GM Ethics

[Beelzebub1111]

Just out of curiosity. What are your "Ethics" as a GM? What are the codes that you follow?

For me:
I would never use a Feat, Spell, Power, Class, or Item that I wouldn't let my players use because "It would be too powerful"

If I make a mistake, both in my favor and theirs, I will let my players know that I made it as soon as I realize it.

The fun kind of challenging is achieved when rules are consistent. I will never bend or change the rules to make the game harder on my players. PCs and NPCs are bound by the same principles.

Travel is a minor inconvenience at worst. Not every trip to a dungeon needs to be wrought with seamonsters and bandits and bullettes and dinosaurs. The real fun to be had is in the dungeon, not slogging through weeks upon weeks of travel.

Everyone can die.

[TheCountAlucard]

The game needs to be fun and stay fun, ask for feedback regularly.

Tailor games to the PCs; if everyone makes social characters, don't go hack-'n'-slash.

Don't give any one player too much spotlight; contrariwise, don't force a player into the spotlight if it's gonna make him uncomfortable.

Don't pull punches on encounters, but don't design TPK scenarios either.

Don't subject the players to a puppet show; either summarize it or have NPCs talk to each other in private.

Your NPCs can be unfair; you can't.

That, by the way, absolutely doesn't mean that you have to play by the same rules as them, especially if doing otherwise makes things more fun.

Don't be afraid to deny a player something if it unbalances the game.

If every player disagrees with your ruling, don't go with it.

Be tasteful about sensitive or mature subjects.

Hear your players' ideas out, preferably before the game even starts.

Don't ever introduce an NPC without giving at least some consideration to the thought that the PCs may try and kill him.

[originalginger]

I have no issue with limiting my player's options of class, race, etc. without applying the same rules to NPCs. In my current 4e game, Tiefling (slave race), Dragonborn (also a slave race), Drow (the unambiguous bad guys),Warforged (no place in setting), and Deva (also no place in setting) are right out, and a player would need a damn good story behind a Goliath, Minotaur, or Shardmind character.

All the standard classes are allowed, and all the feats, spells, etc. are allowed too, though I often modify abilities or straight up make unique powers for my more important NPCs. However, I fully encourage my characters to re fluff or modify their own abilities too, or even take powers from another class, as long as they are either the same role or power source, and make sense for the character. (a fighter taking a barbarian power, or a wizard taking a sorcerer power is okay, a druid taking a rogue power is not.)

Depends on the mistake I make; if it is a setting/story mostake I can incorporate well, than I often roll with it. Bad math and forgotten modifiers are usually pointed out, but only adjusted retroactively if it makes a significant difference to the game, which leads to....

Players are expected to roll in plain sight, know what bonuses to apply, etc. and about 95% of the time I roll in plain sight as well. Forget to add your bonus for your mark, too bad for the player, I forget that the foe has resistance to poison, too bad for me.

Some perception checks, stealth checks, etc. are done behind the scenes, and I sometimes roll for no reason at all and give an 'uh-huh' or 'ooh' just to keep the players guessing.

I have a pretty detailed random encounter chart that allows everything from vermin getting into the food supplies, meeting another group of travelers, or randomly finding an interesting item, to an ambush by frighteningly high-level monsters, or massive natural disasters. I roll for random encounters once a day with a d20, along with a coin and a d12 to determine time. As a result, something randomly generated happens almost every session, but it rarely gets boring since there are so many possibilities.

Edit - also, basically everything that CountAlucard said.

[jedipotter]

I will do anything to keep the game fun, such as bend or break or ignore any or all rules. The end result of fun, justifies any means.

I keep myself ''apart'' from the players. So when I bend, break or ignore a rule...they simply do not know. This allows for the Ultimate Fun, without player A complain that rule X says this or that. Players are politely asked to ''sit back and enjoy the game''.

Very little in the game is ''set''. What is behind door#1 changes every couple of minutes until the door is opened.

When playing a foe, I will go all out to harm, take out and kill a character......but this is not the same as the DM going against the player.

