Let the Dice Fall Where They May

“Let the dice fall where they may” 

Few lines in the DCCRPG hit this hard to me; it’s simple, but it's a powerful philosophy of play. The section is short - it explains that you should let the dice dictate combat, and that the players will learn to fear and trust the objectivity of combat. It goes hand in hand with another phrase I love: “The dice tell the story.” I think the idea that the dice are ultimately the final arbiter of the tale is so important to games. I would like to talk for a bit about what that means to me and how I let my games live (and sometimes die) on this concept.

Players Roll All the Dice

    For starters, I don't roll dice at my table. I haven't for years now. I pick players and have them roll the dice for me in order around the table, out in the open. This does a lot of things to change how the game feels. When I tell a player, "Bad guy is attacking you. Would you like to roll against yourself, or pass it on to the next player?" it means that the player is now thinking about who's next to them. If they want to risk the roll against themselves when they feel they are on a hot streak that night. If they want the next guy over, who has rolled and killed more PCs at the table than anyone else, to be the one to roll the dice. Sometimes the players all work together to pass until it gets to the guy who hasn't rolled above a 5 all night. It creates a little game within the game. More importantly, it keeps everyone's focus on the table. At any moment you could be asked to roll an attack, damage, save, check, anything for one of the bad guys or NPCs. Similar to Popcorn initiative, this keeps everyone paying attention. I won't pretend to be the only person who has the players roll dice for me or even the creator of it, because I myself got it from a guy I played with back in the early 2000s. What I will say is that I think more Judges should do it.

 

Trust Through Transparency

Another great way this changes the game is that it means players will have so much more trust in you as the Judge. There is no screen hiding your rolls, there are no secret numbers, no guessing if they really succeeded or failed, or if the bad guy really rolled several critical hits in a row. The dice are all out in the open, they can see what's happening. It's not just combat either - this applies to everything else that happens. The rolls the NPC makes to resist the charm spell? They see the result. They know what happened. The roll for the number of rounds until help arrives? They see it, they know how bad or good the situation really is, and they trust the story to unfold appropriately. This brings the table together with lighthearted jabs of "why did you make them resist my spell?" and "good thing you rolled low for his initiative, dude!" The table feels it more if they are rolling the dice instead of me secretly rolling behind a screen and telling them "oh yeah, help is 1 round away."

 

Judges Toolbox 

This might feel like it removes a lot of tools a Judge can use to keep things dynamic or the benefits of keeping things shrouded in mystery, but I offer that there are still ways to keep things close to your chest while doing this. You don't have to tell the players the bonuses to attack or saves or anything when you ask them to roll the dice. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't; it keeps them on their toes to be a little inconsistent here. I don't always tell my players why they are rolling, I'll just say "hey, can you roll me a d20 and add 15?" It has a similar effect to rolling behind a screen but maybe even more. They hear that +15 and everyone starts to sweat about what on earth has that big bonus that they don't know about, even worse if the roll is also high. Some things I pretty much always tell the party are things like AC target numbers, because I think after a few rounds of combat they should be able to pin it down anyway, or I tell them the bonus of the attacks against them just to keep the flow of combat going smoother. Again, it's not every time; sometimes I like to keep the mystery to keep them on their toes.

 

The Power of Less Rolls 

Another great way to keep the dice as the important arbiter of the story is to use them less. That might sound contradictory, but hear me out. If you call for rolls less, the ones that happen will feel more important. The way I run at my table, I generally don't ask for rolls unless there is a significant penalty for failure. Anything I would put below a DC 5 generally doesn't get rolled. Weirdly, Kevin Siembieda of Palladium Games is a big influence on this one for me. His skill system is percent based, but he straight up says that if the players aren't being rushed, in danger, or on some kind of time crunch, don't make them roll. Pathfinder has something similar in the form of taking 10 or taking 20. Taking 10 is about taking the time to do something correctly; it can be done quickly, like in a single action, but you are following the old adage, "Slow is smooth, smooth is fast." Taking 20 is doing something over and over, failing many times until you get a 20, and it cannot be done quickly in a single round (unless you have the proper feat chains or class features, or something along those lines). The combination of these things has really colored how often I'm calling for rolls at my table. This gives a lot more weight to the dice when they are rolled. When they are rolled, the players know that it matters.

Some of my players read this blog, so I can't give away all the secrets I have behind the curtain, but there are a lot of ways to keep the same old Judge's tricks in your back pocket while doing this out in the open rolling and letting the dice tell the story. You just have to get a little creative with how you're applying those proven tools of a Judge. The other flaw in this is that we open ourselves to meta gaming. Players might be tempted to act on the information they know based on the open rolls. Meta gaming is a tough subject and talking about tackling that should be its own article. For now I will say that the trust needs to go both ways at the table for this to really shine. 

 

Prep, Chaos, and Style 

I'll also say that I know this isn't for everyone. I run a very fluid "rule of cool" table. I don't write down a ton of things about monsters and bad guys, I run very off the cuff, and I have a little notepad where I track numbers across combat and another where I take down fast session notes. My prep consists of vaguely recalling what was happening last week and consuming fantasy media for at least an hour before the session, and then diving in and running mostly off the cuff while using pre-written adventures occasionally or pulling things from other sources to have threats or rooms. I love pulling out one-page dungeons to have material. I'm sure a lot of Judges would call this method of prep chaotic, messy, and not at all helpful. I think that is fair. It's not for everyone. Even with this, I think this rule of letting the dice be the final arbiter and rolling in the open can be very good for a lot of tables, just not all of them. Remember, only you and your players really know and decide what works at your table, not some guy on a blog. But if you're interested maybe let your players roll against themselves or each other next session.

 

At the end of the day, the dice don’t just decide combat, they tell the story. When you trust them, and let your players trust them too, the table becomes a place where everyone shares in the suspense and the joy of whatever fate the dice decree.