It Slices! It Dices!

WISH number 39 delves into cheating, bluffing, letting things slide because of character legends, and the like.

I have played with a variety of cheaters. For a while, the Minions operated strongly under what we referred to as, "Illuminati Rules." (Illuminati the board game, not the CCG.) The point was to be just a little bit trickier, or, as a GM, defuse how much of a negative impact on the game it made.

I did run into someone who tried looking at my game notes at ACNW, one year. I won't mention names, but frankly, I found it more amusing than annoying. Someone else who was not in my place (whose notes would affect the nature of the game) might have not agreed. I think I made the culprit nervous by looking over and smiling regularly.

I have been tempted to cheat on die rolls. I am slightly munchkinish with my characters as it is, so there are times when I'd much rather "win." I haven't, mostly because I respect GM authority: if I fail at something, the GM needs to assist in maintaining the enjoyability of the situation for me. Similarly, I feel I work the same way towards my players; one removes the temptation to cheat by providing reasonable resolutions. There's also that the fabulous die rolls that become the thing of legend just aren't the same if you faked the numbers. (Puts a whole 'nother spin on that 'Big O' concept, eh?)

I can understand that if it truly derails the level of trust within a group, it's not a good thing. On the other hand, I have mostly seen cheating taken to amusing extremes, like leaving fake character sheets for other players to find, making duplicate game cards, and developing a repertoire of sleight-of-hand tricks (always fashionable.)