Does your DM roll behind a screen or head to head?

[Jupp]

It is always the players that demand that the dice are rolled openly. Especially if its very important like a fight against some very strong opponent. We always say that if we have to die then it shall be done publicly and honestly But most of the time we let the DM do it behind the screen.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I replied "never" - I think that was the right answer for me - as in I have never rolled out in the open. I always roll behind a screen, either a DM screen, or for rolls I don't even want the players to know that I am rolling, a computer screen with a die roller.

 

[Sir ThornCrest]

then you would pick the first one "no never"

the first choice would be no not never wouldnt think of it...thats you then

Thorncrest

The poll doesn't seem to have an option for my position, which is "never use a screen".

 

[Sir ThornCrest]

you would be under yes sometimes but given importance of roll

and in your case importance of roll would be -for combat.
Thorncrest

Your poll is flawed in the sense that you're asking if we do (a) roll behind the screen or (b) in front of the players, yet the answers aren't set up for a/b, they're set up for yes or no.

That said, I can go either way. I definately roll behind the screen (or at least out of sight) for secret stuff like Spot/Search/Disable Device checks, but I try to roll in plain sight for attacks and such. That said, I tend to wander around the room a lot while I'm DMing, and if I'm not in a location where the players can see my dice, I generally won't waste time moving just so they can see the roll.

 

[Hitokiri]

Well, on any action where the success/failure of the PCs would not be immediately evident (spot, search, listen, disable device, etc.), I roll behind the screen. I don't want the players to know if they didn't hear something because they failed their check or becausse nothing was there.

All other rolls are subject to the type of game IM running. Right now in WLD, I make all attacks and opposed rolls in the open. If Im running a more dramatic campaign, I'll often hide rolls and then fudge them if needed to get the desired effect (creating suspense, saving a PC from a pure luck crit, whatever I deem necessary to enhance the game).

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Good point on the screen! I don't use one either.

 

[Quasqueton]

Rolling in front of the Players can be fun. Like once when the *Big*BEG made his first attack against the PC with the best AC -- everyone breathed a sigh of relief when the die roll came up 3, but every gasped back in that breath when I stated the result, "28".

Quasqueton

 

[D+1]

As a rule, the DM's dice rolls should not be made in the open. Whether it's a matter of letting the players know too much about the capabilities of their enemy or keeping secret the fact that there ISN'T anything to roll for so you're just rattling dice. When you roll in front of players they instantly know the numerical amount of bonuses the monster is using to hit them; they know conclusively that when they see the result of dice they are either entirely out of danger or very much IN danger, but for purely meta-game reasons. When an encounter goes horribly, horribly wrong and you're on the verge of a TPK, when you always roll in front of the players you can't give them a break without it being stupidly obvious, and so you are otherwise stupidly enslaved to the random rolls of the dice when it's most important that the dice rolls NOT be held sacred.

Hey, if you want to run that kind of game, fine, but I think it's silly to eliminate your ability to cheat in FAVOR of the PC's just to prove to them that you aren't cheating AGAINST them. A DM can kill the PC's anytime he wants. The dice don't control what kind of encounters the DM throws at you in the first place so it's a little irrelevant that they be held sacred in determining hits, damage, and saves in the second place. When a DM is cheating it's pretty obvious anyway. Players notice that kind of thing.

The DM screen is not there to allow a DM to cheat it's to allow a DM the NECESSARY ability to keep things secret from the players - and that includes knowing if there even IS anything that needs to be kept secret in the dice rolls at any point. The only time I DO roll openly in front of the players is when I specifically WANT them to see the dice results, when I WANT them to be unquestionably subjected to the arbitrariness, the strictly-defined vagaries of random rolls.