[hymer]

Fun is the object of the game, thou shalt have no other object before it.

Thou shalt not make NPCs that stealeth the spotlight from the PCs.

Thou shalt not accept lip from thy players.

Be not overzealous in thy labour. Thou must have decent intervals between games, as time to gather appetite and prepare.

Earthly issues shalt take precedent over game issues. Plan well, and neglect not thy life and thy wife.

Slay not on purpose those who sit at table. No doubt they will die soon enough anyway through their own stupidity.

Roll thy dice in the open where the countenance of all the congregation may fall upon them; that thou may build trust for when needs be thou must roll in secret.

Give not in folly or pride to the PCs that which thou willst later take away.

Admit thy mistakes, fix them, minimize them and move on.

Be glad for thy players when good befalls them, and rejoice in their PCs as they do.

[supermonkeyjoe]

One rule I set for myself is Never let the NPCs do anything that the PCs couldn't do with sufficient skills/LA/investment.

Quite often these would be out of reach in a standard campaign but I don't like just handwaving powers and abilities onto NPCs, evil bob can fly just because he's the villain just rubs me the wrong way and I hate it when I'm in games where the DM just seemingly asspulls powers and abilities for the villains.

[Totally Guy]

I generally do what the game tells me. Unless it tells me to be dishonest with the players.

I prefer games that don't treat players as consumers of fun that is delivered to them by the GM. They have got to support honest satisfying play in and of themselves and the players have got to play and interact in order to be part of the experience.

[Feddlefew]

-"DM brings the drinks, and the host does not need to provide food." was always one I enforced in my gaming groups. Since I was almost always the DM, it let me control player access to mountain dew and other highly caffeinated beverages....

-Any book brought to the table will have their owner's name written inside the cover.
-Any miniature figures that will have their owner's name written on the bottom in the DM's special craft marker at least 24 hours before it is used.
+The DM's special craft marker is pretty much impossible to remove once it dries. The DM has 14 colors to choose from, and will pick up a special color for you if you really want it.
-The DM will have a list of the number, color, and markings of any special dice each player has.
+If two players have identical dice (same size, color, shapes, ect.) so that they could easily be mistaken for each other, The DM doesn't care if they leave with the exact same dice they started with, only that they have the right numbers of each type of die.

[hymer]

@ Feddlefew: Do you usually play in prison or just with five-year-olds?

[Xuc Xac]

Prisoners aren't allowed to have dice, Hymer. In prison, you have to carve your own dice out of soap in order to play RPGs.

[huttj509]

I will not try to kill the PCs, this is not, however, the same as trying to not kill them.

[Feddlefew]

@ Feddlefew: Do you usually play in prison or just with five-year-olds?

I used to play with middleschoolers, which are arguably worse than convicted felons and five-year-olds combined. :smalltongue:

I actually had those rules so that I could return borrowed books and mini figures and anything I accidentally took them home while packing up. It also prevented the player who liked to write in books from writing in other people's books.

The dice rules came about after one person decided my DMing dice were lucky and "borrowed" them. I got them back the next session, but after that we agreed that everyone had to leave with the same set of dice they came with.

[valadil]

My rules are derived from one simple idea: A game can be about story, roleplay, combat, or whatever. No matter what the focus of the game is, the players are higher priority.

[Jay R]

Just out of curiosity. What are your "Ethics" as a GM? What are the codes that you follow?

Here is a grossly incomplete list.

PCs are the avatars of the players, through which they play and enjoy the game. The players vicariously share in the PCs' triumphs and defeats. NPCs are tools to let them do so. The PCs and NPCs are different in purpose and in value. Therefore the rules for one are not inherently the rules for the other.

Nonetheless, PC rules are what the players know about the game, including the NPCs. Any difference in rules for them should be rooted in the clear intent to provide a fun, challenging game. (And ideally, the players should never notice the differences.)

The players will receive a written introduction to the campaign outlining all rules they need to know, and the background off the campaign, sufficient to let them design a character within the parameters of the world.

All PCs start at first level when the game starts.

