Mike Shea

And the example is, if the rogue is failing to pick a lock, maybe he still gets the door open, but he broke his picks. Or maybe he got the door open, but it was loud and now people have heard stuff. Is it fudging? I mean, I bet you that not a lot of people would think of that as fudging. They're like, no, that's just rolling with the game, right? You're supposed to come up with stuff like that.

And the example is, if the rogue is failing to pick a lock, maybe he still gets the door open, but he broke his picks. Or maybe he got the door open, but it was loud and now people have heard stuff. Is it fudging? I mean, I bet you that not a lot of people would think of that as fudging. They're like, no, that's just rolling with the game, right? You're supposed to come up with stuff like that.

And the example is, if the rogue is failing to pick a lock, maybe he still gets the door open, but he broke his picks. Or maybe he got the door open, but it was loud and now people have heard stuff. Is it fudging? I mean, I bet you that not a lot of people would think of that as fudging. They're like, no, that's just rolling with the game, right? You're supposed to come up with stuff like that.

But if you get to determine how brutal the success or failure is in an ability check is, you're really kind of changing things. Particularly if you had one idea before the roll and then you change that idea after the roll. That would be an example.

But if you get to determine how brutal the success or failure is in an ability check is, you're really kind of changing things. Particularly if you had one idea before the roll and then you change that idea after the roll. That would be an example.

But if you get to determine how brutal the success or failure is in an ability check is, you're really kind of changing things. Particularly if you had one idea before the roll and then you change that idea after the roll. That would be an example.

changing the result of random encounters if you're rolling on random tables but then you're like oh that's too many or i don't like that one well now you're fudging again like you know but there's probably a good reason for it oh god they fought zombies three times in a row am i really going to roll another zombie encounter maybe i'm going to change this to another encounter and a lot of games will tell you go ahead and roll again if you don't like what you get that's kind of fudging right that's kind of that seems like it's okay

changing the result of random encounters if you're rolling on random tables but then you're like oh that's too many or i don't like that one well now you're fudging again like you know but there's probably a good reason for it oh god they fought zombies three times in a row am i really going to roll another zombie encounter maybe i'm going to change this to another encounter and a lot of games will tell you go ahead and roll again if you don't like what you get that's kind of fudging right that's kind of that seems like it's okay

changing the result of random encounters if you're rolling on random tables but then you're like oh that's too many or i don't like that one well now you're fudging again like you know but there's probably a good reason for it oh god they fought zombies three times in a row am i really going to roll another zombie encounter maybe i'm going to change this to another encounter and a lot of games will tell you go ahead and roll again if you don't like what you get that's kind of fudging right that's kind of that seems like it's okay

In combat in particular, I have the dials of monster difficulty. I wrote about those in Lazy Niamh's Companion. I wrote about them in Forge of Foes. Hit points, damage, the number of attacks, and the number of monsters are dials that you can turn during combat to change the pacing of a game. I've talked a lot about this.

In combat in particular, I have the dials of monster difficulty. I wrote about those in Lazy Niamh's Companion. I wrote about them in Forge of Foes. Hit points, damage, the number of attacks, and the number of monsters are dials that you can turn during combat to change the pacing of a game. I've talked a lot about this.

In combat in particular, I have the dials of monster difficulty. I wrote about those in Lazy Niamh's Companion. I wrote about them in Forge of Foes. Hit points, damage, the number of attacks, and the number of monsters are dials that you can turn during combat to change the pacing of a game. I've talked a lot about this.

And one of the key points of those dials I'm going to get to in a moment, which is that those dials, you don't just turn them willy-nilly. You turn the dials when you need to, when you have a reason to turn the dials. You know, that's when you turn them. But they all spring to center. They should have resistance in them.

And one of the key points of those dials I'm going to get to in a moment, which is that those dials, you don't just turn them willy-nilly. You turn the dials when you need to, when you have a reason to turn the dials. You know, that's when you turn them. But they all spring to center. They should have resistance in them.

And one of the key points of those dials I'm going to get to in a moment, which is that those dials, you don't just turn them willy-nilly. You turn the dials when you need to, when you have a reason to turn the dials. You know, that's when you turn them. But they all spring to center. They should have resistance in them.

That idea of resistance in the dials is something we're going to talk about, but those are common ways to fudge. One common topic that comes up often when we talk about fudging is the idea that is known as the quantum ogre. The quantum ogre is the idea that you build an ogre encounter ahead of time, and then whatever path the characters take, they still run into the same ogre.

That idea of resistance in the dials is something we're going to talk about, but those are common ways to fudge. One common topic that comes up often when we talk about fudging is the idea that is known as the quantum ogre. The quantum ogre is the idea that you build an ogre encounter ahead of time, and then whatever path the characters take, they still run into the same ogre.

That idea of resistance in the dials is something we're going to talk about, but those are common ways to fudge. One common topic that comes up often when we talk about fudging is the idea that is known as the quantum ogre. The quantum ogre is the idea that you build an ogre encounter ahead of time, and then whatever path the characters take, they still run into the same ogre.

I had a situation where the characters were going down a bunch of different paths in the mountains, right? They were in these caves. And I knew I was going to run a serpent cult encounter. I had my mini set up. I had a beautiful Dwarven Forge set up. I had all this stuff. And I'm like, whatever direction they're going, they're going to run into this. And the players joked, like...

I had a situation where the characters were going down a bunch of different paths in the mountains, right? They were in these caves. And I knew I was going to run a serpent cult encounter. I had my mini set up. I had a beautiful Dwarven Forge set up. I had all this stuff. And I'm like, whatever direction they're going, they're going to run into this. And the players joked, like...