Just curious as to the general rule at your table. Are the DM's rolls out in the open for all to see, or hidden? Have any issues come up? In our game all DM rolls are out in the open, which we all seem to prefer. Personally, I don't like it when the DM fudges a roll in my favor. Feels like I'm cheating ...
Does your DM hide their rolls?
- Thread starter karooba
- Start date
It depends on the situation and the game, I think.
We've got one game where the DM follows the 'Players Roll The Dice' rule, so if a monster attacks my character, I roll the d20 against myself to see if it hits. Same DM also asks us to roll our own skill checks, out in the open, and goes so far as to ask us to describe the results of our failure when we fail.
The other DM plays a lot more rolls behind the screen. For example, Stealth, Perception, Knowledge, etc, he rolls hidden, and tells you the effect .. which leads to a lot more not-knowing-for-sure and suspense. Did I fail that because I rolled badly, or was it just an impossible ask, or was there nothing there to begin with? .. And if the DM is cheating, how do I the player know it?
We've got one game where the DM follows the 'Players Roll The Dice' rule, so if a monster attacks my character, I roll the d20 against myself to see if it hits. Same DM also asks us to roll our own skill checks, out in the open, and goes so far as to ask us to describe the results of our failure when we fail.
The other DM plays a lot more rolls behind the screen. For example, Stealth, Perception, Knowledge, etc, he rolls hidden, and tells you the effect .. which leads to a lot more not-knowing-for-sure and suspense. Did I fail that because I rolled badly, or was it just an impossible ask, or was there nothing there to begin with? .. And if the DM is cheating, how do I the player know it?
I roll behind the "screen" (laptop) mainly due to lack of room but I never "hide" my rolls so its very common for players to see my rolls.
I think when you try to be secretive as a DM it ruins the trust level that you have with your players
and yes I do on occasion "pull" rolls if it would really suck for the player (ie: critical hit when they have 10 hp left)... etc
I think when you try to be secretive as a DM it ruins the trust level that you have with your players
and yes I do on occasion "pull" rolls if it would really suck for the player (ie: critical hit when they have 10 hp left)... etc
I want my players to imagine monsters attacking their character, not little pieces of plastic on a battlemap. So I roll behind the screen. Most of the time I announce the right attacks, but there is no such thing as "cheating" on the DM's side. My job is to entertain and create an engaging game, the only thing I can cheat is cheat the players out of their fun.
Well, I've run combats where I changed monster stats on the fly (half the hp if the damn solo refuses to die etc.) and I've run fights where half of the monsters didn't even have stats.
Well, I've run combats where I changed monster stats on the fly (half the hp if the damn solo refuses to die etc.) and I've run fights where half of the monsters didn't even have stats.
I do mainly because of a space issue. I like having all of the monster stats and a my own map of the battle (so I can mark things like traps or hidden enemies) out of the players view.
So far I haven't fudged the numbers against the players at all, and the only times I have done so is with HP (mostly because the fight was dragging on and on due to bad rolls and they just reduced the monster to 1 or 2 HP).
So far I haven't fudged the numbers against the players at all, and the only times I have done so is with HP (mostly because the fight was dragging on and on due to bad rolls and they just reduced the monster to 1 or 2 HP).
I'm totally with you on that but at the same time, I have a screen for both quick reference and to hide monster stat and module info. So by default, I'm hiding the rolls.
Often if I crit or if a player thinks I'm fudging in their favour, or against, I'll show them the roll or I'll start rolling in the open just to shut them up
holywhitetrash
First Post
i ask my dm to hide his rolls
it seems like that screen is for our protection not his
it seems like that screen is for our protection not his
Starfox
Hero
As a DM I hide my rolls and occasionally cheat, both on die rolls and other game values. Generally to even out the curve, when it doesn't matter, but would be cheap otherwise.
An example; the Big Bad is about to go down without having hit a PC even once. I let him live another round and score at least one hit. At least I do in massive hit-point systems - I would not do so in Rune Quest or Rolemaster where a single hit can be fatal.
I would not cheat either way in a life-or-death situation for a player character. But then, I use Fate Points, which are kind of a cheat to begin with.
An example; the Big Bad is about to go down without having hit a PC even once. I let him live another round and score at least one hit. At least I do in massive hit-point systems - I would not do so in Rune Quest or Rolemaster where a single hit can be fatal.
I would not cheat either way in a life-or-death situation for a player character. But then, I use Fate Points, which are kind of a cheat to begin with.
