For me, there's a significant difference between "I don't track HP at all" and "I adjust HP in the middle of combat for dramatic purposes." And then another significant difference to "I don't adjust HP once combat starts."
— Merric Blackman (@MerricB) September 27, 2021
It isn’t that any of them is the wrong way to do it – all are valid. But you do run into some significant issues if your players expect a different style. And if your players come into the game expecting the game-as-written (where hit points exist), concealing from them that you ignore hit points is something I have issue with.
— Merric Blackman (@MerricB) September 27, 2021
“But all my players enjoyed themselves!” is a dangerous thing for a DM to say. It may be true, but I’ve known occasions when a player seemed to enjoy themselves, but left feeling they’d had the worst experience ever. I do believe it's impossible for a game of Dungeons & Dragons to exist without DM fiat throughout. (We don't roll dice for everything for very good reasons). But it is worth considering when it is used, and how much it changes from the expected play.
— Merric Blackman (@MerricB) September 27, 2021
I tend to move towards DM judgments rather than dice results when roleplaying is involved. (If someone says something brilliant, I want to reward that rather than then relying on the dice). Is that wrong? For certain players, it definitely is! Likewise, with traps, I want to get away from purely dice-rolling exercises. I want the players to be making decisions rather than just chucking dice at things, without ever thinking of the fiction involved. (I'll still use dice, but it's not JUST dice).
— Merric Blackman (@MerricB) September 27, 2021
The ongoing trouble with making decisions that ignore the dice is that you can end up favouring certain players and disadvantaging others. You may not be aware of it, but the slighted players will be very aware. The structured systems of resolution in D&D and other TTRPGs are there to get away from this bias.
— Merric Blackman (@MerricB) September 27, 2021