Loaded Dice

[Pilgrim]

I really can't abide cheating during a game session, as a player and especially as a DM/GM. If I were running the game and noticed or had it brought to my attention, I'd announce at the next session that until further notice, all d6 rolls will be reversed. 6s are now 1s and 1s, 6s, etc. Let the game run a few sessions like this and see just how long the cheater continues to use those particular dice.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

(snip)It's a mental health issue. (snip)

That would be my primary concern.

Perhaps the DM is aware of some mental health issues that the OP is not?

Anyway, at the risk of being judgemental I would be watching him carefully for other pathological behaviours. It's like blokes who cheat on their wives: their unfaithfulness leaks out into other areas of their lives.

 

[Argyle King]

More like it doesn't matter what the GM is actually doing behind the screen because I cannot actually lose at D&D. Even if I die, I just make a new character or get raised.

If you cheat at GenCon, at best, you'll tick off a few people. If you cheat in Vegas, they'll break your legs.

The consequences for a player cheating and the impact to other players is quite higher at a money table in poker, than what most D&D tables have going on.

Fair enough.

I view it differently. If I were doing something which violated the expectations of the friends I play with, I see that as a problem. It's not necessarily about winning/losing.

Though, all things considered, the GM doesn't seem to mind in the OP, so maybe fudging, loaded dice, and similar things are acceptable for the group. For me, it wouldn't be, but I'm aware some people play that way.

 

[nerfherder]

"OK guys, this week we're playing GURPS."

or

"Ooh, this is an important roll, can I borrow your loaded dice please, Jim?"

 

[Mark CMG]

Recently it was pointed out to me that a fellow player was using loaded d6's during our sessions. I then watched him roll nine 6's in a row on a d6 dice, confirming that he was indeed using loaded dice.
We discussed it with the DM and he was apparently already aware of it. He compensates for it by hitting that character a little more often and for more damage. Yet I am still bugged by the fellow using the loaded dice. I am thinking about talking to the player directly and tell him that it's not cool to use those dice.
Am I overreacting? Should I talk to the player or just let the DM's passive solution handle it?

As long the the GM knows, then it isn't a secret, so feel free to talk about it at the table and express your opinion as anyone would certainly have the right to do. The GM might have a solution, as you mention, to compensate for how that player through his character interacts with the game environment but surely all of the players should be aware that this one player is a habitual cheater.

 

[Mark CMG]

And the GM is always arbitrarily deciding your opposition.

Do you not GM?

 

[Janx]

Do you not GM?

I do.

 

[Mark CMG]

I do.

I've never thought of *any* part of the GMing process as arbitrary.

 

[Janx]

I've never thought of *any* part of the GMing process as arbitrary.

A human being is deciding what happens next. A human being is deciding what the opposition will be, and what the consequences for failure will be.

A human being is deciding whether to adjust dice rolls behind the screen or not. Reduce damage the orc did to your PC or not. Have the orc change targets to the Paladin, because he darn near killed you last round.

Now we can eliminate really dumb or ridiculous things the GM could do as bad DMing and not part of the scope of the discussion.

Within the scope of decent GM behavior, there's a lot of leeway for the GM. Your PC succeeds because the GM chose to not put an insurmountable barrier or consequence in your way after you kill that cop while robbing the bank. The GM decides the bounty hunter exists and that he has enough resources to collect info to hunt you down, and just happens to arrive to capture you after your big boss fight when you are down on resources.

When a GM says they enforce consequences for PC actions, or "no good deed goes unpunished" they are exercising the same arbitrary force a police officer has when he decides to give a warning rather than write a ticket.

When considered from the all-power of the GM, as players, we are at their mercy and trust them to render a good challenge and fun game. And in that context, worrying about the honest of the dice rolls is like calculating the total mass of the universe without taking into account Dark Matter/Energy.

Dice rolls is the least of your problems as a player. It's like getting mired in office politics over how many photocopies you used up when the goal is to sit in the big chair made of swords.

So a player cheating next to you in D&D may have SOME impact on you within the game or emotionally. But there's no real money on the line, and it's generally all the players working together versus the GM. Your fellow player cheating is not as large a problem as your GM doing a bad job. When he kills an extra orc because he cheated, the party is closer to victory, and that's one less orc that could have hit you.

Thus, the odds don't matter in an RPG the same dramatic way they do in Poker. Players in D&D (unlike WoW) aren't usually measuring their next action based on DPS or % chance of the GM rolling a 19 (unlike poker, where your decision to fold is largely based on the % chance you have the best hand or will draw a card to get the best hand compared to the % you have to pay to stay in the hand).

 

[Mark CMG]

(snip)

What you describe are weighed decisions not arbitrary reactions.