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submitted 2 days ago by mr_noxx@lemmy.ml to c/rpg@ttrpg.network

For me, it was: "If it's going to help your players have more fun, cheat. Fudge a die roll. Make shit up. The dice don't tell you what needs to happen, your players' reactions do."

Obviously, many people will disagree with this, but I've always appreciated this advice, and I believe it has made me a better GM.

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[-] iamthetot@piefed.ca 1 points 1 day ago

Let your players kick that boss's ass. They'll feel powerful and their tactical choices, or indeed lucky die rolls, will have paid off. When you as a GM decide that this boss fight isn't going the way you wanted it to so you begin fudging numbers, you are deciding how the story should go rather than the players and dice/rules of the game. You are denying your players the agency of the tactics, choices, and the luck of the dice.

As a player, this is what I would hate to discover. TTRPGs are fun to me for the very concept of letting the players, rules of the system, and roll off the dice form the story.

The GM's responsibility, imho, is to judge how the world reacts to the players' actions and outcomes, not to arbitrarily change the world when they decide the story isn't going to their liking.

this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2026
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