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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Players: Why Do You Want to Roll a d20?
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<blockquote data-quote="Guest 6801328" data-source="post: 7794338"><p>There's a lot to unpack in that very short scenario, but some comments:</p><ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">If it's truly "critical" to get past the door, then I wouldn't leave it to the swinginess of a d20. "Hmm, bummer, you roll a 3. Um, ok, well, this adventure is over I guess." I'm being facetious, of course...I don't think anybody actually plays that way...but that illustrates the general problem of gating the adventure behind RNG. This also applies to optional things: why put some treasure behind a secret door the discovery of which is totally random? I suppose some people would ascribe the passive Perception check ("You discover a secret door!") to be an example of "character skill" but I see it as rewarding rules mastery (in the sense of character building).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">You mention "using d20 to determine time". Yes, if there's some urgency to the task then it starts to make sense to tie in dice rolls. But I still want some kind of decision-making to get to that point. Maybe (as has been discussed in other threads) the players are making a choice between several alternatives: picking the lock versus kicking down the door versus using a spell slot. I want the players to be balancing trade-offs in making these decisions. If their <em>only</em> choice is to pick the lock, and they <em>must</em> roll a d20 to determine whether the monster catches them before they do, then there's no actual engagement. I wouldn't write an adventure (even if only in my head) with the plan: "Ok, when they get to this point the rogue is going to have to start making Thieves' Tools checks, and for each failure X will happen." That's asking the players to enjoy my narrative, not to engage with it themselves. But if they had to weigh various risks, and settled on the lock-picking, then when the die is rolled it's <em>because of their decision</em>, not because they landed on that square of the board game.</li> </ol></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Guest 6801328, post: 7794338"] There's a lot to unpack in that very short scenario, but some comments: [LIST=1] [*]If it's truly "critical" to get past the door, then I wouldn't leave it to the swinginess of a d20. "Hmm, bummer, you roll a 3. Um, ok, well, this adventure is over I guess." I'm being facetious, of course...I don't think anybody actually plays that way...but that illustrates the general problem of gating the adventure behind RNG. This also applies to optional things: why put some treasure behind a secret door the discovery of which is totally random? I suppose some people would ascribe the passive Perception check ("You discover a secret door!") to be an example of "character skill" but I see it as rewarding rules mastery (in the sense of character building). [*]You mention "using d20 to determine time". Yes, if there's some urgency to the task then it starts to make sense to tie in dice rolls. But I still want some kind of decision-making to get to that point. Maybe (as has been discussed in other threads) the players are making a choice between several alternatives: picking the lock versus kicking down the door versus using a spell slot. I want the players to be balancing trade-offs in making these decisions. If their [I]only[/I] choice is to pick the lock, and they [I]must[/I] roll a d20 to determine whether the monster catches them before they do, then there's no actual engagement. I wouldn't write an adventure (even if only in my head) with the plan: "Ok, when they get to this point the rogue is going to have to start making Thieves' Tools checks, and for each failure X will happen." That's asking the players to enjoy my narrative, not to engage with it themselves. But if they had to weigh various risks, and settled on the lock-picking, then when the die is rolled it's [I]because of their decision[/I], not because they landed on that square of the board game. [/LIST] [/QUOTE]
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