D&D General Thread about fudging dice rolls

[soviet]

I feel that this is at the more pejorative end of ways to describe skilled play!

Speaking a bit technically, I would say that skilled play, in the Gygaxian sense, is predominantly drama resolution where the GM narrates the outcome based on their adjudication of the character's fictional position and the player's account of what the character is doing. (I say "predominantly" because there might be bits of fortune in there - eg, if the player says that their character will break through the doors by pushing over the heavy statue so that it crashes into them, the GM might call for a roll to see if the character is able to heave the statue over.) And this is taking place in a context where what is valued, among the game participants, is demonstrations of problem-solving cleverness in the context of (ever more baroque) architectural obstacles.

A really good source of examples for discussing skilled play, in my view, is White Plume Mountain. The frictionless corridor with the super-tetanus-spiked pits is particularly noteworthy. This example shows that it's not about speaking "keywords" or finding the pre-determined solution to the puzzle: there can be multiple ways of getting through this challenge (eg some involving ropes, some involving "surfing" doors down the corridor, etc).

In this sort of play, when to call for a die roll is an important consideration: eg if the players come up with a rope-and-pitons solution to the frictionless corridor, should the GM also call for rolls to successfully hammer the pitons into the wall? I don't think there is a clear and unique answer to this question. Each table will have to come up with its own set of expectations and practices around what is reasonable and what is unfair.

I don't see it as pejorative. When the odds are stacked against you, attacking things in a creative way to avoid or minimise dice rolls is a good strategy.

 

[Thomas Shey]

This recently happened to me. I was playing in a Warhammer Fantasy game and my character could hear the approach of some sort of hoofbeats. We had been fighting beastmen (basically minotaur critters) which had hooves. We also knew that horse riders would be approaching. So, I asked the DM if I could distinguish between the two. The answer was a flat no. Now, I've grown up around horses and cows. I know for a fact that you can easily distinguish between them when they run. They are as different as a diesel and a gasoline engine. Add to that the fact tha the riders are in armor, so they sound like a bag full of pennies being shaken and, in my mind, it would be virtually impossible not to be able to make the distinction.

Now the DM, who had grown up in a city and the nearest to a cow he'd ever been was at a supermarket absolutely refused to change his mind. It was extremely frustrating to be honest (and the final episode in a string of frustration). It's why I don't do that sort of thing as a DM anymore. I am honest enough with myself now that I now that if I have to make that judgement, I'll probably make frustrating calls.

So, now I let the dice dictate narration. "Can I tell the difference between these types of hoofbeats?" "Roll a (whatever the system asks you to roll to resolve something)" Get the result and then narrate based on that result.

Other places its easy have this come up is things like climbing or sailing, but honestly, its a risk with anything with a real world analogy. Its why I say I'd rather have written rules to handle this sort of thing if it looks like its going to come up with any frequency even if the rules don't properly reflect reality because at least everyone is on the same page.

 

[CreamCloud0]

...OP could've at least left the thread title...

 

[payn]

...OP could've at least left the thread title...

Yeah, that was an epic take ball and go home action.

 

[Lupher]

...OP could've at least left the thread title...

Now the world will never know what this thread was about

 

[Gradine]

I'm pretty sure we were talking about fudge?


I like fudge

 

[billd91]

Hilarity ensues.

 

[definiteFreakyFishGuy]

What happened?

 

[Deset Gled]

What happened?

Someone running the account of THE ATTIC Vodcast made a fairly clickbaity post about whether fudging dice rolls was good or bad, and linked to one of their videos. When people called them out on the clickbaityness, they changed their name and removed references to the vodcast. After the thread continued without them, they came back and systematically removed every post they ever made on ENWorld and deleted everything including the OP, and the title of the thread.

I don't know if the players at THE ATTIC Vodcast are pro fudging or anti fudging. But their actions here make me feel like they are kind of players that flip the table and run away when things don't go how they want. They certainly put a significant effort into screwing up other people's conversations.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Yeah, that was--something.