Quote Originally Posted by awa View Post
People play the game for different reasons some people are more interested in the story then the fights and for them a little fudging to keep them on track if done rarely and subtly may bring more long term enjoyment than dying because of a bad roll on a random encounter table.
Exactly

One of the groups I play with has been playing together for a long time so we know each others styles. Of the 5 players (when I am DMing) I know that

A – Likes political plot
B – wants the plot to revolve around some convoluted back story of his & will try and steer any plot that way
C – wants to kill things
D & E are more flexible

So I try to give them all something and I am happy to fudge die to keep the story going. Deaths are rare (but do happen). I know as a FDM I could kill them all on whim and so don’t see any need to kill then on an (un)lucky die roll