All PCs must have sufficient background that they will have an investment in the world beyond mere adventuring.

Anything that the PCs would automatically notice, I will tell them without the players having to ask.

Anything so important that the PCs couldn’t ignore or forget, I will remind the players.

Anything the PCs could legitimately forget about will not be repeated.

Players can always ask me to repeat a description.

The assumption of the game is that simulating the adventures in this fantasy world is inherently fun, and I don’t have to warp either physics or the rules to make it fun. If we can’t have fun under the rules, then we will toss those rules and play another game.

Therefore any rule change will have a specific purpose. It could be rooted in the specific purposes of the scenario or world. (If the players are all starting in a kingdom with no dwarves, then the PCs cannot be dwarves, for instance.) It might be personal. (I once eliminated a threat of giant spiders when I saw that one player had a phobia kicked off by the miniatures.)

All game-specific rules will be in the introduction.

In combat, I reserve the right to insist on an action immediately. But I must tell them so, and give them a few moments after doing so.

[kidnicky]

@originalginger-
Is this random encounter table something you got from the web, or something you wrote yourself? I've been working on one but yours sounds way better.

[Toofey]

Ethics? HA, ain't no body got time for that.

I play old school, the DM sets the universe, I tend to be fair, but when I don't want to be I'm not. I try to always let the players take actions, and always at least consider their ideas potential to do whatever. That said some of the most fun *stuff stems from the player's mis-interpreting what I am describing or vice versa, so I don't worry too much about it.

but ethics? naw, try to have fun but the DM needs to be able to be ruthlessly unfair at times, isn't life ruthlessly unfair at times.

[AuraTwilight]

I have a pretty detailed random encounter chart that allows everything from vermin getting into the food supplies, meeting another group of travelers, or randomly finding an interesting item, to an ambush by frighteningly high-level monsters, or massive natural disasters. I roll for random encounters once a day with a d20, along with a coin and a d12 to determine time. As a result, something randomly generated happens almost every session, but it rarely gets boring since there are so many possibilities.

Mind PMing me a copy of this chart?

[valadil]

Going to expand on what I said earlier.

Player choices are sacred. You don't have to give the players choices, but you have to honor the choices they make.

The corollary here is that you shouldn't invalidate those choices either. If the players decide that even though the dragon is twice their CR, its loot is worth the risk, that risk has to exist. As soon as the safety net of a powerful NPC teleports in for the rescue, you've removed the risk. Those players deliberately chose that risk and you took it away. That's bad GMing right there.

[originalginger]

@originalginger-
Is this random encounter table something you got from the web, or something you wrote yourself? I've been working on one but yours sounds way better.

I wrote it myself. I can send you/post an exact copy if you like, though it is pretty specific to my campaign world, so you may want to write your own.

I divided up the regions of the world in to 4 basic categories, based on the types of encounters that might occur - Wilderness, open land, ocean, and urban. Each has a list of 20 events , either I or the players roll a d20 to determine what happens.

Each list has 19 common encounters with things like:
Attacked by foes 1d4 levels below party
Attacked by foes 1d4 levels above party
Players misplace a trivial item
There is a thunderstorm today
Accidentally disturb a beehive
You come across someone's lost pet

There is 1 spot for rare events that direct to a second list of 20, with things like:
An earthquake occurs
A hurricane passes over
You discover a piece of ancient and forgotten technology
You experience a spiritual epiphany that grants a new power

In this way, the common occurrences happen reasonably often, and rare event happen every few in-game weeks, though any one specific rare event will only have a 1 in 400 chance of happening.

I hope that makes sense...

Edit - and since I now see two people are interested, I will PM both of you the chart when I get home tonight.

[Mastikator]

I have a few guidelines, the first is sacred.
Never kill, hurt or somehow damage a PC whos player is not at the table (including their assets and social relations).
Only give advice to new players.
Only give second chances to new players.
As a DM I have a responsibility to make the players know the setting and become invested in it.
Always lend a helping hand in character creation for the purpose of the previous guideline.

