[OOC] Get to Know a GM -- Week 0 (Open to all)

[savoylen]

Welcome to the Get-to-Know-a-GM Lounge!

Come inside! Try one one of our plush, velvety GM lounge robes, grab yourself a Corinthian leather padded armchair, your favorite drink, and relax!

For the duration of Iron DM 2023, this is where we'll be gathering for curated conversations about DMs/GMs/Referees/Keepers and their craft. Just as the Iron DM OOC Lounge is the place to talk about the Iron DM 2023 game in particular, this is the place to talk about GM'ing in general during the competition. Informal ... but hopefully also informing and inspirational!

How does it work? Well, this week, we'll have a conversation theme for all to answer. As the contest runs into December, we will also be posting some Get to Know a GM interviews, which will also be open for comments and discussion.

For the Round Zero time frame, let's get the ball rolling with these question prompts. Please Quote or Copy/Paste these questions and answer them with your first post in the lounge. We'll follow up with conversations on these questions and answers for all of Round Zero until we move on to a new theme when Round 1 begins.

This conversation is open to all, participants, potential-participants, judges, hosts, and spectators ... we want to hear from you!

Note: This is NOT the game application entry thread. (A separate thread is set aside for that once applications begin.) This is simply a GM shop-talk thread (about GMing in general, not related to this contest) open to contestants and non-contestants alike.

Iron DM 2023 Lounge Round Zero Theme Theme: Great GMs I Have Known ... (and maybe one lousy GM I remember) Question 1: Who was your first GM (or referee/DM/etc.) who got you into gaming? What is the most important thing they did that allowed you to pick up the hobby? Question 2: Who has been your greatest GM of all time? What are their stand-out skills? Tell us about their most epic gaming moment that you recall? Question 3: Each great GM has a signature move/skill/approach? What is one of the best special skills a GM has ever brought to your table? Question 4: Great GMs are, well, great! And we have fond memories of them. But lousy GMs can make for even better stories. Without naming or going into any detail that is private, what was your most humorous worst GM experience? It could be something you experienced as a player … or it could be your own ignoble past as a GM! Question 5: Include a question of your own for the next person in the thread to answer! Make it about GMing in general, but something that focuses on an aspect that you have an interest in or would like to hear someone's take on.

[bananabadger]

Question 1: Who was your first GM (or referee/DM/etc.) who got you into gaming? What is the most important thing they did that allowed you to pick up the hobby? A friend received the box set for holidays back in the early 80s. We opened it and had no idea what we were doing, nor did we understand the concept that it should be a game played simultaneously by a group. I think we did individual sessions and then tried to patch them together. It was a glorious mess ... but exciting!

Question 2: Who has been your greatest GM of all time? What are their stand-out skills? Tell us about their most epic gaming moment that you recall? My second GM, just a few months later was an older friend we all knew who straightened us out on the group play. We gathered, gorged on pizzas, raided the family ice cream freezer, and all went home at the same time in the designated carpool. I'm not sure if this GM was that good, but he was the first to introduce the group concept and made it feel like an event--so greatest ever in my book!

Question 3: Each great GM has a signature move/skill/approach? What is one of the best special skills a GM has ever brought to your table? It is by no means a signature move, but I remember the aha! moment when my NPSG solo GM (Savoylen) had a PC make a direct and (what I thought) very humorous response to my character's action. It showed me the power of PbP play in how it allows (with just a little more time and thought) for players and GMs to have these story-building volleys.

Question 4: Great GMs are, well, great! And we have fond memories of them. But lousy GMs can make for even better stories. Without naming or going into any detail that is private, what was your most humorous worst GM experience? It could be something you experienced as a player … or it could be your own ignoble past as a GM! Me. Definitely me. My first GM experience is when a camp counselor who was very hostile to the D&D idea (Satanic Panic era) asked me to run him through a game. I tried. It was boring and poorly executed, and the skeptical audience just made it worse and worse.

Question 5: Include a question of your own for the next person in the thread to answer! Make it about GMing in general, but something that focuses on an aspect that you have an interest in or would like to hear someone's take on. OK, whoever goes next ... what is one RPG system that you never really liked or tried as tabletop, but love playing/GMing as PbP?

[ghostwalking]

Originally Posted by bananabadger

OK, whoever goes next ... what is one RPG system that you never really liked or tried as tabletop, but love playing/GMing as PbP?

