Do DF Felltower foes play by the rules?

This is expanding on Rules & Rulings for Session 203.

Do DF Felltower foes play by the rules?

Yes.

Why not cheat?

I'm the GM. I define the parameters of the world.

I literally have unlimited bad guys.

I have unlimited points in my budget.

I have unlimited access to equipment in the game world.

I can impose any limitations I want on the PCs up to what the players will tolerate and still come back to the next game session.

So why would I need to cheat?

All Felltower NPCs aren't built with a point budget. Basically, only PCs are hirelings are, although occasionally I'll build an NPC and see what the total is. That's really just so I don't have an idea of a Worthy rough peer to the PCs only to hand out so much extra stuff that they're now a near-Boss. I do it sometimes as an exercise to see if what I'm doing matches what I thought it would cost up as. But I almost never set a budget and build unless it's a bunch of mooks, and then only once for a repeat-use type foe that is meant to hit a very specific power niche.

Why do I play by the rules?

I find I benefit a lot from playing things as straight as I can.

The players can judge their abilities and limitations based on what they know of the rules, and what they observe. They benefit from in-game knowledge and knowledge about the game. If I, in a word, cheat, the players can depend on what's on their sheet for their own characters and nothing else at all. Even there, there will be doubt. Will my spell work? Who knows. If the enemy displays an ability that I also have, does it work like mine? Will my resistances work? I've played in a game like that. The GM was a hoot to play with, but honestly, it was hard to do anything but concentrate on story because your paper man sure as hell wasn't playing on a level playing field.

It means I can largely rely on my players to help the game run smoothly* without needing a second set of rules for the foes. I can let them Charm foes and order them around and have their powers work as expected. I can look the answers up in the rules instead of just making stuff up as I go. And there can be a consistent set of rules instead of a hodge-podge of exceptions and individual rules for each and every power and bad guy. Petrifaction works the same way for everyone. Paralysis works the same way. Death checks work the same. The works.

None of this means I'm constrained from what I can do, but I am constrained in how I do it. Constraints lead to creativity, in my opinion. I'm able to make exceptions that make sense, and have unique powers and unique foes that do things that - by the book - might not work. But I don't let them casually violate the rules and basic operations of the system in a way that doesn't let the players figure out what they're up against.

In the end, that makes the game run more smoothly for me, more enjoyably for the players, and more understandable for people reading along at home. And I find it easy enough.










* Except for Vic. No helping, Vic!