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When and How to Cheat when Running RPGs

by Mike on 17 November 2025

I don't cheat when I roll the dice during my RPGs. But I cheat everywhere else.

EN World had an interesting thread about how to fudge not using the dice. It brought up a lot of interesting conversations about when, where, and how GMs fudge when running RPGs. For the sake of this discussion, I'm going to use the words "cheat" and "fudge" interchangeably – you can decide where the difference lies.

Some GMs came to the conclusion that a GM can't really cheat when running a game. We are, after all, the one running the game. But there are expectations when we play RPGs. Even though they're about sharing stories with our friends, there are rules.

But we GMs have some leeway. Our job isn't to ensure a rigid interpretation of the rules. Our job is to facilitate a fun game. For 5e games, I've talked about the four dials of monster difficulty; changing things up to improve the pacing and the fun of combat when needed. I've added dreadful blessings to the mix too, which made my high-level 5e games much easier to run and ensure big monsters hold up their end of the story.

I think GMs have the obligation to shift things around for the fun of the game.

What Counts?

Participants in the thread linked above discussed what even counts as cheating (or fudging – choose your own term). Here's what it mostly came down to:

You can't fudge during prep. Anything goes before your material hits the table.
You're generally not fudging if you're rolling dice to see what happens instead of making choices.

Many participants had one thing that counted as cheating:

Changing the game during the game.

Why Fudge?

Why we fudge matters a lot. Here are some circumstances where fudging feels right to me:

To change the pacing and beats of the game when they're off.
To keep the story moving along when things get boring.
To help the mechanics meet the story.

And here are some reasons not to fudge:

To remove agency from a character or player.
Because you’re mad.
Because you can.

How to Fudge?

Where exactly might we fudge the game? Here are a few ways:

Hit points, damage, number of attacks, and number of monsters.
What success or failure looks like on ability checks.
Changing the result of random encounters.
Changing monster and NPC behavior.
The dreaded quantum ogre.

This last one deserves some conversation because it's a common topic. A quantum ogre is the idea that a GM might whip up a detailed encounter and then run that encounter whatever path the characters choose. No matter which trail you choose to walk, you run into an ogre either way. It's often used in a derogatory way but I don't think it's always a bad idea. If you have a cool encounter, why not use it? The argument against it is that the choice of which path to take was a false choice. Maybe or maybe not. Maybe you can change the encounter based on the path they took. Maybe other things change depending on the path the characters take – the ogre itself doesn't matter that much. I leave it to you to decide how you feel about it.

The Spring in the Dials

When I talk about the four dials of monster difficulty, my expectation isn't to constantly manipulate these dials. I like to think that the dials have springs that pull them to the average – we should go with the defaults only until we have a good reason to change them. Those changes come when the situation warrants it. Is the pace of the game waning? Drop those monster hit points to get the battle overwith. Are the mechanics not meeting the story when it comes to a big boss? Maybe give them some Dreadful Blessings to let them increase their threat or break out of debilitative effects. Maybe the doors burst open and eighty eight of his most loyal subordinates run in.

The Obligation of Cheating

The most important question to ask when fudging the rules is – why? What's your intention? Why do it?

Why cheat?

We cheat to make the game more fun.

More Sly Flourish Stuff

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs.

Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.

Patreon Questions and Answers

Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.

Talk Show Links

Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.

Last week I also posted a couple of YouTube videos on Building Lazy Pantheons and The Blood Spire Part 2 – Dragon Empire Prep Session 44.

RPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

End your campaign by asking the players where their characters are one year later.
Avoid big twists at the end of the campaign. Give players the satisfying conclusion they’ve been seeking.
Play to see what happened.
Give low level characters a nuclear bomb. What do they do with it?
Tell players the AC of monsters and the DCs of the checks they make to speed up play.
Think about the procedures you and your players follow for different phases of the game like overland travel, dungeon crawling, and social navigation
Break up travel with interesting situations at notable locations on the way.

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