor daemon (like lpd for example :-) will take. Most often they'll start of toying with the party. If this proves dangerous, the party gets pounded. Also, dragon breath can work in the same way (except the dragon may breath first and ask questions later). The DM should be impartial, but when s/he is playing the monster, the monster shouldn't be impartial. That dragon is out to protect his treasure! > I agree with the person who said that a player's character > should live or die more by that character's skills rather than an > incredible streak of rolls. Ideally the players will never know when > or if you are altering rolls; it should be that subtle. I couldn't agree more. In the group with whom I often play (play, not DM), we've had a couple challenges to the DM's 'die rolls' in such cases the rolls have been true (leaving one very red-faced person on the other side of the screen). If he has actually fudged his dice, (he won't admit to this), its been very subtle. -- Dave Cohrs @ wisconsin ...!{allegra,heurikon,ihnp4,seismo,ucbvax,uwm-evax}!uwvax!dave dave@wisc-rsch.arpa
richl@daemon.UUCP (Rick Lindsley) (07/24/84)
I fudge the dice only to insure randomness. That is, if an incredible
streak of bad (or good) luck threatens to make the game uninteresting
(Yawn. another dragon?) then it seems appropriate to keep the players
off guard. I agree with the person who said that a player's character
should live or die more by that character's skills rather than an
incredible streak of rolls. Ideally the players will never know when
or if you are altering rolls; it should be that subtle.
Rick Lindsley
richl@tektronix.csnet
...!{allegra,ihnp4,decvax}!tektronix!richl