Jun 14

Jun 14 That's Not How Matt Mercer Does It

Header Image: Player’s Handbook by Wizards of the Coast

That’s not how Matt Mercer does it.

If you’ve GMed a game, you’ve probably heard that or some variant of it. Maybe instead of Matter Mercer, you’ve heard the name of Matt Colville, Brennan Lee Mulligan, or any other gamemaster out there. I’ve heard it from players at an Adventurer’s League game, my wife has said it, and even had other GMs who should know better say it to me. While it’s annoying, I understand where the player is coming from.

They have a picture in their head of a series of events and, since Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition has limited rules, they try to figure out what the correct ruling will be. They grasp at what they know, maybe they saw a similar event in a piece of media, and they think that that will be what the rule is. Their idea then evolves to match that rule and then, when they execute their meticulous plan, the GM is then forced into the position of saying… well, that’s not actually how that works.

The player is then forced to change their plans with unknown rulings and, as a defense, will blurt out that the way they are doing it is how someone else does it.

It’s a last-ditch effort to scrap their plans that might be very creative, taken hours to pull together, or just amazing in their mind. It also puts the GM in a place where they have to rush to an answer with a player annoyed that things aren’t working out as perfectly as they did in their mind. The GM doesn’t want to slow down the game to look at some obscure rule that won’t help the situation while the player really wants to do the cool thing in their mind that will net them a storybook victory.

Let’s dive into the root cause of this problem and then see how we can mitigate it.

The Problem

The problem for any TTRPG is that a player can do anything they want. Well, that’s not really a problem as that is the appeal. The true problem is that a TTRPG can’t adjudicate or think of every situation that might come up in a game, instead, they create rules for the more basic tasks; like jumping, taking damage, or sleeping for 8 hours. They don’t have a single rule for jumping off a balcony, catching and then swinging off a chandelier, followed by plummeting to the ground in an epic bodyslam while the wizard has cast enlarge on you in the hopes of you hitting the table at just the right angle and force to launch the halfling rogue on the other side into the air so that they can catch the dragon flying high overhead. Weird, I know.

Some players might look at this series of events and just avoid doing anything about it since it seems complicated. Others might just assume it will obviously work out without any rolling because of Rule of Cool. A few others might have seen or heard something similar on an actual play and just automatically assume it’ll work like that because there is nothing else for them to go off of.

This then puts the GM through their paces. They probably have a dozen rules they can look to, but nothing that will specifically help them out in this situation, and some players will purposefully obfuscate what their ultimate plan is so that the GM doesn’t ruin it by using rules or something else, instead, they’ll get to do a ‘gotcha’ and win.

In some games, these types of events can be very easy to adjudicate. Those types of games either have plenty of rules, that cover a wide variety of situations, or are rules-lite games that are less confining. Unfortunately, Dungeons & Dragons 5e doesn’t fit in either of those roles. It tries to be rules-lite but it is incredibly rigid with what rules it chooses to provide; just look at combat with a lot of rules and then its ability checks with nothing to back it up.

This type of disparity creates a situation that doesn’t empower the player or the GM, instead, it just creates confusion and mixed understandings.

Break It Down

We won’t go over all of my previous examples, but we can at least look at the first part for a better understanding of where two different viewpoints can clash. Our player wants to jump from the balcony to a chandelier. Let’s go ahead and say that the chandelier is 15 feet away from the balcony and the player is starting at the balcony. This is going to require the character to long jump, as a reminder, the rule is provided below:

Long Jump. When you make a long jump, you cover a number of feet up to your Strength score if you move at least 10 feet on foot immediately before the jump. When you make a standing long jump, you can leap only half that distance. Either way, each foot you clear on the jump costs a foot of movement.
This rule assumes that the height of your jump doesn't matter, such as a jump across a stream or chasm. At your DM's option, you must succeed on a DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check to clear a low obstacle (no taller than a quarter of the jump's distance), such as a hedge or low wall. Otherwise, you hit it.
When you land in difficult terrain, you must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to land on your feet. Otherwise, you land prone.
Player’s Handbook, pg. 182

Seems simple enough right, the player wants to jump 15 feet and so needs to move 10 feet, and then they can jump a number of feet equal to their Strength score. But, they start their turn at the balcony railing so can they just move backward 5 feet and then move back to their starting square for another 5 feet, for a total of 10, and call that good enough? The player might think so, while the GM decides they need to move back 10 feet, and then expend 10 feet to run forward, and then they can jump, but that means they are moving a total of 35 feet so they have to spend their action to dash or else… I guess they just plummet to the ground?

