GM no-roll

[Aldarc]

Not rolling as a GM is fun as a player and GM. There are obviously advantages and disadvantages. I don't think that there is anything inherently wrong with systems where GMs roll or don't roll dice.

 

[ericborg]

I have an aversion to rolling dice when running a game. That is why I am a big fan of MOTW, and the BORG games. My aversion has even driven me to printing random generated numbers to use for my D&D games where I have to roll dice.

 

[Epic Meepo]

I once ran a year-long 3e campaign without rolling a single die. All rolls were opposed, with monsters and NPCs taking 10 and dealing average damage. Whenever an NPC v. NPC conflict needed to be resolved by dice, I'd let the players temporarily run the NPCs on one side of the conflict.

Aside from calculating average damage, the change required almost no effort, and everything went smoothly. I enjoyed focusing on the narrative instead of the dice, and the players enjoyed getting to roll their AC on enemy turns instead of just passively taking damage when dictated by DM attack rolls.

 

[RenleyRenfield]

... the players enjoyed getting to roll their AC on enemy turns instead of just passively taking damage when dictated by DM attack rolls.

I have seen this very very often. One of the complaints players have about D&D and Pathfinder is that in a 4 or 5 player game, each turn can take up to 30 minutes or more to get back around to them... In a 1 hour of combat, that's getting to do something twice, and sitting for 45 minutes with little to do but mark damage or make rare saving throw.

When switched in some manner to be "you are being attacked pick a reaction and roll to see if you reduce or negate the threat" = players have universally loved that.

Then there are a few actions some characters can take to defend or react on other player's turn/reaction, which means that in some games "any turn you may have something you can roll to do" = players loved that too.

I'm not saying this is the perfect best thing for everyone and every game. but... it has been a huge improvement far far more often than a burden...

 

[Umbran]

This last is, by the by, one of the two reasons though I'm not hostile to player-facing game design, I'm not particularly a partisan of it; when dealing with NPC I don't want to "just decide" in at least some PC-relevant (but not PC interactive) cases.

Fair. Not all games are for all people.

I, personally, don't have that issue - I think I decide just as much when I am putting together a D&D encounter, or an encounter for a player-facing game. I choose how tough it is going to be either way.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Fair. Not all games are for all people.

I, personally, don't have that issue - I think I decide just as much when I am putting together a D&D encounter, or an encounter for a player-facing game. I choose how tough it is going to be either way.

The thing is, sometimes this involves "are two competing opponents working against each other going to succeed?" or "is this ally trying to help you off screen succeed?" And I don't always find "what makes a better story" actually tells me anything; I just want to, well, find out along with everyone else.

 

[aramis erak]

But that's for a simple attack roll. It doesn't generalize to enemy actions broadly.

It doesn't need to, since for all other things, D&D 3 doesn't dictate opposed rolls, but instead DCs set by the GM.

The point is no-GM-roll (or "player facing", to use that term) games typically don't shift GM rolls to players - they eliminate those rolls entirely. Instead of rolling, the GM basically sets the stakes, and the players choose how to handle them.

Wrong. In DL5A, essentially everything is opposed - the NPCs scores assume an average card, so that the players' card + attribute determines success/failure. Same with unisystem lite. The GM makes no rolls, only decisions. But they adhere to a more traditional mechanical approach (admittedly using cards instead of dice in DL5A, which is a bit non-traditional). BTVS is every bit as player facing as AW... but has a very different approach to the GM's roll. The GM makes no rolls, only decisions. And D&D 3 can be run that way. Just treat everything as opposed rolls with the NPCs rolls being take 10.
Incidentally, that's why prep for BTVS took so damned long - figuring out the NPCs and writing them up.

In effect, in these games, the GM elements are not random. They are chosen.

Not always by the GM; a number of player facing systems make extensive use of random tables, but they're older and little known - such as the whole catalog from Better Games, especially Crimson Cutlass where a card flip is the determinant of the next scene/challenge, and the dice are to determine success/failure, with the GM being the narrator, not the adventure writer.

Plus, a number of systems designed for solo play are, of need, entirely player facing, but using various random tables galore...

You're view of it is exceptionally narrow. Regardless, they all match the OP's theme: The GM doesn't use random.

 

[Maxperson]

I voted not fun at all, because I don't think I would like it. I know I wouldn't like it in a game like D&D. While I'm fine with the DM ruling some things auto success or failure, most of the time the outcome is in doubt and rolls should happen.

That said, it's possible that I would enjoy a game designed to happen without rolls, so I would at least try one if given the chance. On a few rare occasions in the past, I've been pleasantly surprised.

 

[zakael19]

I generally like not-rolling a lot more then rolling these days, mainly because games with unified resolution mechanics or highly player facing ones seem to tend to resolve their conflicts/tasks faster.

OTOH, in a game like DW/Stonetop - where I'm adjusting the fictional outcome based on damage, it's a bit less fluid to turn to the player and ask "ok, roll d10+2 damage for me" when they're already telling me their own damage etc. Since I know the exact damage calculation, I can speed things up by rolling that dice at least.

Basically: I've discovered I don't want to roll for resolution/saves/attacks (god forbid a back and forth to-hit with a save attached) and prefer a system that is designed appropriately. I do want to roll when it helps speed up the narrative.

Heck, I have the players roll the random tables for me these days.

 

[The Soloist]

We played Cypher System last night, using the dinopunk Predation setting. As the GM I loved not rolling dice. Defending against attacks, with the opportunity to raise your chances of success using pool points, focus and traits made the players feel more in control of their character’s fate.

Its a keeper.