TL/DR - We like dice, they're cool, we spend a lot of money on fancy ones and we like rolling them. All that's a given. But as Game Masters we need to break the bad habit of calling for dice rolls for every little thing that our players try to do.

Introduction

As I originally conceive this, I'm currently on a flight to Amsterdam to see GreenDay live with Mrs. WazEre and I'm watching a downloaded actual play of Alien RPG to pass the time.

Or at least I was, but a particular cardinal GM sin was repeated one time too many and I felt compelled to mount my soap box…

You see, the GM kept asking for dice rolls for mundane things, like opening a door, or looking at a security card to see what's on it.

You might be thinking 'so what?!', well dear reader…

Inappropriate and excessive rolling is problematic because when the dice Gods inevitably laugh in your face, the GM is left struggling to come up with a reason for the fail.

When there's no good reason for failing an action that maintains verisimilitude, the resulting attempted explanation inevitably feels forced and awkward.

Compounding this issue, when they see something that seems otherwise simple, fail like this, the other players will start asking if they can try. You can either come up with justifications why they cannot, or allow them to roll also, but when fate curls another one out on your head from a great height, and this new character fails their roll too - Well, now the problem is exacerbated.

Why are all these characters unable to identify if this is a library card or a birthday card, and to whom it’s made out?!

We’ve created a major issue for the players sense of agency. Our dice calls have turned their characters into clowns against their will!

Everyone Is Guilty

I’ve never seen a GM not do this at some point. I used to do this too, and not so long ago that I can’t still keenly remember how uncomfortable it feels to call for a roll and then be left trying to come up with a legitimate consequence for failure. Or maybe success was actually really important for some reason, so after an unnecessary roll where the player scores a 4, I’d try to pretend like 4 was the DC all along.

Yeah, the players catch on to that and it's a cringeworthy moment.

Here’s A Fun Anecdote, That I DEFINITELY Don’t Hold A Grudge About

Going even further back, in my first game as a player, I remember my rogue (DEX = 18) out in front, creeping down some stairs with the party in tow. I was just being cautious and quiet about it, but there was no threat. However, a stealth roll was called and I scored a natural 1.

The GM then fumbled about, grasping for a severe consequence to the crit fail and ruled that I fell down the stairs.

And Just like that, ripped straight out of the moment, there went any semblance I had that my character was a competent thief.

If it’s not obvious already - There’s no need for a rogue thief to roll when creeping, unobserved down a stairwell. That’s an automatic success situation. My rogue thief walks around quietly as his day job - he’s good at it, he probably eats it for breakfast. It’s his entire reason for being.

Ironically, if I had just said I wanted to go down the stairs like the party following me had, the GM wouldn’t have called for a check, but because I said I wanted to go down cautiously, he felt like a sneak roll was required, and the failure, and subsequent desperate explanation led to a situation that turned a cool character into a joke.

Not that I’m still bitter about it or anything ;D

To Roll, Or Not To Roll? That Is The Question

This advice is applicable for every system I've ever played, but of those, very few, such as Mothership RPG and Mausritter have explicitly baked it into the rules in one form or another.

So here it is, drum roll, please:

Only call for a roll if there is clear risk or urgency attached to the action. Otherwise just have characters automatically succeed or fail as appropriate - depending on how mundane the task is or if the characters backstory supports their skill in a particular action.

That reminds me - It's particularly important advice for games where you have to look for McGuffins. Recently, a chap on my socials was upset about his Call of Cthulhu adventure falling apart because his players failed their spot hidden rolls to find important clues, even with the “rule of three” - his game had ground to a halt after they’d failed their checks.

Well, now you know; the solution is to not put important clues behind dice rolls in the first place.

Perhaps Sir Would Like To See Some Examples?

These are some pretty on the nose cases where some similarly paired situations should and shouldn’t require a dice check:

If the rogue wants to unlock the shed door - he succeeds, because he’s good at this stuff, and no one’s watching, and there’s no time pressure.
If the rogue wants to unlock the kings bedroom door quickly before the guard circles back around - make a check. Failure means the guard sees you.
If the marine wants to shoot (with a tranquillizer dart, of course!) a bad guy sleeping at his desk - she succeeds, because she’s passed her basic training and she can fire a gun.
If the marine wants to shoot a bad guy on patrol and avoid alerting the base - make a roll. Failure means the bullet whips past him so he takes cover and radios for help.
If the geology professor wants to see if the Necronomicon is in the big pile of books on the messy desk - they can simply determine that because they’ve got eyes and time.
If that same geology professor wants to find the Necronomicon on the desk whilst the room is on fire - they need to make a roll. Failure means that the desk and everything on it is caught on fire before the Necronomicon is found.

You get it right?

It's a small change but it makes a huge difference to the flow of your game, not to mention that it prevents players from experiencing that sour taste that accompanies being denied something that you just know should have been a given.

A top tip

An excellent good mental technique in game is to pause a moment and try to explain the consequences of failure to yourself before calling for the roll.

If you find yourself unable to come up with something that doesn’t feel contrived, don't call for the roll!

Conclusion

What do you think, do you call for too many rolls? Does your GM? Am I just wrong about this? Drop me a comment below and tell me what you think!

Hey, thanks for reading - you’re good people. If you’ve enjoyed this, it’d be great if you could share it on your socials - it really helps me out and costs you nothing! If you’re super into it and want to make sure you catch more of my content, subscribe to my free monthly Mailer of Many Things newsletter - it really makes a huge difference, and helps me keep this thing running!