When we swap stories of games that went wrong, they usually have one thing in common: The players missed (possibly incinerated) an important detail. Which raises one really important DMing question: Why was it so easy to miss (or destroy) that detail?
If your plot was ruined by a die roll, you have DMed poorly.
Beware SIngle-Point Failures
A single-point failure is a fundamental engineering problem. It’s when a single part of the system not working stops the entire thing from working. Now, there are single-point failures all over design, but they need to be treated with respect. If the helicopter has one rotor keeping it in the air, you need to make sure that rotor keeps spinning.
What you need to ask yourself when facing a single-point failure in your game – such as the clue that someone has to find to move the game forward and keep everyone fro spending fours hours in frustration – is this: Can you really trust every member of your party to not fail that test?
If you can, great, design without fear. For the parties I DM, I’m going to bring a backup plan or eight to the table.
The Real Role of Dice
Some people are going to read that as a call for storyteller-type systems that take the dice out of playing entirely. It’s not. I’m personally not a fan of storyteller systems. I want the story to develop organically from the interaction of the roleplay and the world, and the dice are an important part of creating that interaction.
To me, a world where everything lines up perfectly for the story is a little corny and hasn’t earned its beats. I want a story that develops with the characters and the world. The randomness of dice helps make that happen.
So dice are great. I love dice. They’re the physics and chemistry of the gaming universe!
But dice should not decide the game.
The real role of dice in an RPG is to decide the outcome of individual actions or circumstances and the impact they have on the game. They add the details that keep things interesting, and the very fact that there are so many rolls over the course of a game keeps things balanced – hot dice in one encounter tend to be balanced out by cold dice later. They decide the edge details, not the overall shape of the game.
Success or failure on the grand scale should be determined by what the players decide to do. That’s the real heart of the game. Every player decision is part of the roleplay, even if it’s not done in a funny accent or driven by a detailed backstory.
The player decisions ARE the game. The dice influence the circumstances and how those decisions play out, but dice should never overshadow the decisions players make.
And players can’t make good decisions without good information. It’s the DM’s job to make sure they have the information they need to understand the consequences and make those decisions. If you don’t figure out a way to make sure they get the information they need to interpret your world, you’re not doing your job as a DM.
So when the players need to find an important clue to advance the plot, or they need to intuit some relationships to understand what’s going on in your setting, or they just need to think to ask someone some basic questions … This is not the time for the dice to decide what the players learn.
It’s the DM’s job to make sure the characters get the information the players need to play the game.
The DM Skill Test
This happens in a lot of games, not just D&D, so there’s actually a lot of ways people have solved the issue.
In investigative games like Call of Cthulhu, the players might miss the important clue by blowing an investigation check. Then the GM has to figure out a way to sneak that clue in later and get them on the right track, usually after several hours of the players groping around with no idea of what to do next
This happens so often that there’s even a second RPG on the COC license called Trail of Cthuhlu that uses a point spend system to automatically find important clues. So long as a PC has the appropriate skill, they either find the clue for free or have the option to spend a point to make sure they find it.
This ensures that player decisions and DM interpretation mean more than dice rolls in the outcome of the game.
This is a good trick for D&D games that count on a skill check being made. In the Curse of Strahd Murder House adventure, for example, a player needs to decide to make (and pass) a religion check in order to understand that the cult wants them to sacrifice a life to satisfy the house and leave without more trouble. If they don’t make the sacrifice, they have to fight a big monster, and then the house turns into a difficult death trap that may well kill the party on the way out.
This can be pretty anti-climactic if the party doesn’t realize that the cult was giving them a choice. Without that essential information, they may not understand why the house is attacking and just chalk it up to a ridiculous difficulty level. “We beat the big monster! Now this bullshit is just the game (or DM) being a sore loser.” With the information, that final deathtrap is understood as the house being a sore loser, and that sets the tone for a campaign where players will have to make hard decisions with real consequences they may not be able to survive: Defy Strahd at your peril.
This is why the DM needs the players to learn certain info in order for them to understand and accurately interpret what’s supposed to be happening. If this was an Indiana Jones scene, either Dr. Jones or one of his companions would tell the audience what’s going on.
How often, though, do you still hide that kind of information behind a skill check?
4 Ways to Solve the Dice Problem
My rule is this:
- If the players get an extra bonus or benefit by discovering something, they should have to actively investigate and make a roll. That rewards inquisitive play and encourages them to slow down, pay attention and try things.
- If I NEED the players to discover something in order to move the plot forward or make sure they get important context, I’m going to make sure they find it.
This could look like a few things.
- Maybe I just read the hidden things to everyone? No muss, no fuss. I just say “you come into the room, it’s cold, it’s got a table, chairs, a desk. And you find a note in the desk with this info…” It’s not the most suspenseful solution, but if the session isn’t focused on investigation, I might choose this option to keep from wasting time and losing focus on the goal.
- Maybe I ask who has a skill? Then, like in the Gumshoe System, I just give the information to them so long as someone has it. I will have different things prepared for different skills (or just know ahead of time which skills the party has).
- Maybe I suggest they make the skill roll to learn more? … Then maybe I let everyone at the table roll individually so someone will almost certainly make the check? … Maybe I make the difficulty like a 10 or a 9? With this technique, I’m still giving the players the illusion of actively searching – but I’m going to make sure they find it.
- Maybe I suggest they make the roll, but if they fail, I give them more clues to help until they figure it out? This makes the party do a little more work and earn the clue without actually risking the info. It’s a good tactic when you do want them to spend time investigating and thinking about the situation, but, in the end, you need them to find that detail.
Understand Your Job
At the end of the session, what really matters is whether or not everyone had a good time. And no one’s having a good time when they’re floundering around not understanding how to advance the quest. (For the record, I don’t mind some floundering if I’m waiting for them to tell me how it advances, but that’s a trick we’ll get into another time.)
It’s not the DM’s job to make decisions for the players. But you are responsible for the information the players receive. When that information is essential to understanding what’s going on or to advance in the adventure, don’t leave it up to chance – whether that’s the dice or unpredictable PCs.
Back when we played 1st Edition, the DM rolled all the dice and he rolled them in secret. So he could fudge hits and damage and skill checks to make sure things came out the way he wanted, while still giving the illusion that everything was still uncertain. Seemed to work pretty well. 🙂
Hey Scott,
I have heard that this was the method during the original days of the “white box,” up to and including rolling the stats for your character as well (strength, dexterity, etc.)! I, for one, would really miss the rolling of dice.
-D
We never had the DM roll character stats. That would be going too far 🙂 Of course back then, there were no initiative rolls, no proficiency rolls, etc. etc. Pretty much just combat rolls and the occasional skill check.