Thoughts on fudging rolls

[Psikerlord]

I prefer stories that emerge from play. Sometimes it's a grand story. Sometimes it's a mundane one. Sometimes it's tragic comedy. But the "story" is what is told around the hearth after the adventure is done, or sung about in town squares, or written out as a cautionary tale.

Your goal when playing a TTRPG isn't to tell a story. Your goal is to play your character. To roleplay. If you get a good story out of it, all the better. And the stories, IMO, are much better when they evolve naturally out of play instead of being selfishly forced upon you by someone who thinks they know better.

I am also a firm believer that the GM shouldn't have investment in how the story plays out.

A GM that fudges because they think they know what's better for the game because of the story they want to tell is the antithesis to the style I like.

To me a GM sets up NPCs, situations, and lets the players loose. He adjudicates when necessary, but in the end it's about the PCs and the story their PCs will tell when the adventure is done. Not the story I want to tell. The players know I will have them live or die by their choices and actions. I will not pull punches and fudge things in their favour. This gives their actions and choices weight. It gives the choices meaning.

Failure is a possibility. Death is a possibility.

But it's up to you to grasp victory from failure from your actions. It's up to you to be aware of death and plan accordingly.

I could have stopped the TPK. I was GMing. I could easily have held back and rolled behind a screen, and had the boss miss when he hit. But the TPK occurred as the PCs jumped the gun and entered the fight largely unprepared. They pushed on though, they struggled, and though in a sense they prevailed, they still lost in the end.

I'd like to think we have a good story to tell now that the play is over.

Emergent stories are the only stories worth coming together to make in a Roleplaying G-A-M-E. Playing out a pre-plotted story, where GMs abhor random encounters and side treks, or are scared to kill off PCs or critical NPCs, pale in comparison.