My PbP experience is actually very limited, and the games I'm picking to try as PbP are games that I can't convince my tiny table top group to try. So far, I've enjoyed most of them. For me, it's less about the system and more about the people playing.

Question 1: Who was your first GM (or referee/DM/etc.) who got you into gaming? What is the most important thing they did that allowed you to pick up the hobby?

My neighbor got me into gaming and was our first referee. We were in, perhaps, the fourth grade? Being maybe 1978-ish, this was our first exposure to RPGs at all. So the most important thing that he did was being adventurous enough to spend his allowance on that first Melee, later rolled up into The Fantasy Triplittle pamphlet of a game at the local bookstore and share it with us.

Question 2: Who has been your greatest GM of all time? What are their stand-out skills? Tell us about their most epic gaming moment that you recall?

Name Redacted was the GM that truly seeded my love for gaming. His games were fun and light hearted, even when the dice were against us. We were all there to have a good time and have a few laughs, often at the expense of each other, and he wasn't afraid to tailor the narrative in-flight to accommodate poor player choices and tragic die rolls. His stand-out skill was making the game an actual party.

Question 3: Each great GM has a signature move/skill/approach? What is one of the best special skills a GM has ever brought to your table?

It's not really a signature move, but the great DMs I've played with over the years were all good at improvisation and jamming with the players.

Question 4: Great GMs are, well, great! And we have fond memories of them. But lousy GMs can make for even better stories. Without naming or going into any detail that is private, what was your most humorous worst GM experience? It could be something you experienced as a player … or it could be your own ignoble past as a GM!

There's no one story that stands out, but the least enjoyable sessions I've played were run by DMs who took agency away from the players. We had one recently who went so far as to even try and force our PC skill development and narrate "downtime" actions that were contrary to the PC alignments/personalities.

Question 5: Include a question of your own for the next person in the thread to answer! Make it about GMing in general, but something that focuses on an aspect that you have an interest in or would like to hear someone's take on.

How do you manage that one player whose schedule makes their attendance spotty but everyone enjoys it when they're there?

[savoylen]

Question 1: Who was your first GM (or referee/DM/etc.) who got you into gaming? What is the most important thing they did that allowed you to pick up the hobby?

I didn't have a solid GM to start. I was exposed to the game with a series of one-shots (if you could call them that). Once in the high school cafeteria and then as an after-thought in a war-games club in college (a military school). That turned out to be a good way for me to ease into the hobby as there was a lot of satanic hysteria bout the game at that time.

Question 2: Who has been your greatest GM of all time? What are their stand-out skills? Tell us about their most epic gaming moment that you recall?

I've only had 1 long-term GM. Their name was Jesse. I'd say that there wasn't any single thing that made them standout, other than they were consistent and was just a cool person to be around.

Question 3: Each great GM has a signature move/skill/approach? What is one of the best special skills a GM has ever brought to your table?

I appreciate the big reveal with a twist. Every ending seemed to peal back the layers of the story making me want to go further and be stronger for my party.

Question 4: Great GMs are, well, great! And we have fond memories of them. But lousy GMs can make for even better stories. Without naming or going into any detail that is private, what was your most humorous worst GM experience? It could be something you experienced as a player … or it could be your own ignoble past as a GM!

I can't say I've had a bad experience with a GM... but there were several incidences where the pre-game food became features of our session!

+Q: How do you manage that one player whose schedule makes their attendance spotty but everyone enjoys it when they're there?

I have a stable of "guest appearance" characters... including premade NPCs and those made by the kind of player you describe above. This makes the days they can come more of a 'feature' than a hinderance since they are already integrated into the storyline.

My Question: What character have you played that stands out in your memory more than any other and why?

[lostcheerio]

Theme: Great GMs I Have Known ... (and maybe one lousy GM I remember)

Question 1: Who was your first GM (or referee/DM/etc.) who got you into gaming? What is the most important thing they did that allowed you to pick up the hobby?

My first GM was Tim, a very good sport. He was my nanny's teenaged son, who took me solo through a very early module, when I was pretty little, one evening when he got stuck babysitting me. I remember being in high suspense over every corner and just being enchanted with the idea that I could affect what he was telling me. Also the violence of the game was thrilling because he also made it funny.

Question 2: Who has been your greatest GM of all time? What are their stand-out skills? Tell us about their most epic gaming moment that you recall?

