I hate to fudge, with a passion, I like to earn things for real, not cause someone interferred.

if Players start getting the impression that if something horrid pops up, thats not story intense, not story related, the DM will just fudge it to keep the story going.., as a Player, when my GM tried to do that, I started getting suicidal, puting myself into situations I SHOULD die, just to check if I COULD die..

 I prefer to have Open die, luck points per session (to cancel out particularly bad events) and have a system that is more designed for fair play, rather than story line concentric.. but thats just me

Ah…  To fudge or not to fudge….

Yes, there are a number of times that I will fudge.  In fact, I think it is a necessary function of the Game Master in a story telling capacity in some cases.  That being said I have guidelines that I am pretty strict with myself to follow when fudging.

When running a scenario there is often that early encounter or situation that helps define the nature of the conflict.  This is especially true in horror, modern, and fantasy genres.  For example suppose the party is to encounter a Liche that curses the group to force them to act as he wills and will much later in the story become an enemy to be slain.  To impress upon the group the potency of the Liche and his minions the group is captured while hiding from his advancing army.  The GM might fudge the rolls to insure that the group gets caught to allow the casting of the curse so that the plot can get rolling.  This little bit of theatrical business is especially useful to begin a game.  Of course admitting to fudging can potentially weaken the utility of it.  In my younger days I did it, but denied it.  I don’t bother with that now.  In any event it can be a useful to spur on a plot device.

Eliminating obnoxious plays can be a task that fudging is well suited for.  I usually just give a talking to if the player is in a campaign before taking action, but it is different at a convention or in a one shot game.  People have paid a lot of money to go to a con and, although it has been many years and is not always feasible, I am not above laying complete waste to a player who has been obnoxious.  A good fun death, especially in a one shot horror game is a fine result in any event.  This particular action has to be judged very carefully however.  In thirty years of gaming I have done it maybe a handful of times.  Most of the time it is hard to fold such a resolution into a situation and have a positive outcome for the group consensus.

I almost never fudge in a campaign game.  I almost never fudge in the climatic battle.  I have fudged when the group really screwed up to make sure that the group learns a lesson, if they aren’t being taught by the dice.  I try to insure that this is not lethal but demonstrative.  I have on occasion fudged to prevent the group from getting wasted, when they have done everything right.

Fudging is a great tool that must be used judiciously.  Players can not feel like they have beaten the odds, if you fudge all the time.  That is why I almost never do it during any significant confrontation and mostly only as a plot device early on.  There is no perceived reward in these terms if the players feel like the rolls are meaningless.  It is much better to get wiped then to succeed in a way that feels like a handout.