D&D General Dice Fudging and Twist Endings

[LordEntrails]

I used to fudge when I was young. I used to like TV shows and movies that always ended happy.

I no longer enjoy my RPG games to be like a Hallmark movie, where I know the story just given the title and the biggest twist is who the best friend side-kick is.

Letting the dice resolve how they may puts more fun in our games.

 

[J.Quondam]

Perosnally, I think the GM's role is to GM in whatever way the table has agreed the GM should GM. That'll depend on the specific system, playstyle preferences, genre, player experience, and lots of other stuff that makes it impossible to declare it is "supposed" to be one way or another.

 

[robus]

There are plenty of ways to play the opponents of the PCs in combat in order to “balance“ the encounter, but I would say that fudging dice rolls is not one of them.

Adjust HP (up or down), adjust tactics (I.e. don‘ll kill a PC when they’re down, or do), don’t have reinforcements show up, or do. etc etc The DM has so many other, better, levers to pull IMHO.

If you roll the dice, you roll the dice.

 

[Umbran]

I used to fudge when I was young. I used to like TV shows and movies that always ended happy.

I no longer enjoy my RPG games to be like a Hallmark movie, where I know the story just given the title and the biggest twist is who the best friend side-kick is.

Letting the dice resolve how they may puts more fun in our games.

The last sentence is fine. But before that, you are basically engaging in building up your own preferences by spitting on those of others. Which isn't great stuff.

I gave a conversational suggestion about that earlier in the thread. Let us put this one in red text, and see if anyone notices.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Fudge contains milk, chocolate, and a lot of sugar. All things that too much of (defined as probably no more than a single small bite for me) will badly upset my stomach.

In all seriousness, running online, which is most of my gaming, forces a DMs (and players) to take the dice as they fall. There's no temptation to change a result, because it's all right there on the table. On the whole, I think that a good thing, though I certainly get a little nervous when a monster crits or rolls near-max damage on a breath weapon, then watching PCs roll death saves.

 

[Stormonu]

The dice can take the game in a lot of unexpected directions and they're useful for "fairly" determining things in doubt. It creates suspense. But, at the same time, they can be capricious. Generally, I've learned that, as a DM/GM if you don't want to risk that capriciousness, don't roll in the first place. If you don't want to accept that possible capriciousness of a random dice roll, then don't put yourself in a place where the dice make the decision for you. If you do end up rolling, but get a result that just doesn't make sense for the game, don't feel that you can't overrule them. However, if you do overrule the dice, do it with all prudence you can muster - you were asking the dice what happened, after all.

 

[Oofta]

I don't ever fudge dice rolls, but occasionally I'll not use a recharge ability or use suboptimal tactics. Actually, I generally do the latter with my current group in that I don't double tap in order to kill an unconscious character.

But Actually fidge dice? Make significant changes after the encounter starts? Nah. Not my style. I may adjust planned encounters but once initiative is rolled, that's it.

I still have plenty of surprises and plot twists (sometimes from things the players do) without fudging. I guess I just don't see myself as much of a storyteller as someone who enables stories that we tell through player's decisions of how their PCs interact with the world and it's inhabitants.

 

[nevin]

“Always roll your dice in public. “Let the dice fall where they may,” as the saying goes. The players will learn fear, as they trust in the objectivity of your combat encounters.”

“Let the characters die if the dice so dictate it. Nothing is as precious as a PC's life when it can be taken away— and nothing is so unchallenging as a game where the players know the judge will not kill their characters. The DCC RPG is designed for high character death rates—let this be true in your game as well. Achieving 5th level in the DCC RPG is a true accomplishment.”

—Dungeon Crawl Classics​

The referee is not a storyteller. They setup the baddies and react to the players’ decisions and what the dice dictate. The referee does not fudge rolls and push for certain, pre-determined outcomes.

in your games. not everyone plays the same way.

 

[Arilyn]

If the game is engaging, I'm happy. I've played in no-death games, games with fudging and games where dice fall where they may.

It all depends on the table style and expectations. My adult daughter runs no-death games and they are truly scary and suspenseful. Failure never results in death, but the consequences! Oh she will make characters suffer the consequences!

 

[kunadam]

Sometimes it is fun to just roll and see what happens. But generally the DM needs to (in my humble opinion) get results that are fun. If the party streamrolls a major opponent, then it needs more hp and some successful attacks. And avoiding TPK is also important.
I admit I do not play simulationist games. I love boardgames, if I want to play a boardgame, then I play one.
So more and more I think that DMs should only roll when DM rolling dice raises the tension. Otherwise roll behind screen and tell the result you want.