benlehman

Nah, something I'm saying is hitting you wrong. Like, I haven't used the word "detachment" (I checked), but somehow what I am saying reads like emotional detachment to you. It's not! It's about outcomes, it's about (EXACTLY) playing in-bounds.

When I DMed Dogs or GM Storming the Wizard's Tower, my enthusiasm for my monsters is intense. My overwhelming drive is to give my monsters their own unique, full, glorious, and ideally terrifying expression. I don't need for them to win in order to give them that, I just need them to kick ass. I'm not attached to them winning, and that's absolutely all the detachment I have.

I think that "don't cheat" is a bad way to communicate it! "The rulebook says it's my call whether your guy has the high ground. I called it 'no.' That's not cheating, the rulebook SAYS it's my call."