THIS is why I roll in the open...

[diaglo]

Second, I never fudge, so why use a screen anyway?

i use one just to hide my notes and maps.
edit: and minis

 

[Shemeska]

Sometimes I roll out in the open, but 85% of the time I roll behind the screen. My players don't seem to mind and they trust me that I won't fudge rolls to 'get' them. I guess it just depends on the rapport that you've got with your players and what they like. And yes I have fudged rolls on rare occasion, but only to help the PCs and even then it's usually been something minor that would add something cool to the game. I don't think I've ever fudged anything in life or death situations.

 

[barsoomcore]

I'm usually at a different table and have screens etc, so it's most convenient for me to roll "out of sight". But I like to make some rolls on the main table in front of the players -- usually bad guy saving throws against PC spells, or opposed checks, or anything where it's the NPC trying to resist something the PC is doing. It's dramatic and fun for everyone as they hold their breath, waiting to see if their ploy takes effect.

I have a player who rolls on his clipboard where nobody else can see and gets a very high number of very high rolls, so I've started doing a lot more "in the open" rolls in order to encourage all my players to do likewise. It seems to help with the "private rolling" problem.

 

[Storminator]

I'm a big fan of rolling out in the open, except for obvious things the players shouldn't know, like the results of search, spot, and bluff checks, etc.

I even have the players do those in the open. I have the player grab 3 dice and show them to me. Then I secretly pick one of them and have the player roll all three. So I know what the real results are, and the players may or may not have a clue, depending on the dice.

I think it's fun.

PS

 

[The_Gneech]

I haven't really thought about it either way, but I tend to always roll in the open. The dice create their own uncertainty in the story, and the sheer knowledge that everyone can roll a 1 or 20 is enough to make most encounters more exciting.

The dice's impartiality help make the game fun, IMHO.

The dice are NOT impartial!

I CANNOT roll above an 8 on a d20. Period. I frequently beg the GM to let me take 10, because it's the only way I'll occasionally succeed at something.

-The Gneech

 

[ThirdWizard]

I never roll in the open. I much prefer that the players don't see what I'm rolling. I don't fudge the rolls, I just don't want them to know all the rolls that are happening. When I play I prefer a DM to roll behind the screen. It has probably never even crossed my players minds that the DM could roll in the open. To me, the DM's rolls are a "black box." Information goes in, and it comes out, but how it happens is best left as ambiguous as possible.

 

[Zappo]

I don't roll in the open, and I sometimes fudge the rolls or even change the monster's stats on the fly. And I don't feel bad about it - I know that sometimes I accidentally make a monster too powerful or too weak, and I may need to, well, correct these errors. I like added tension, but I think that preventing accidental TPKs or anticlimactic battles is more important.

 

[focallength]

Inform your players that you can withdraw from combat as a full move action and not take attacks of opportunity. Dosent sound like they know this if theyre trying to get away and only taking a fiver to avoid an AoO. And withdraw dosent mean you have to move away from combat you can use it to get out of combat and closer to other combatants.

 

[Jupp]

In one group our DM allways rolls behind the screen until we (the players) decide that it should be rolled in the open. Thats mostly the case in very dramatic or important fights. Most of us hate to have someone fudging rolls on important situation, its cheating. The first time our DM didnt want to roll in the open but we just pressed him until he gave in. I think in the end it turned out very well like that because the tension got very high and even the DM enjoyed the thrill we had

 

[shilsen]

i use one just to hide my notes and maps.
edit: and minis

I guess that's why it doesn't matter for me. I don't use maps (mainly because I almost never do dungeon crawls) and my notes are a couple sheets of typed paper, so there's nothing to hide. As for minis, I just grab some roughly appropriate ones from those available (don't have any of my own, so I use my players). Plus sometimes it's fun to pick out some particularly mean/tough/scary minis and set them near my notes and have players looking at them wondering whether I'll actually use them or am just messing with them. Sometimes it's both