to screen or not to screen do you roll in front of your players?

[Psion]

I use a screen for reference... but it takes up table space when I am using a laptop, so sometimes I just lay it to the side. I really make no effort to hide my dice rolls from the players (except, perhaps, if the players know what I am rolling but won't know the outcome.) I don't try to pull punches. I want players to know that any time they enter combat, that their characters are in danger. I feel that when the players learn that the GM is taking measures to ensure the PCs can't die, the game loses a certain feeling of tension and excitement.

 

[Turanil]

whats your groups method "to screen or not to screen" and what have you found as the contributing factor to your decision?

I have a screen, but I nonetheless most of the time roll in front of the players. That way I look impartial. However, there is some roll behind the screen, including those done for nothing but have them fear that something is maybe happening.

 

[Philip]

I roll everything in the open. For 'secret rolls' such as Spot or Search checks, I make the player roll a series in advance, and secretly mark them of my list as soons as a particular check is called for. Still gives the player's some feeling of control.

I hate it when DM's roll behind the screen, because it is my experience that they will fudge rolls, and all fudging will tend to go to the average. BBEG are never killed by a low roll on a save in the first rounds of combat, characters who within one blow of dying are suddenly missed time after time. It destroy's my feeling suspension of disbelief, of being in control (even thought that's only an illusion).

I would rather that DM's would fudge with hit points and the like instead of with their rolls. Plenty of room for fudging left. But when I hit the lich with my disintegrate in the surprise round, look at the DM expectantly, see him roll behind the screen, see him look long at the result, his brow furrowed, followed by a longer pause than normal, and then declaring the lich made the save, then I usually interpreted as yet another fudged roll because the DM wants to get a few more rounds out of his meticiously built BBEG.

 

[John Morrow]

whats your groups method "to screen or not to screen" and what have you found as the contributing factor to your decision?

I'm using a screen for the first time for the D&D game that I'm running because, in all honesty, my players demanded it. They felt it was an integral part of the D&D mystique. Normally, I don't use a screen.

I'm thinking of going back to rolling more rolls in the open because I really don't fudge rolls all that often. The only time I've been changing rolls is when (A) the players start rolling over a monster that's supposed to be a challenge way too easily or (B) a monster starts rolling over the players when it's not supposed to be that much of a challenge. Otherwise, I pretty much go with what I roll. The screen is useful for hiding notes, though.

 

[Staffan]

I use a screen, but mostly roll in the open (though sometimes I lapse back into old habits). Like others, I roll secret PC rolls (e.g. spot, appraise) either behind the screen or behind my hand, but combat rolls are out in the open.

I mostly use my screen to hide my notes as well as a repository for all sorts of rules stuff. Basically, I took the pertinent parts of some reference sheets I found online, converted to 3e and landscape format, printed out, and glued to cardboard. Though I've considered using a smaller screen and cutting down on the screen info, because a five or six-panel landscape screen takes up a lot of table space.

 

[National Acrobat]

I use a screen for notes only.

All die rolls are out in the open for everyone. We all understand it's a game, and if someone dies or they manage to defeat the BBEG because I rolled crappy, everyone accepts it and deals with it.

 

[R-Hero]

I will screen for the most part, but roll in front of the players occasionally, to let them know that i'm being honest.

The only time I ever fudge one is if it will be detremental to the game play. i.e. Take the game flow to a part that I havn't prepared for or a tpk without any way of continuing the game. It rarely happens though.

Its kind of like having a good poker hand and having an opponent fold then showing your hand to them. The next bluff has more weight to it.

If a fudged roll is suspected, everyone knows that it is for game play and me not being a rat Dm.

 

[Darkness]

No screen. My players are not at the same table as me anyway.

Further, I'm going to use the "players roll all the dice" variant from UA.
I also use action points and bell curve rolls (3d6 instead of 1d20), also suggested in UA.

Thus, I don't fudge, my players can mitigate bad rolls with action points, and average rolls are a lot more likely than extremely high or low ones.

 

[The Shaman]

I screen rolls only because I find it heightens the players' sense of mystery.

Good gamers can roleplay their characters' surprise and fear and curiosity, but I find the experience of the game is enhanced if the players are feeling something like these emotions as well. Not knowing whether or not I tanked a save or if the bad guy was weaker than they thought helps to maintain an aura of mystery that I think is integral to a good game.

I generally don't fudge rolls, sometimes to my detriment - for example, in my PbP game an NPC was shot and wounded by the PCs. This guy was supposed to be a fairly tough, cagey opponent: instead, first I tanked his Cool check, so instead of engaging in a running battle with the legionnaires he surrendered almost immediately, and second, he failed his level check and succumbed to Intimidation and gave up a whole bunch of my plot to the PCs, instead of leading them into an ambush as planned. Fudging the rolls would've resulted in a very different game up to this point, but that's not the way the winds of chance decided to blow.

In any event, I don't think the players' knowing what's happening behind the screen - "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!" - adds anything to the game. As far as the players not trusting the GM to be fair, well, what the @#$%& are you doing spending your leisure time with someone you don't trust?!?

 

[MonsterMash]

I screen rolls, but I don't really tend to check my players rolls much as we don't have big trust issues in my group. On the whole I tend not to fudge die rolls so it doesn't matter too much, but with the table layout it's simply easier than my having to reach round the screen to roll in plain sight.