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When I am a game master, I traditionally shied away from heavy use of chance during my Dungeons & Dragons adventures. My preference was for the plot and what happened in a game to be shaped by player choice rather than random chance. That said, I opted to change my approach, and I'm truly glad I did.

The Spark: Watching a Custom Mechanic

An influential actual-play show features a DM who frequently calls for "fate rolls" from the players. He does this by choosing a polyhedral and outlining possible results contingent on the result. It's essentially no distinct from consulting a pre-generated chart, these are created spontaneously when a player's action has no predetermined conclusion.

I opted to test this method at my own table, primarily because it appeared interesting and offered a departure from my standard routine. The results were remarkable, prompting me to think deeply about the often-debated dynamic between planning and improvisation in a tabletop session.

A Memorable Session Moment

At a session, my players had just emerged from a large-scale fight. Afterwards, a player asked about two beloved NPCs—a sibling duo—had made it. Instead of deciding myself, I handed it over to chance. I instructed the player to make a twenty-sided die roll. The possible results were: a low roll, both were killed; on a 5-9, a single one would die; a high roll, they both lived.

The player rolled a 4. This resulted in a incredibly moving moment where the adventurers discovered the corpses of their allies, still clasped together in their final moments. The group held a ceremony, which was particularly significant due to previous character interactions. As a parting touch, I improvised that the NPCs' bodies were strangely transformed, revealing a magical Prayer Bead. I randomized, the item's contained spell was exactly what the party lacked to resolve another major story problem. You simply script this type of magical story beats.

Improving DM Agility

This incident led me to ponder if improvisation and thinking on your feet are truly the beating heart of this game. Even if you are a prep-heavy DM, your skill to pivot may atrophy. Adventurers often excel at ignoring the most carefully laid plans. Therefore, a effective DM needs to be able to think quickly and create scenarios in real-time.

Employing luck rolls is a fantastic way to train these abilities without straying too much outside your usual style. The key is to deploy them for small-scale circumstances that have a limited impact on the session's primary direction. For instance, I would avoid using it to determine if the main villain is a secret enemy. However, I might use it to decide whether the characters reach a location moments before a major incident occurs.

Empowering Player Agency

Luck rolls also works to keep players engaged and cultivate the sensation that the game world is responsive, progressing in reaction to their decisions as they play. It prevents the perception that they are merely characters in a pre-written script, thereby bolstering the shared nature of the game.

This philosophy has always been embedded in the original design. Original D&D were reliant on charts, which fit a game focused on exploration. Even though modern D&D tends to focuses on story and character, leading many DMs to feel they need exhaustive notes, that may not be the best approach.

Finding the Healthy Equilibrium

Absolutely no problem with being prepared. But, it's also fine no problem with relinquishing control and permitting the rolls to guide minor details rather than you. Control is a major aspect of a DM's job. We use it to facilitate play, yet we often struggle to give some up, even when doing so can lead to great moments.

A piece of advice is this: Have no fear of relinquishing a bit of control. Experiment with a little chance for minor details. It may discover that the organic story beat is infinitely more rewarding than anything you could have scripted on your own.