How Strict Are You?

Discussion on game mastering Earthdawn. May contain spoilers; caution is recommended!

How Strict Are You On the Rules?

1 - Fast and loose, roleplay over dice
0
No votes
2
2
11%
3 - Balanced, ignore rules that throw off the pace
7
37%
4
8
42%
5 - WHERE IS THAT *(&(*^&(#$@ TABLE AT?
2
11%
 
Total votes: 19

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The_Gun_Nut
Posts: 76
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Re: How Strict Are You?

Postby The_Gun_Nut » Sun Dec 25, 2011 12:25 am

There is no overkill.

Only "open fire" and "I need to reload."

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Kot
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Re: How Strict Are You?

Postby Kot » Sun Dec 25, 2011 10:01 am

I have over the years of GMing developed some rules on my own, when it comes to game mechanics. Being strict (and I even sometimes am) doesn't have much to do with enforcing the rules. You can do that story-wise(consequences!), or even when it comes to player-related conflicts (I started to do that lately, we'll see how it works). But I mentioned rules, so:
1. There is no way a PC can die because of a dice roll. Dice don't kill players, at least not 'kill them dead'. Player Characters can die because of a bad choice the player made, or his decision to risk his character's life.
2. Dice can indeed save his character, even if any of the above applies.
3. I skip dice rolls that bog down the play. There are always ways of doing that in the game mechanics. Some even implement that (SR4 'buying hits', DnD3 'take 5/10/15/20'). In ED3 the easiest way is to decide the default roll would be equal to the step number +/- modifiers. It works just fine with passive Perception rolls, knowledge, artisan and art skills, and such. As a guideline, any roll that will not be contested in any way, and is made in a relatively non-hostile environment can be substituted.
4. NPC's usually take the above, even in contested situations. It works just fine, turning a potential disaster into a 'beat TN x' situation. Besides, there's enough of them to bog down the play usually, so the player won't have to sneak past all 12 guards, because they all have the same, fixder Per step, that server as their test result.
5. 'All sales are final' unless I say otherwise. I've wasted enough time explaining rolls, and we usually don't have enough time for that.

Over the years I've learned somewhat to balance both of my tendencies - to play with the story, and with the rules - but I still need some ironing. Especially with Earthdawn, since I've never managed to put together even a budding campaign.
Mariusz 'Kot' Butrykowski
"The only way to keep them in line is to bury them in a row..."

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werefrog
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Re: How Strict Are You?

Postby werefrog » Sun Dec 25, 2011 1:33 pm

The Werefrog follow the rules as written. There are times when they can be thrown out, but they are rare. Also, if you have a good GM screen, you don't search for tables.

For this reason, The Werefrog almost always follow the rules when GM. The most common breakage of rules is fudge the die roll to prevent player character death due to bad dice. However, The Werefrog keep track of how often a PC is saved by this manner, and there are an equal number of times in which a villain is saved by similar method, and it doesn't go to save GMPC characters.
Barsaive Emergent: , 1st Circle Elven Adept[quote author=griton]Werefrog FTW![/quote][quote author=ED_Chronicler]to quote Griton: Werefrog FTW![/quote][quote author=avantio][move]Werefrog FTW![/move][/quote]

galafrone
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Re: How Strict Are You?

Postby galafrone » Sun Dec 25, 2011 4:48 pm

all hail the wisdom of the werefrog !!
(i do exactly the same, but without the screen. i love to roll the "dangerous" dices in the open, because the players feel the thrill a lot more if they know they "can die".
and anyway, there are plenty ways to escape death :)

TheQuicksilver
Posts: 33
Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2011 1:39 pm
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Re: How Strict Are You?

Postby TheQuicksilver » Sun Dec 25, 2011 6:42 pm



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