I did it. I never do it. I can't stand it when it's done. But this week I did it.

I fudged.

First, the mealy-mouthed excuses part:

We've been playing Exalted and the system is new to me. It's hard to get a handle on the exact power level of a PC or NPC for me right now. The PCs I understand pretty well because I've seen them in practice. NPCs are a different story though, because the power level of a charm on paper can be different than it is in an actual fight, plus the math isn't as easy as many other games so average damage is harder to eyeball.

I overwhelmed then. It wouldn't have been that way if one of the PCs hadn't decided not to be in the fight (he had great reasons, and I don't blame him at all). They were getting nickelled and dimed to death as can often happen in Exalted combat, but because they were a man short the pings were spread amongst fewer PCs and coming at them longer.

But there it was, towards the end of the climactic battle with the demon they'd been hunting for four sessions. A dragon blooded mercenary hanging around for money and revenge would have killed one of the PCs deader than a doornail with a good roll, but the circumstances of the death wouldn't have been fun for the player.

So I acted like it was a normal roll instead.

I feel dirty.

You are dead to me.

:talktothehand:

Eh.  I remain unimpressed with the Frasier-esque levels of overanalysis when it comes to the fudging thing.  

It's jsut a fucking die roll already.  Fun First.

and anyway, don't feel bad about the hypocrisy thing, it goes around a lot here.

Doesn't the Exalted-verse have some silly stuff about reincarnation? Possibly through the digestive tract(s) of a wacky dinosaur? That way, death can be fun! Wheee...

It depends on your definition of silly I suppose. Your spirit hangs around until it finds a worthy new host and then dives on in. It doesn't necessarily follow the same skill path as the last time it was around, so a general may be reborn as a scouting archer. It's not an instantaneous thing, and not likely to occur anywhere near the original death, but I may use it as a way of reintroducing the same character at a later point.

I doubt I'll ever have the reincarnated character belong to the same player as the one that died, as that would seem to videoo-gamey to me and make it too easy for the players to start thinking that death doesn't matter.

Well done, McMurray! You put actual human beings before several hundred pages of sloppily-written, badly-edited, saucily-illustrated book. Good job!

Soon, you will learn to fudge stuff for purely fun reasons, not just to save their arses. And then your trip on the Road of Fun will be just beginning!

Whenever I overestimate a challenge very badly, I'll fudge some rolls, too.

Or, since I do die-rolling in the open most of the time, I'll make a math "error" or forget to roll an attack.

I don't fudge often - the flip side of open die rolls is that the players know exactly what I rolled and feel a good deal of pressure to keep alive.

-O

Especially when learning a new game, I've been known to respond to a deflating roll with something like, "Oh, now that's just out of line, isn't it? We won't be making that mistake again, will we?" and then just go ahead and fudge things.  There's usually a moment of discomfort, and then everyone lets it slide, play continues, and we don't make that mistake again.

!i!

I feel for you James.

Now get out of my sight.

Seriously, did you tell the players about this? Will you? Can't you just say, look, I screwed up (not the fudge, but the assessment of their capabilities)?

Were the players at all responsible? I mean, did they have a choice? Were they lulled into a belief that you'd never throw anything at them that they couldn't handle? You should think about whether you want to foster that sensibility, or if you'd rather say: dudes, I don't always know what I'm tossing at you, so you need to use your knowledge of the system, too.

Finally, what about introducing a hero point system? Could this have been avoided if the player who'd refused the fight for "great reasons" had gotten some sort of benny, that could then have been passed on to the rest of the group as necessary?

Or y'know, heck, he may have had "great reasons" but if the group was supposed to fight that enemy, then maybe his job is to find a good reason to show up nevertheless, maybe at a key moment. You could even combine this with the benny concept.

Quote from: James McMurrayI feel dirty.

Yes, well, quite.

But do what I do: Make it up in some other way.

Seanchai

:dragon: :gnome: :unicorn: :viking:

The denizens of emoteland hereby scorn you.

Quote from: obrynWhenever I overestimate a challenge very badly, I'll fudge some rolls, too.

Yeah, that's one of the few exceptions in my GM code of honor about fudging. If I screw up, the players shouldn't have to pay for it.

But after lots of introspection about GMing technique, I came to the conclusion that it's freakin' stupid to do something like throw in a challenge that I should know has the potential to kill a PC (example: a standard AD&D 1e save-or-die poison) and then go off fudging things when what you already decided could happened actually happens.

You totally sacrificed all that is "Story Now!" for "Story Before."

Good job fucker, welcome to the enemy camp.

You make me fucking sick, our Lord and Savior Ron Edwards weeps for you!

I'm drunk, btw.

Joe.... what? Come on man, I'm clueless here.

Also, don't kick yourself James. Fudging is just one of those things. You eyeball when and if it needs to occur, and come to the right conclusion. You almost certainly made the right decision.

Quote from: James McMurrayI am hypocritical lowlife scum.

Sir, I salute you.




.