This seems to implicate some common ways of playing D&D (fudging, curated arcs/APs) more so than “story” games. I like the idea of letting the dice decide (e.g., the referee is reminded about it in my homebrew system), but I don’t think it’s a popular or common way of playing modern D&D. If the dice go the wrong way, there’s going to be am impetus to fudge or take some action (boss has drama-dependent hit points, etc) to prevent the result from messing things up. For those who like that way, the drama dice provide is more important than the randomness.
The reason why I come in so hot on these threads is because as time goes on and the D&D community gets larger and younger, I actually see the direction of dungeon mastery advice online moving
away from fudging die results, dungeon master screens, and even theater of the mind play, as a sort of weird moral directive. The dialogue gets pretty ugly.
This deeply concerns me, because I think systems abstraction (or, if you prefer, fudging) is a
fundamental responsibility of the dungeon master. Now that ChatGPT can walk a player through an adaptive original version of "Zork," it's become ever more important to illustrate how important an empowered dungeon master is to the rules-dice-human adjudication tripod.
I disagree that it is a question of drama vs. consequence. One doesn't fudge every die roll. One doesn't even fudge
most die rolls. It's a considered, handcrafted approach that should only be used when it is the right thing to do for the enjoyment of the table, because the rules and dice do not take this factor into account. Determining when it is right, and when it is not, and what "enjoyment" means for each table, is one of the things that separates good dungeon masters from great dungeon masters.
Rolling in secret has been a part of the game since the very beginning, for exactly this reason. The dungeon master must be honest with their table upfront whether or not they fudge die rolls, and players have to come to trust their dungeon master's management of the game and understanding of their needs enough to permit it, in order for everyone to have the full experience of the game.
On occasion, the best way to honor trust is to break it.
From the 1979 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeon Master Guide, page 110, "Conducting the Game":
It is your right to control the dice at any time and to roll dice for the players. You might wish to do this to keep them from knowing some specific fact. You also might wish to give them an edge in finding a particular clue, e.g. a secret door that leads to a complex of monsters and treasures that will be especially entertaining. You do have every right to overrule the dice at any time if there is a particular course of events that you would like to have occur. In making such a decision you should never seriously harm the party or a non-player character with your actions.
This ain't a new-school idea.