It's Fillyjonk, with her Battle of the Bards game here on RPGX. The madcap pace, the party atmosphere, the surprises we all had about each other and our own characters. What a ride.

Question 3: Each great GM has a signature move/skill/approach? What is one of the best special skills a GM has ever brought to your table?

I love it when a GM allows shenanigans without letting it get stupid. As a player I tend to take as much rope as I'm allowed to take, and I really appreciate GMs being able to spool it out, up to a point, and then say, no, this is the boundary.

Question 4: Great GMs are, well, great! And we have fond memories of them. But lousy GMs can make for even better stories. Without naming or going into any detail that is private, what was your most humorous worst GM experience? It could be something you experienced as a player … or it could be your own ignoble past as a GM!

Worst GM experience was having objections and "red cards" ignored and feeling like my beloved character wasn't safe from having unendurably horrible things happen to her in the world the GM was creating. That was the only time I cried about a game. It was educational though, and I hope I never make my players feel that powerless and frustrated.

Question 5: Include a question of your own for the next person in the thread to answer! Make it about GMing in general, but something that focuses on an aspect that you have an interest in or would like to hear someone's take on.

Sav's question for me: Bunk, my bugbear barbarian! I love him, loved the other characters in the group, and I miss the game, their silly voices.

My question for the next guy: Do you like improv? Or are you a planner?

[Jon]

Question 1: Who was your first GM (or referee/DM/etc.) who got you into gaming? What is the most important thing they did that allowed you to pick up the hobby?

Simple one this - a school friend. He'd bought this strange thing called Dungeons and Dragons - the basic set before Advanced came out. I'd never heard of it before. We played for a while running through lots of modules, then plucked up the courage to bring friends on board from the nerd-gang at school.

Question 2: Who has been your greatest GM of all time? What are their stand-out skills? Tell us about their most epic gaming moment that you recall?

Really difficult this one - so many great GMs and moments, but if I had to pick one, it would be Begon running his Strahd game. Its PBP, so his masterful writing brings out that sense of evil and doom all over Barovia. The sheer power of Strahd when he swiped my character across the town square shocked me. But my fave moment was just after I joined his game and he had the hags in the windmill having captured and dissected my young charge. It was so dark. The post he inspired from me was a POTM winner.

Question 3: Each great GM has a signature move/skill/approach? What is one of the best special skills a GM has ever brought to your table?

Character, always character. Our worlds are populated by people (and things) who we interact with. A great GM makes you love, hate, be frustrated with or laugh with these characters. Its the characters I remember most. Some of the characters Bluejack brought to his short-lived Waterdeep campaign were brilliant exemplars.

Question 4: Great GMs are, well, great! And we have fond memories of them. But lousy GMs can make for even better stories. Without naming or going into any detail that is private, what was your most humorous worst GM experience? It could be something you experienced as a player … or it could be your own ignoble past as a GM!

The boring / honest thing here is the GM who sets up a great game with some much promise, then ghosts within three or four cycles of posts. It happened on my first game here, which was a bit of a shock. But luckily Creed had accepted me into his game at the same time ... watch out for Creed, he'll kill you dead! (in a good way - it was a fantastic and ambitious game)

Question 5: Include a question of your own for the next person in the thread to answer! Make it about GMing in general, but something that focuses on an aspect that you have an interest in or would like to hear someone's take on.

My question for the next guy: Do you like improv? Or are you a planner?

Lost Cheerios's question for me: Lay out the most basic blocks of a plan, then improv all the way. The wonderful this about PBP is the scope it gives to make stuff up as you go along. You can properly respond to what the players do and enjoy. In my giants game, the team refused to raid the Hill Giants house, so I ended up improvising an enormous ambush battle and a whole sequence in the caverns beneath the hall. It took them over a year of play to get to room 1. Great fun!

My question for the next one:

What do you find most challenging as a GM - and who do you know that does this the best?

