I have seen an AD&D campaign where the DM handled everything, including the character sheets. Players had only their memories and their notes, and maybe an older benchmark character sheet to refer to. And it went amazingly well. I was in awe of that GM for the longest time. And when I tried to do it ... it was too much for me personally to deal with, even with systems far less complex than AD&D.
Plus, rolling dice is fun for everyone. There's a kinesthetic sense of involvement if you're handling dice. So I'm definitely in the middle ground as far as that goes (tho' I also like the "everything is player-driven" SAGA system take previously mentioned).
As far as the players knowing what they're dicing for ... I have to say I prefer more secrecy. Does this make me bad? I like the sense of drama when the player throws the dice, gets a result that usually indicates success ... and then when the NPC laughs and counter-strikes, seemingly unaffected. Now the player knows this foe is going to be a significant challenge, something that may not have been apparent on just the description.
(If they want to try to get a sense of what they're up against, well, that's another action and a fine use for that Body Language or Diagnosis skill.)
And all of that requires a substantial amount of trust. My players know I'm not out to kill off the party, so they're willing to let me keep those little secrets. Trust in GMs has been going out of style for years now.
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Date: 2008-03-05 11:19 pm (UTC)Plus, rolling dice is fun for everyone. There's a kinesthetic sense of involvement if you're handling dice. So I'm definitely in the middle ground as far as that goes (tho' I also like the "everything is player-driven" SAGA system take previously mentioned).
As far as the players knowing what they're dicing for ... I have to say I prefer more secrecy. Does this make me bad? I like the sense of drama when the player throws the dice, gets a result that usually indicates success ... and then when the NPC laughs and counter-strikes, seemingly unaffected. Now the player knows this foe is going to be a significant challenge, something that may not have been apparent on just the description.
(If they want to try to get a sense of what they're up against, well, that's another action and a fine use for that Body Language or Diagnosis skill.)
And all of that requires a substantial amount of trust. My players know I'm not out to kill off the party, so they're willing to let me keep those little secrets. Trust in GMs has been going out of style for years now.