Ask questions first, roll dice later

We roll the dice a lot when playing RPGs, but we don’t always roll them well.

I find there are two kinds of rolls: those where the rules cover exactly what you’re trying to do (most often in combat), and all the other times.

Some recent examples from a recent game of The Dee Sanction:

• Recapturing a fleeing prisoner.
• Persuading suspicious guards to trust you.
• Magically setting fire to a wet door.
• Trying to stop a maid from running down the stairs.

The sheer number of options available to players (what S John Ross calls tacticalinfinity) means that the rules can’t cover everything. Yes, it’s usually easy to identify the correct attribute or skill to apply to the roll, but you still need your judgement to evaluate the results.

What does success look like? What about failure?

I used to roll the dice and then try and interpret the results. Often that worked (usually when the result was a clear success or failure); sometimes it didn’t.

These days, I ask questions before the dice are rolled:

• What does success look like?
• What does failure look like?
• The absolute best result?
• And the worst?

It’s always worth asking the players:

• They know what they’re trying to achieve better than I do, so letting them specify what success and failure means we avoid any misinterpretations.
• Describing success and failure gives players ownership in the roll and helps make the game more collaborative.
• When describing failure, players are almost always more horrible to their characters than I am. I’m often too nice.

So today’s gaming tip: ask questions first, roll dice later.