[Rosstin]

Player Death:
In a roleplay-focused campaign, I usually have a rule to only kill players who have made a "mistake". This usually means that you've done something pretty stupid (taking on a force beyond your abilities) and I've given you a chance to escape and back down, and you didn't take it. This generally works out very well and isn't as kid-gloves as it sounds.

Different rules apply in a more combat-oriented campaign. But generally-speaking there should always be at least a couple ways out of death, and I'll at least drop a hint. I try to make it so that when a player dies, they knew they were taking a risk and it doesn't seem arbitrary.

Let Them Have It:
If a player has, through hook or by crook, obtained an extraordinary power or caused an extraordinary act... just let them have it. It's theirs, they earned it.

In my earlier days, I was guilty of violating this rule. The PCs tried to assassinate an NPC in his bed, and I had his house reenforced by steel plates, and he was wearing leather armor in bed... dumb. I should have let them coup-de-grace him. Another time the party wizard cleverly melted a stalagtite that a volcano monster was hanging off of. Despite the fact that the monster was powered by lava (and not intending to harm them), having the monster come back up and flame them in less then a few rounds was a jerk move. I should have just let the monster disappear for awhile and let them enjoy the victory.

In the later days of that campaign, I had learned my lesson. When the wizard caused the BBEG to fail a save and become petrified, I let it happen, and it was OK.

I've never been good at running battles, this is one of my most glaring weaknesses as a DM. The last few mini-campaigns I've run, I've just run systemless games so I don't have to do battles. It's amazing how well these work... I just create games that are systems of puzzles, information, characters, powers, and items.

[Knaight]

I would consider these more preferences than ethics, as everything in the GM ethics category pretty much comes down to "don't be a jerk". With that said:
1) Player choices matter, and I don't invalidate them. This includes pretty terrible decisions that get PCs killed.
2) I let the dice fall as they may, and don't fudge statistics either. Similarly, the rules are kept pretty rigid, though I tend to GM light systems that still need qualitative judgements with some frequency.
3) I get everyone on board with what the campaign is and what we are doing ahead of time, and thus avoid huge genre twists (e.g. I will not bill a zombie apocalypse as a modern game to make the zombies a surprise).

[Kyberwulf]

What are ethics?

*laughs malevolently*

[neonchameleon]

Don't do anything that would piss me off as a player.

[Lorsa]

My ethics as GM are the same as for everything life. Treat people in a decent manner. As a general rule though, I value my players' fun over my own. Not that I don't have fun when I GM, but I am not there to first and foremost have fun myself, I am there to create an enjoyable experience for my players.

[Reltzik]

The Only Rule: The game must be fun for all involved. All other rules are actually corollaries of this one.

Some corollaries:

Know my players. Specifically, know them well enough to know what they'll find fun and what they won't.

Avoid uncomfortable or trigger subjects. (For example, I once had a player with a phobia regarding chemical burns. I replaced the acid damage type with something else.) Steer other players away from these as well.

Know the rules. Insist my players know them, at least as far as applies to their characters. This means less time leafing through rulebooks.

Most players hate effects that leave them with nothing to do. The point is to involve the players, not shut them out. I try to avoid giving my monsters spells like hold person or sleep. If a PC is taken out of action, I make sure the player is doing something, even if it's sorting out the spells they're going to prepare tomorrow morning or what they're going to buy next time in town.

Mind control is interesting. Some players love the idea of playing their characters under the effects of charm person, etc. Others hate it. Guess which ones I let get hit by those spells?

Having said all that, the game should be a challenge. A bunch of gimme encounters gets boring real fast. I try to make each encounter unique. For example, I once had the party assailing an warehouse in a besieged city. The orc invaders had blocked out the windows and moved in to shelter from daylight, and had brought with them the siege engines they were bringing up to attack the citadel. The party's job was to destroy the engines. They were guarded by orcs, who the party fought.... and crewed by overeager goblins, who decided to fire balista bolts into the melee. Their to-hit modifiers were horrendous, but the players didn't know that, and they remembered that fight forever.