And what type of action is it to grab a chandelier? An action? Better not be if they have to dash, because they did all this and had to dash, using their action. In addition, the player may not think the railing requires an Athletics check to clear it, while the GM does. Or perhaps the GM decides they can make an Athletics check to grab onto the chandelier and clear the railing, but then if they want to swing from a chandelier, is that an Athletics or an Acrobatics? The player would prefer every check to be Acrobatics as that is what they are proficient in, and so it continues from there.

This issue can be furthered compounded upon if the player is one of those who likes to hide their full plan so they can surprise the table. They choose to not work with the GM to create these moments but rather try to weasel their way to victory so that they can surprise the GM and, in their mind, the GM doesn’t try to ruin everything.

It’s easy to understand why a player might fall back to other media where they may have seen similar mechanics play out and just assume it would work the same way.

How To Succeed

Now that we have an understanding of what the problem is, we can then begin addressing it in a few different ways. No one way will completely remove this problem, but the goal at the end of all this is to help alleviate such moments from happening.

Houserules Document

Keeping track of houserules, along with any errata you make to them, can be quite useful for not only you, but also your players. I’ve gone through the Dungeon Master’s Guide, other rules that people have made, and thrown them into a google drive folder for my players to access whenever they want. I have the special rules on tumbling through enemies, a price guide on magic items, homebrew races, homebrew subclasses, and more in that folder all to make it easy for my players to find.

Having a centralized area for houserules makes it easy to find in the middle of the game, you don’t have to rely on half-remembered past rulings, and it can save you time on future rulings when you know exactly where your rules are.

What Do You Want To Accomplish?

One problem facing a GM and a player from seeing the same thing is what the outcome is to an event. If a player has a glorious end objective for all their shenanigans, but fails to fully explain it to the GM, or only asks about doing a specific task, like jumping to the chandelier, it creates a few problems.

First, the GM could feel like the player is trying to bend the rules and force them to go along with random shenanigans by hiding their true intentions. This could make the GM feel like the player is purposefully trying to bend the rules for something major and, as a defense, begin to shut down creative ideas before they get a chance to form.

Second, the player might not be able to accomplish everything in a single turn and become disappointed by that outcome. By only asking about specific parts of the plan, the player might not realize their dreams exceed their limited actions for that turn and they’d rather do something else that is quicker instead of doing a lot of building up. Or they may learn that what they are trying to do is impossible even by bending the rules a little bit, which is better to get before they invest time into this activity instead of spending multiple turns for a payoff that will just be a massive disappointment.

By asking What do you want to accomplish?, you can help alleviate the situation for both sides. The player can explain their plan, the GM can help the player achieve this plan, or at least something very close to it, and everyone has a clear idea of how the rules are going to operate in this situation. This helps the GM and players have fun as it provides a common ground for them to come together.

Of course, this relies on the player being upfront and honest about what they are doing. Some players, though, may refuse to offer up information, instead, wanting it to be a big surprise and a ‘gotcha’ moment for the GM. Those types of players may be more used to having an adversarial relationship with the GM, which may not be the playstyle that the players, which includes the GM, at the table want to have.

Consistency

When the GM makes rulings, they should strive for consistencies between these rulings, a fact which is helped if you have a singular depository for your houserules. Consistency can help a player guess how you might rule certain actions while they are planning out their actions in combat. While they may not know exactly how you are going to rule on their perfect idea, they can at least guess how things might go and plan accordingly.

Some things may not be able to be consistent, and a GM being open about this to their players can help alleviate any bad feelings or problems. Explaining why the situation is different helps the players understand why things are not like before and, if there is anything they can do, to help rectify if they dislike the way you are ruling the actions.

Transparency

When a player wishes to do something crazy, like swing from a chandelier, there is a disconnect between character knowledge and player knowledge. A character can judge when a task is hard, easy, or very hard by looking at it while a player often lacks many of those clues from just imagining the scene. When there is something very difficult to accomplish, the character is likely to know how tough something is compared to their abilities. A gymnast can judge how hard a jump or routine is, and so telling a player that something is going to be hard or very hard can go a long way especially if the task has a very low chance of succeeding for them.

If they want to swing on the chandelier and must make a DC 20 or 25 Acrobatics check, then there is a good chance they just aren’t going to succeed on the task. They might change their mind to accomplish something else or still try it with the understanding of their chances. If you simply tell them they need to roll a check and still fail, even if they roll an 18 or 19, it can feel bad and like the GM was never going to allow them to succeed on the task and just wanted them to waste their turn.

Concluding

Problems can arise in any TTRPG as players are free to be as creative as they want, with rules and guidelines allowing play to commence. There are always going to be times when a GM will have to create rulings on the spot and they aren’t always going to align with what a player is looking to do. Sadly, this can be exacerbated by a lack of official rules, but being consistent, asking for the full picture, and providing transparency can help your games excel! Communication is key when playing TTRPGs and being able to talk through creative moments with your players can help make memorable experiences at your table.