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The original was posted on /r/osr by /u/wandering-dm on 2025-06-25 09:48:53+00:00.

I run an Open Table with Shadowdark and Stonehell, twenty sessions in. This is my first Open Table and though I have DMed for more than twenty years (only a quarter of that OSR), I have recently run into an issue with Rulings before Rules in this context.

I am uncomfortable nerfing a class without the players present who play this class.

I noticed with an Open Table (as arguably with "regular" campaigns) the players who put more in get more out of it. If you show up for fifteen of twenty sessions, your character is going to be higher level and your style of play will have stronger influence on my style of DMing. So maybe I am not as concerned with the people who have shown up twice, but with the core twenty people, and that's still a lot of communication and discussion.

So far I have hidden behind the rules a little bit. One of the class (the Bard) got nerfed by the designer (in some aspects) and that was handed down from the Heavens and I could shrug and hide behind it like a coward... but this game is nearing a point where major decisions need to be made and I am concerned that pleasing one player will alienate two others.

Do we want strong logistics or handwavy upkeep? Do we want the game to be more deadly? I would like to change my mind on an interpretation of one rule or another... and I have to tell the players when they are sitting down to play - all happy and excited - that the game has changed in their absence.

And it's not just nerfs! I gave a long-time player a buff and it led to a long discussion with that player now taking a break, as one of the Fighter players felt I was making the other ones Wizard too strong. Which sucked. The Fighter player didn't have a problem with the Wizard player, he had a problem with my ruling. The Wizard player hasn't even asked for this. (Longer story, but the point is that every decision I make can have unforeseen repercussions and running an Open Table has made keeping in contact with everyone and gauging their reactions a lot harder.)

Yes, there are situations where I say "This is how it is." but I mostly reserve this for things that defend the core principles of a game. With a lot of other stuff it's more game design questions and - frankly - taste. The game has a lot of dials and sometimes a small decision can move one of those dials a lot into unexpected directions.

Has anyone here run into this problem before? How have you handled it?