Are you playing D&D if there are no dice?

[DonTadow]

I read this in a recent forum and it really made me think

... I am totally story driven, and not only do I not fudge, we don't even use dice. We use the autoroll option built into DM Genie...

I didn't want to divert from the subject of that thread, but it made me wonder.


I tend to roll some rolls automatically (search for traps, when a trap comes up; Listen checks; spot checks), but it seems that if I or someone else rolled all the rolls in the game the "game" element of d and d would be taken out.

Sure the dice are random, and you'd get just as much a random effect from a computer, but isn't the point of a game you playing it and not someone else. It just seems like it would be like watching someone else play.

 

[Agamon]

My players roll dice, but I usually use DM Familiar's die roller as DM, especially for Inititive, attacks, saves. It's quicker and easier and takes nothing away from the game for me. I'll still roll damage from spells with dice, especially the dice heavy spells like Fireball, just for the intimidation effect.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

That would bug me. Even when playing by post and using an online dice roller, I still want to feel that I'm the master of my fate. I have no beef with rolling skill checks and such for things the players shouldn't be tipped off about, but for stuff that's within the player's control, the player should be making the rolls.

But hey, if it works for your group, do whatever you want.

 

[Fifth Element]

According to ancient Gygaxian wisdom, you can deviate from the rulebooks all you want but if you do so, you are not playing D&D.

Edit: typo.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

No dice (or equivalent player-controlled random element, computerized dice rolls are OK) to me means it's not an RPG. It may be RP, but its missing the G element!

I personally wouldn't want to play D&D PnP without the tangible feel of rolling dice, though -- I play CRPGs for that.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

No dice is no dice for me. I'm not interested in amateur theatrics, no offense to those who are of course.

 

[Zander]

No dice (or equivalent player-controlled random element, computerized dice rolls are OK) to me means it's not an RPG. It may be RP, but its missing the G element!

Does a game have to have randomness? When kids are involved in 'Let's Pretend', are they not playing a game? Are they simply playing a part (or role) but not a game? I don't mean to be provocative; I'm genuinely curious what you and others think about this.

 

[Agamon]

Some people are misunderstanding the OP. It's not "no dice or dice-like replacement" (like in Amber), it's "dice-like replacement instead of dice".

Poor oD&Ders back in the day, it's bad enough if they had use those damn chits, apparently they weren't playing an RPG anymore, either.

 

[Mallus]

So it's not D&D without dice? So about 1/3 of the time my group meets we're not playing D&D. And forget about all the stuff we do over email...

You learn something new every day.

 

[Goblyns Hoard]

Without random generation of numbers - its not D&D

But DM Genie just puts it all into the hands of the computer... so 'dice' are still being rolled - only by the machine

If your group is happy with it, go with it. I can see some GMs really liking it - players will spend their time thinking about HOW they attack their enemies, putting their energy into descriptions instead of maths. I could get behind that myself. But then a lot of players (including some of mine0 probably wouldn't be as in to it.