Re: [DL] Are We Doing It Correctly?

["Leybourne, Brian" <Brian.Leybourne@airnz.co.nz>]

> I have to agree that fudging against the players is always a 
> bad thing.
> Part of marshalling is being able to think on your feet, 
> especially when the posse totally fubars your plans.

Yes, but there is a difference between fudging because you're unimaginative
and need to posse to "stick to plan" (which I think is bad), and fudging to
ensure that everyone has a great time (which is the whole point of
roleplaying, and is a good thing).

Example - I occasionally fudge die rolls in combat to minimise damage to
players. I don't do it often enough that they come to expect it, otherwise
combat gets less exciting, but by the same token, if someone dies every week
then people will lose interest, so I sometimes fughe to prevent that. I may
change the damage, or shift the location to somewhere non-lethal, or
whatever).

Likewise, I sometime fudge things when it threatens the fun of the
adventure. If I have an entire adventure set up, which will take an entire
session for the players to go through, and someone does something I had not
thought of that will shorten the adventure to an hour (something I have had
happen) then I'll change things so it doesn't spoil the adventure and cheat
the posse out of a session of fun. I wont deny a player his actions, but I
will rework the adventure so his actions don't spoil it.

Call me a bad marshall if you will, but I think that in the end, players
will be happier with a slightly fudged but fun and fulfilling adventure,
than one where they walk all over it just because one GM couldn't outthink
and plan for the actions of four or five players.

Brian "Never had a complaint yet, but had plenty of compliments" Leybourne.

.-->
"The Web brings people together because no matter what kind of a twisted
sexual mutant you happen to be, you've got millions of pals out there. 
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computer will say, 'Specify type of goat.'"

Brian Leybourne
brian.leybourne@airnz.co.nz
bleybourne@hotmail.com

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