How much do you trust your DM ?
On a few threads I've seen that a number of players seem to have trust issues with there DM's .
So i was thinking how common is this problem
A Simple Question
You must be new here.
No been here a while the question is simple
But I'm sure the answer is complex
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Do I trust the primary DMs in my area to...
...not be out to "get" the players? Yes.
...not be crummy people? Absolutely.
...honor the Gaming Day, and keep It holy, and all that good stuff? Yes.
...be kind, generous, open-minded, hard-working, and sincere? Actually, yes.
...keep track of everything they need to keep track of? Mostly.
...know the rules as well as they should? I'm afraid not.
...never, ever, EVER say something kind of like this: "The mummy attacks you with its slam...it hits...*rolls a whole bunch of d8s*...you take 86 damage...*waits for aggrieved level 6-7 player to pick their jaw up off the floor, and for public consternation to finish*...oh, wait, I was rolling its HD for damage."...?
I can't say I'm at 100% confidence there, no.
Do you mean 'trust the GM not to fudge dice rolls behind a screen'?
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For home games, I have learned to be very choosy about my GM and group. This is after decades of exeprience. I know how I like to play and who I want to play with.
IMO, as long as some of the players are having fun, then the GM is not bad. If I am not one of those having fun, but other are, then it is more about our compatability as player and GM. But neither is "Bad"
When I have done PFS (and other oraganized play) I think I have had maybe a handful of truely bad GMs where the whole table did not enjoy the experience.
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How much do you trust your DM ?
On a few threads I've seen that a number of players seem to have trust issues with there DM's .
So i was thinking how common is this problem
Think of the forums this way:
Customers will far more often leave feedback on a service or product when there is a problem or concern. If they're happy, you won't usually hear from them. How often do you see a happy and satisfied customer walk back into the McDonalds they just came out of, to tell them how great of a job they did; in comparison to someone having their order messed up or that the taste is gross?Most of the games I've been in, the DM's were very honest and open about things. I've only run into 1(out of 13) DMs that really felt sketch. This was all on roll20 of course.
Also, you don't have much of a choice but to trust them anyways. It's either that, or quit their campaign. I would trust them until they give you a legit reason not to - not to say be continually suspicious.
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If I don't trust the GM to arbitrate things fairly, which is the basic job description, I don't play with them. I've walked out of a game or two on that basis before. So I trust all my current GMs by that definition.
I usually know more of the rules than they do, though. Even on games I'm not as familiar with as I could be, I'm just good with rules. So...I tend to assume I know the rules better than they do and try to serve as a rules resource for them without being disruptive. This basically means that I just don't trust them to know the rules better than I do.
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* I generally trust the GM to have good intentions; have a fun afternoon with players, give them a fair chance to succeed etc.
* I trust GMs to understand the rules well enough until proven otherwise, which is not unusual. PF has some tricky corner cases. If it's not hurting people seriously, I don't make an issue out of it.
* I don't trust rolling behind the screen. That is, if you're rolling behind a screen I suspect you may be fudging. Else, why aren't you rolling openly?
* I trust GMs to be able to balance encounters appropriately, until I see (repeated) proof otherwise. This one has a learning curve with new PCs with new strengths and weaknesses, so I expect it to improve over sessions. If it's done right, no fudging should be needed because the difficulty was placed correctly.
If a GM is fudging "to improve the story", I prefer he be more candid about it. This is an interesting article on that subject.
If a GM is fudging because random chance doesn't seem to be working out that day (for or against the PCs), I don't like that.
If a TPK is looming, I tend to subtly make the enemies act at less than 100% killing efficiency. Let them gloat a bit, act overconfident, neglect to CdG if there are other PCs still active, avoid risks at the cost of speed (thereby giving the PCs a moment to recover), offer surrender (wasting a round) and so forth.
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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When normal, intelligent, socially-healthy people decide to sit down to a game together, there's an assumption so fundamental to that social event that most people don't even consciously think about it. This assumption is that everyone is letting the rules define what the game is and agreeing to all abide by those same rules unless the group as a whole decides otherwise, regardless of whose house they're in or who owns the game or whatever else. This is not just for competitive games where there's a winner and fairness needs to be preserved, it's also for cooperative games (there are plenty outside of RPGs).
Most of the things that I see folks on the boards label as "not trusting the GM" is really just a case of "treating the RPG just like every other game ever because no one told them ahead of time to expect anything different". Simply failing to mind-read the GM's intent to alter one of the fundamental assumptions of what it means to play a game, gets labeled as "having trust issues".
General trust of a GM can be overridden in certain circumstances, though. If your trustworthy GM shows up late, looking haggard and babbling about his 'late night' or 'massive lack of sleep,' and starts paging through the scenario for the first time trying to speed-read it... yeah, that particular session's not gonna go well, no matter how good he is normally.
LOL, my gm is also my best friend and this post is SPOT on!(brings me back to our Rotrl campaign). Do I trust him? Not unchecked, but we still have a good time and 90 % of the time he gets the rules/ math right, I am no better but the overlap in expertise works I catch mistakes for him and he usually catches mine as well.