Quoted By:
[Acknowledgement]
Here I'm going to outline 2 simple concepts that are necessary for every player to understand before anything else.
The first is who I am and what role I play in this grand scheme. I am the DM or Dungeon Master. For the ease of understanding you can consider me the host, the storyteller or even the game master if that helps you. My job is to create the world and explain everything that happens in the game from what actions the players take to creating encounters for the player characters to face. I'm directly responsible for lack of a better word "making everything happen". There is a larger part of my job that makes everything happen which is deciding what constitutes success and failure. To accomplish this I use a set of rules, dice rolls (more on this later) and just a little bit of imagination.
In short I'm GOD. I have the power to slay your character instantly with disease just as much as I do to let your failed roll squeek by to keep the story going. This is a concept not a lot understand but it's one that needs to be acknowledged at all times. The rules are up to interpretation by the DM but not the players. Unlike in normal roleplaying where players build off each other the DM's job is to build the interactions making them fun, interesting, balanced and fair to the best of their ability. DM has the final say on everything especially failure and the extent of the fallout of that failure. As your DM I have the ability to "fudge" rolls or "cheat" in order to keep things lively or to reel in players who are causing problems. Even though I have this ability it isn't my main position to be making things insanely easy or difficult for you as players. In the end though DM has final say on everything.