[PlaidPeregrine]

Get to Know Me! Question 1: Who was your first GM (or referee/DM/etc.) who got you into gaming? What is the most important thing they did that allowed you to pick up the hobby? The Sci Fi & Fantasy Club at my university was my dream come true when I got to college. I had the DM's guide, Monster Manual, and the Player's Handbook in hand; I did not need anything more than someone who knew what they were doing. Oh, and dice! My DM was fun, drawing all sorts of maps and having us tromp around killing monsters. I doubt there was an in-depth storyline. A Friday night hidden in the basement 'maze' under the dorms with enough Jolt cola and pizza to last us until sunrise was THE way to go. Give us the monsters, and let us describe our super cool cloak-wearing Elves …and that was all we needed - and a lot of healing potions. The hobby was in my blood along with too much caffeine. Question 2: Who has been your greatest GM of all time? What are their stand-out skills? Tell us about their most epic gaming moment that you recall? This is a tough one because I've played PBP, tabletop, and I've LARPed. In a LARP, I was in a Strahd-like weekend game. The stand-out skills of one of the GM's is how much attention they paid to each individual's PC's background if a player went into the game with a written background (this was not a requirement). They used a character's background in the game to add not only depth to the player experience, but to manipulate/maneuver us around in such a way that other characters were pulled into certain plots/storylines. There is an art to integrating PC backgrounds into a GM/DM's story in such a way as to make it not just awesome for the 'targeted' player, but for the other players as well. Perhaps this wasn't the most epic, but it definitely left a solid memory - my wealthy merchant character in the Strahd-like game hired a group of mercenaries (How I do love me some real SCA armored folk who can fight!). Being a merchant, I met the Lord of the land and offered him a variety of fabrics to re-curtain his castle. Innocent enough! Rumor had it he was a vampire. I couldn't care less because I just wanted gold, being a merchant. The moment came one evening my party came up to me, looking sour-faced, and told me that they knew I was meeting with The Vampire. And that they could no longer trust me. They handed over all the gold I had paid them and walked out on me. I offered to enchant their armor! To make them potions (Side hustle of being a little Alchemist). But no! They thought I was corrupt or controlled, threatened my life!! The abandoned me. Being in a LARP with 40 or so people, and being abandoned to my own devices was very shocking. I believe the GM's were sending out the rumors of my character being on the side of evil when she wasn't. They were clearly expecting me to go running to the Vampire Lord since I was all alone without help. Very clever tactic to get another PC on the Vampire's side. As far as live tabletop gaming goes - I would have to go with LostCheerio who made the MOST comfortable table I was ever at. I honestly believe this is a skill - making everyone comfortable (and feeling safe) to the degree you're willing to let go, be open, and play your character. As an anxious person who had recently been with a live tabletop group with the DM being 'mocking-funny' with me, I really appreciated the atmosphere of the game and everyone involved. What was epic? Getting mauled to death by a werewolf at the end of the game and instead of being devastated, it was FUN. She gave me every freakin' chance under the sun to roll dice to try to survive the encounter - to squirm out of a grapple, to save against lycanthropy…anything, and I failed every roll to the point it was just funny. AND since this was a one-shot, and being the DM she is, the game was going to end on a POSITIVE note. My PC was healed, lived, and would spend the rest of her days trying to either cure the lycanthropy or take control of her new werewolf-shifting self. A sense of play, good humor, and empathy in a game is a very important (IMHO) trait to have when running a game. Question 3: Each great GM has a signature move/skill/approach? What is one of the best special skills a GM has ever brought to your table? [/b] See above. The approach of setting the initial atmosphere of the game so the players are comfortable playing. What I mean by comfortable is - to be open about their character (and what they want to explore with their character and what they expect from the DM), to not be afraid of being mocked or embarrassed for their ideas. This way the DM will also know if the player is a good match for their DMing style and/or for the game itself. Another skill is to be improvisational. If a character finds a very cool orb with lightning inside of it, and that character is fearful of magic and smashes the orb with their weapon instead of handing it over to the wizard, well…let's say I was appreciative when the DM enchanted that weapon with a 1d4 of lightning damage and made it a +1. A DM who keeps in mind that the PC's are not going to follow the script, and find awe and wonder in what they actually do instead of what they are expected to do will have a very fun experience with their players. Rasgorn, for example, openly enjoys when his PC's surprise him. Many times we get the Improv 'Yes, and?' from him. Filly is also a very 'Yes, and?' DM, which is wonderful. It really makes playing a lot more fun or interesting since we can throw around ideas, even if they do not pan out in the end. Question 4: Great GMs are, well, great! And we have fond memories of them. But lousy GMs can make for even better stories. Without naming or going into any detail that is private, what was your most humorous worst GM experience? It could be something you experienced as a player … or it could be your own ignoble past as a GM! I wish I had humorous stories to share, but I honestly do not! Question 5: Jon's Question: What do you find most challenging as a GM - and who do you know that does this the best? Combat! And finding the prices for magic items! But mostly combat and number crunching as correctly as possible. Corwin is a DM who can do this by the book with grace and fantastic trackability. Admin Choco also knows how to keep everything straight. Actually, all of my DM's do a very good job with combat be it keeping the numbers clear, or being able to write wonderful, fluid fight scenes - with or without maps. Fillyjonk and LostCheerio are mapping masters with incredible communication with the Players. Ysolde and Rasgorn, both are especially good with making a colorful, dangerous scene pop. I will be practicing my combat-DM-skills very soon in my campaign. Practice makes perfect! My question for the next person is: What do you think is a good practice that allows players (or helps players) to be open and communicative with their GM, especially when there may be issues arising?

