Rant: A new player told me my homebrew rules were ruining the game for them

They said I was making combat too realistic after I added a rule about armor slowing you down, and it got me wondering if GM freedom should ever be limited by what the group actually wants.

2 comments

2 Comments

tessacarter27d ago

Did you actually sit down and talk with this player before the session about your changes? Like, did you give them a heads up about the armor slowing thing or just spring it on them mid fight?

michael69327d ago

Got a buddy who runs games and he pulled this exact move with a homebrew exhaustion rule. He told the player right before the session, "Hey, your plate mail is gonna slow you down after round 3 of combat." @tessacarter the player was cool with it because he knew going in, so no surprises when his knight was huffing and puffing halfway through the fight. That heads up saved the whole game from turning into a grudge match.