Bending the rules for fun

Sup Veeky Forums. I was talking to some friends about following the rules and shit and when is a good time to bend them or ignore them for the sake of a fun time.

So, I'm asking you guys. What are some fun stories you had that happened because the GM decided to bend or ignore the rules?

It has to be done in utter secrecy, because it is essentially ignoring player agency. All the player has to affect the world is their imagination and the rules, and if you go fucking up the rules on their behalf, they lose meaning. They're not concrete tools for them anymore.

>I'm a retarded fuckwit and don't believe in allowing fun

Nah that's only if you're aiming to pull one over on the PCs or hide something. Usually the group is fine with little things to grease the wheels and move things along like forgoing all the stealth checks of hidden enemies and just eyeballing against a single investigation attempt, or ignoring what's technically a size category change due to shrinking two inches temporarily because derived statistics are a pain to do mid session.
I do have problems though with my players not accepting plot magic like impossible or permanent magical effects and locations that make the premise of a story. They question who made the illusory corridor and what specific spell was cast on it to make it work the way it does and what level the spell was cast at and why can't their wizard do that. This can be a bother, so I've taken to god level magic as my go to explanation.

He said bending them. If you're so bogged down in the strict meaning of the rules you lose the opportunity to have creative fun. The rules should have integrity to provide risk, but don't rule out the chance to do something awesome and memorable when the time is right.

most RPGs mention a Rule zero.

'Have fun'

Most good game developers will tell you to outright break them if it brings a better outcome.

Also Bookdiving at the table sucks. YOUR the GM you don't need to wait for the player to pend 15 mins trying to work out how something they want to do works 'within the rules'. Tell them and move on so the rest of the group does not lose out.

I was running Death's House module, and my party was doing really horribly against the shambling mound (last boss) due to huge strategic mistakes in the beginning of the fight. Namely, fighter summoned the mound by himself, while separated from the party by the gates.
So, when they used the same gates, that utterly crippled them in the first place, to fight the mound (lure it beneath the gate, ready action to pull the crowbar out of the chain, releasing the gate and crushing the mound with it), I've allowed the man behind it to make intelligence saving throw and wisdom saving throw. I've added the results together and declared that the mound got that amount of damage. He rolled really well, so it was about 40.
They still all died except for one guy.

>virt spotted
>ignore virt with all your might, for his baits are excellent and you should control your emotions, even if it is hard

Read this.

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