Rolling Dice like a DM
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So, I’ve found that when I DM, I tend to roll really poorly.
Now, I’m not the type of DM who is in competition with players, so this doesn’t bother me. However, it’s a bit disconcerting when more than three-quarters of the time, I”m simply rolling under 5.
When you’ve got a massive white dragon who’s unable to impale a single hero on his claw, or when the heroes have more than a dozen archers fire at them and miss every time, it gets to you.
I know it’s not my dice, because when I use them as a player, they roll just fine. It’s just my DMing, it appears.
Do any of you have this issue? Do you help your players (accidentally) when you DM through bad rolling?
I’ve had sessions like that. I’ve also had sessions with the exact opposite. So for me, it evens outs. If you really have a problem with that, I’d suggest having a program spit out a slew of random numbers on a piece of paper and use those. Marking them off as you use them.
Sounds like it’s time to spend $10 and buy new dice. Or better yet, see of one of your players is willing to trade a set of dice with you. If they keep rolling poorly, then it’s not your problem any more.
Many times (and last gaming sessions was one of them) I WISH my DM would roll badly. Her dice are magical — I swear she never rolls under 15.
I bought a few sets of Game Science’s dice and have been very happy with their much more (un)predictable results.
The players can’t see what you’re rolling can they? So what’s the problem, just say you rolled an 18. How will they know any difference? I always suspected that’s what your dad was doing.
Wait, you only roll badly when you’re a GM? Come on, fess up. You tend to roll terribly always! Unless you’re saying your luck as finally changed. I’ll have to inform the BigHead. We might have to do something about it.
It evens out for everybody. There’s no such thing as bad rolling. It’s all perception and normal statistical variance.
Everyone has their bad roll days. Sometimes is more often than good roll days. I do agree with Ameron, in which you should trade with a player to test the dice further. If that player keeps rolling poorly then obviously it’s not just YOU, however I don’t agree at all, with the idea that you should just pawn then off on any of your players and leave them to their fates. It should never be THAT easy to kill of your players. Know what I mean?
i tend to agree with dice monkey, every time i sit behind that dm screen, my dice turn into these beings of hatred that seem to wish nothing but misery upon me. one time the players fought a elder great wyrm dragon and it only did 5 points of damage to one person. not only that, someone shot it with save vs. poison or death arrows and it completly failed the check, 4 times. i first tried buying new dice, those ones didnt roll well either, so i give them to a player, and the dice change, instead of rolling under a 10, he doesnt roll below a 16. while bonemaster has a good point, thats not random. the books says to let dice fall where they may, not write down some numbers and select which ones you use. and as far as lying about your rolls? what is the point of doing such an action. it goes against the whole purpose of rolling dice for an rpg, if your are the dm and a monster is un-hittable, just say so. but there should never be a need to lye about your rolls, if your monsters get whacked, eh it happens, the players are supposed to “win” not the dm, if every session ended in a total party kill i doubt any players will show back up.
That’s a very good point, Chris. If I may, I might use elements of your comment in an upcoming Critical Failure.