Fiat or GM fiat is the use by a single player (almost always the GM, hence the name) of their authority in order to make unilateral decisions about the fiction of a role-playing game that they are playing. When fiat is used to resolve situations of conflict or uncertainty without adhering to game mechanics, it is a form of judgemental resolution. A common form of fiat is making rulings when rules are inadequate or unclear, but rulings can also be made collectively by the group (i.e. not using fiat, which by definition is only used by a single person).
A GM using fiat to move the game along is generally not expected to justify their decision. It is an instance of the formulation of rule zero that says "the GM is always right".
From Latin fīat (“let it be done”).
External links[]
- "What is GM/DM fiat" at Role-playing Games StackExchange