Sean Merwin

Teos took most of my answer, the rest of my answer, so that's good. That's good. No, what I was going to say was the tighter that you make the checks to get the thing done before blank happens, the tighter you make it, the smaller you make it, the harder it is to adjudicate. So I was going to suggest doing it as a full adventure rather than just as one encounter.

Teos took most of my answer, the rest of my answer, so that's good. That's good. No, what I was going to say was the tighter that you make the checks to get the thing done before blank happens, the tighter you make it, the smaller you make it, the harder it is to adjudicate. So I was going to suggest doing it as a full adventure rather than just as one encounter.

And we've talked before about the problems with the as the fights going on, make these checks because the characters will either fight everything and then have plenty of time to make the checks. Or it's it's amazing. You will not believe how quickly characters can make checks if they put their minds to it. Yeah.

And we've talked before about the problems with the as the fights going on, make these checks because the characters will either fight everything and then have plenty of time to make the checks. Or it's it's amazing. You will not believe how quickly characters can make checks if they put their minds to it. Yeah.

So you could say, oh, I'm going to do... I have five characters, so I'm going to do... I'll do six checks and hope that might take them four rounds. And then they'll just like, okay, five of us go and do these checks. Oh, we've all got guidance. We all, you know, whatever. We help each other. Oh, we're with advantage. Oh, you've already made four. I'm a monk, I can move everywhere. Right, exactly.

So you could say, oh, I'm going to do... I have five characters, so I'm going to do... I'll do six checks and hope that might take them four rounds. And then they'll just like, okay, five of us go and do these checks. Oh, we've all got guidance. We all, you know, whatever. We help each other. Oh, we're with advantage. Oh, you've already made four. I'm a monk, I can move everywhere. Right, exactly.

Exactly. So... That's the hard part. So if you make it the full adventure where you do have to explore this area to find the parts to fix the ship, then there's still that idea of a clock, but it's not so granular that you need to perfect it.

Exactly. So... That's the hard part. So if you make it the full adventure where you do have to explore this area to find the parts to fix the ship, then there's still that idea of a clock, but it's not so granular that you need to perfect it.

Mm-hmm. And the final question we'll take today is from Chris G8989 via YouTube. I'm going to sort of truncate this, read parts, and then summarize parts. So Chris asks, where do you stand on the fudging dice argument? Personally, I'm a firm believer in letting the dice tell a story. Chris uses laptop and mouse, but no DM screen, so rules are all in the open.

Mm-hmm. And the final question we'll take today is from Chris G8989 via YouTube. I'm going to sort of truncate this, read parts, and then summarize parts. So Chris asks, where do you stand on the fudging dice argument? Personally, I'm a firm believer in letting the dice tell a story. Chris uses laptop and mouse, but no DM screen, so rules are all in the open.

I believe that if you are making a dice roll where you need to potentially fudge the dice or setting yourself up for failure, if you are making a dice roll, you need to be able to live with both potentially good and potentially bad outcomes.

I believe that if you are making a dice roll where you need to potentially fudge the dice or setting yourself up for failure, if you are making a dice roll, you need to be able to live with both potentially good and potentially bad outcomes.

Chris suggests some alternatives to fudging the dice, such as capture the party instead of TPK, have monsters run away after knocking a PC or two out of the fight, provide a way for the party to retreat from an overwhelming challenge. I personally would rather have my PC die by the dice than live by the DM fudging dice.

Chris suggests some alternatives to fudging the dice, such as capture the party instead of TPK, have monsters run away after knocking a PC or two out of the fight, provide a way for the party to retreat from an overwhelming challenge. I personally would rather have my PC die by the dice than live by the DM fudging dice.

So a perennial topic, always good to check in every now and then to see where we stand on this. I will start with the standard, every group, player, and DM is different message. And then I will give you my initial thoughts. So here's the conundrum I see, Chris. You say, I am a firm believer in letting the dice tell a story. And I've said this many times myself.

So a perennial topic, always good to check in every now and then to see where we stand on this. I will start with the standard, every group, player, and DM is different message. And then I will give you my initial thoughts. So here's the conundrum I see, Chris. You say, I am a firm believer in letting the dice tell a story. And I've said this many times myself.

the problem is dice don't tell stories. Furthermore, rules can't tell stories. Only people can tell stories. So I'm going to highlight this even further by taking a couple quotes from the question. Chris says, here are some things you can do instead. Capture the party instead of a TPK, or provide a way for the party to retreat from an overwhelming challenge. And You say overwhelm the party.

the problem is dice don't tell stories. Furthermore, rules can't tell stories. Only people can tell stories. So I'm going to highlight this even further by taking a couple quotes from the question. Chris says, here are some things you can do instead. Capture the party instead of a TPK, or provide a way for the party to retreat from an overwhelming challenge. And You say overwhelm the party.

If you're going to overwhelm the party, and it's obviously going to be TPK, you can have the enemy capture instead of kill. So are the enemies doing medicine checks to stabilize the characters if they're down? Are you making them roll every single death save to make sure they do? If you don't, you're fudging the rules, which is, for me, the same thing as fudging the dice.

If you're going to overwhelm the party, and it's obviously going to be TPK, you can have the enemy capture instead of kill. So are the enemies doing medicine checks to stabilize the characters if they're down? Are you making them roll every single death save to make sure they do? If you don't, you're fudging the rules, which is, for me, the same thing as fudging the dice.