[Ysolde]

Get to Know Ysolde Question 1: Who was your first GM (or referee/DM/etc.) who got you into gaming? What is the most important thing they did that allowed you to pick up the hobby? So 2nd edition rules D&D books were in my Father's closet not far from certain magazines that my young teenage self was confusingly interested in. My dad came home and there was no way I was getting out of that closet without getting in trouble so I grabbed the Dungeons and Dragons books and claimed to be interested in those. He brought me to the next meeting of a gaming club he was part of and one of the people there was my first DM. I can't remember his name, but he welcomed a young barely teen girl to play and I remember having a great fun time playing my first paladin. With him and my father there everyone behaved and I had a great time. If that DM or that Gaming club hadn't simply accepted me and been fun I would have never kept playing. Question 3: Each great GM has a signature move/skill/approach? What is one of the best special skills a GM has ever brought to your table? I think my wife probably has one of the best moves and that's an ability to guide without letting everyone know she's guiding. Ways to give enough information or put a teaser in that make you want to follow the story. Ways to let a side quest or something important happen to characters and yet still interact with the overarching plot. Question 4: Great GMs are, well, great! And we have fond memories of them. But lousy GMs can make for even better stories. Without naming or going into any detail that is private, what was your most humorous worst GM experience? I think the most humorous time I remember was my High School Dm. He had a villain character that he really liked too much and in this fight we were having my character shot this guy so many times and yet somehow his regeneration kept him up. Finally I had enough and, using rules he'd created for called shots I literally said, "[His Name] I cut off his head." then I proceeded to roll a nat 20. One dead villain and later villains were all less annoying to kill. Question 5: Jon's Question: What do you find most challenging as a GM - and who do you know that does this the best? Remembering everything every character has said or done. Getting all of the requests and in character rolls straight so that I adress all of them. There's a big reason I have an OOC Talk to the Dm area and it is because I know I will miss something. I think the person I know who does this best is once again my wife. Her memory for detail and for keeping everything straight is nearly superhuman. Sadly she does not enjoy play by post so only I and some of our friends will ever see it in action. Plaidperegrine's question: What do you think is a good practice that allows players (or helps players) to be open and communicative with their GM, especially when there may be issues arising? I have an OOC "Ask the Dm" area and it seems to be working better than just having a regular OOC area.

[Fillyjonk]

I like a FIELDSET, myself Question 1: Who was your first GM (or referee/DM/etc.) who got you into gaming? What is the most important thing they did that allowed you to pick up the hobby? My brother. He and his teenager friends let me play as long as I was the cleric and didn't talk. (Maybe that sounds mean, but he was in middle school and I was 8 so that was actually pretty cool big brothering, IMO.) It made me love being a healer/utility character. Question 2: Who has been your greatest GM of all time? What are their stand-out skills? Tell us about their most epic gaming moment that you recall? lostcheerio. Mr. Jonk and I had moved from early tabletop experiences separately to online MMORPGs like WoW and Darkfall. I STILL love Darkfall, the game, but the culture of blatant racism and dudebro-dom drove me out. We were not gaming when the pandemic hit, and cheerio offered to teach me to play 5e here. It was more than a game, it was a lifeline in an awful time. It is also an AMAZING #^((ing game. She blended Phandelver and Dragon of Icespire Peak into one story and made it dovetail thematically and plot-wise with the backstory I had given my bard -- it was all so personal and clever --- and the writing! Humor and pathos and horror in balance. A joy. We are still playing it. Question 3: Each great GM has a signature move/skill/approach? What is one of the best special skills a GM has ever brought to your table? I LOVE a plot twist and a mystery, and if a DM can surprise me while playing fair and honoring the dice? HAT TIPS and <3 <3 <3 Question 4: Great GMs are, well, great! And we have fond memories of them. But lousy GMs can make for even better stories. Without naming or going into any detail that is private, what was your most humorous worst GM experience? My worst experience wasn't humorous at all. A DM blatantly disregarded my red cards in a horrifying way. Not. Cool. I cried over it, and I HATE that that I handed that person the power to actually hurt me. Never again. I've had very few bad DM experiences, and I never had a "funny" bad DM experience. I probably take my games too seriously. The stories really matter to me. The characters feel very real. I was the kid who had imaginary friends YEARS after people are supposed to grow out of it, and I guess I still do. I will answer plaid's -- Ysolde gets a pass on forgetting because her answer to question 1 is the cutest most hilarious thing. I LOVE IT! What do you think is a good practice that allows players (or helps players) to be open and communicative with their GM, especially when there may be issues arising? I like using discord to supplement the OOC because that immediate back and forth is really helpful. Question for the next DM: What do you hope for in a player who sits at your table. Not just, what makes a good player, but what makes a good player for your particular style.

