Principles of DMing; How do you like to run your game(s)?

[Angry Bob]

I have a few things I make a point of letting my players know.

No multiclass penalties.

Codes of Conduct are loosened. I will never respond to a question about a code with "try it and find out."

Tactical discussion in-combat is fine for two reasons. First, it can be fun to see a party beat an encounter with a well thought-out strategy. Second, since you're career adventurers, it's expected that you've covered this sort of thing in-game. However, as players, you probably won't bother thinking this through until you're about to wipe, so go ahead and talk about it. Holding up combat is preferable to getting TPKed.

All casters "know of" their entire spell list.

You won't take energy drain or ability drain in random encounters until it's trivial for you to cure it. No one needs to go around useless and suicidal because they happened to be the one the ghost randomly appeared next to.

There are campaigns where your stuff gets stolen no matter how many exotic protections you apply, and campaigns where your stuff is sacrosanct, no matter how many 34 INT enemies you fight. I'll try to strike a balance. Your enemies will make attempts on your gear and may or may not be repelled, depending on how well your stuff is guarded. As you accrue higher and higher level enemies, the more you'll have to invest in protection.

tl;dr: What specific things do you make sure your players know about your style before you run a game for them?

[TroubleBrewing]

Whenever I GM CoC games, I make it abundantly clear that there are some fights you fight, some fights you run from, and some fights you abjbnfjjhdkgjjgkldklddddkhgfgjllkjk CTHULHU FTAGN from.

EDIT: Fhtagn. We now return you to your regularly scheduled madness.

[Angry Bob]

Whenever I GM CoC games, I make it abundantly clear that there are some fights you fight, some fights you run from, and some fights you abjbnfjjhdkgjjgkldklddddkhgfgjllkjk CTHULHU FTAGN from.

You misspelled Fhtagn.

[TroubleBrewing]

Fixed! ten character minimum

[erikun]

XP is awarded for completing tasks, not for killing stuff. You get the same XP for completing the mission through diplomancy as for slaughtering every bit of wildlife on the way there.

Stuff is going to make sense for reality. If you want to try something that should realistically work but the rules don't support, I'll allow you to try it. If you want to try something that the rules 'technically' support but it obviously rediculous, I reserve the right to overwrite the rules on the spot.

[Angry Bob]

Another thing: If your character's effectiveness changes noticably due to a rule or houserule you were unaware of, you may rebuild your character for free.

[Gamer Girl]

1.The world is moving and changing every second of every day. Things will change. The only constant is change. For example, the ruler of a town might suddenly change, or a new store might open or an old one close.

2.Time is always flowing during the game. If the characters take six weeks to travel to the Ice Castle, and then travel six weeks back...then a lot will have happened in the city of Ironport in 12 weeks.

3.The game world does not 'wait' for the players. When you don't have enough gold to buy the special black steel dagger, and then spend 12 weeks off on an adventure...when you come back, that dagger may well have been sold by then.