[Azathool]

In for a wait, is that the right way around?pound, in for a penny.

Since I have the temerity to enter the competition, even though I do not DM on here (yet), I hope you enjoy my entry;

Iron DM 2023 Lounge Round Zero Theme Question 1: Who was your first GM (or referee/DM/etc.) who got you into gaming? What is the most important thing they did that allowed you to pick up the hobby? "I actually don’t remember as it was a looooong time ago. Probably my father or godfather, as I was ~10 in the mid- late 70’ in the UK. Basic (red soft cover) D&D. They gave me the rulebook as a gift and let me play. I DM’d/Played D&D from then on. Wish I still had that book. " /sigh. Question 2: Who has been your greatest GM of all time? What are their stand-out skills? Tell us about their most epic gaming moment that you recall? "P_ from my teenage years. We played WAY TOO MANY days, nights, weekends, overnighters. Standout skill was putting up with my (and my brother’s) BS for so many years. Epic moment was probably getting to the end of the G1/2/3, D1/2/3 (Giants/Drow) D&D modules which took… years." Question 3: Each great GM has a signature move/skill/approach? What is one of the best special skills a GM has ever brought to your table? "Walking the line of losing and winning, taken to the absolute edge. The game that hinges on one roll (they think), one critical hit, one save vs fail, when they KNOW that that one moment made the difference between rolling new characters, and beating the BBEG. You remember those moments. They should be rare as if too common then you either TPK the party all the time, or they know it’s not real. But the occasional one really works." Question 4: Great GMs are, well, great! And we have fond memories of them. But lousy GMs can make for even better stories. Without naming or going into any detail that is private, what was your most humorous worst GM experience? It could be something you experienced as a player … or it could be your own ignoble past as a GM! "Humorous worst is actually me. As a young teenager DM I condemned my brothers character to be permanently Polymorphed into a “Wondering Moron”, a ”joke” he took badly and even now decades later is still “fresh” in our (my?) memories. It was mean of me, as it was a petty argument of young boys." Question from the last DM: What do you hope for in a player who sits at your table. Not just, what makes a good player, but what makes a good player for your particular style. "I am a very technical player (& technical person!) I almost exclusively play “RAW” (D&D 5E), with few adjustments, and let the die fall as they do. So that means I like to see that in a player. There is nothing wrong with being new to a game/system, but I expect you to research and learn and improve as you play. So I think if I ever DM’d here, I would have an additional channel for “OOC Technical/Build“ just for that game. It’s awesome to see us all improve our writing & language skills (and formatting skills!), but I see mistakes on the technical side which would be great also to discuss. At the end of the day of course it’s the players choice, but you don’t put a learner driver in a car without a teacher. And a good teacher can learn off the student just as much." Question 5: Include a question of your own for the next person in the thread to answer! Make it about GMing in general, but something that focuses on an aspect that you have an interest in or would like to hear someone's take on. Azathool’s Question for the next poster: Given my answer to (3) above, do you think it’s ever worth fudging a roll, an outcome, an encounter beyond the original scope to force a particular outcome. Made a 20… not a 20, made a 1… not a 1… Added two more guards, given the party just one more extra round. If yes; Why and what was the outcome, and now in retrospect would you do the same thing ?