When I am a game master, I usually shied away from significant use of chance during my tabletop roleplaying sessions. I preferred was for story direction and session development to be determined by deliberate decisions as opposed to random chance. However, I opted to change my approach, and I'm very pleased with the outcome.
A popular podcast features a DM who frequently calls for "chance rolls" from the adventurers. This involves selecting a specific dice and outlining possible results tied to the result. This is at its core no different from consulting a random table, these are created on the spot when a player's action lacks a predetermined outcome.
I chose to experiment with this method at my own session, mainly because it looked novel and presented a departure from my standard routine. The experience were fantastic, prompting me to think deeply about the perennial tension between preparation and spontaneity in a tabletop session.
During one session, my party had survived a large-scale conflict. When the dust settled, a cleric character wondered if two beloved NPCs—a pair—had lived. Instead of picking a fate, I handed it over to chance. I asked the player to roll a d20. The possible results were: on a 1-4, both died; a middling roll, a single one would die; on a 10+, they survived.
Fate decreed a 4. This triggered a deeply moving moment where the adventurers discovered the remains of their friends, still clasped together in their final moments. The cleric conducted a ceremony, which was particularly meaningful due to prior roleplaying. As a final gesture, I chose that the forms were suddenly restored, containing a magical Prayer Bead. By chance, the item's magical effect was precisely what the party lacked to address another major quest obstacle. It's impossible to script this type of magical story beats.
This incident led me to ponder if randomization and spontaneity are in fact the core of this game. While you are a prep-heavy DM, your improvisation muscles can rust. Players often excel at upending the most detailed plots. Therefore, a good DM needs to be able to adapt swiftly and create details on the fly.
Utilizing on-the-spot randomization is a great way to practice these abilities without venturing too far outside your comfort zone. The trick is to use them for low-stakes circumstances that don't fundamentally change the campaign's main plot. For instance, I would not employ it to establish if the main villain is a traitor. However, I could use it to figure out if the characters arrive right after a key action occurs.
Luck rolls also serves to make players feel invested and foster the impression that the game world is dynamic, evolving based on their choices in real-time. It reduces the feeling that they are merely pawns in a rigidly planned script, thereby strengthening the cooperative foundation of roleplaying.
This philosophy has long been part of the core of D&D. Early editions were filled with charts, which fit a playstyle focused on dungeon crawling. While current D&D often emphasizes story and character, leading many DMs to feel they require detailed plans, it's not necessarily the only path.
There is absolutely no issue with doing your prep. Yet, equally valid no problem with stepping back and allowing the whim of chance to decide some things in place of you. Control is a big aspect of a DM's responsibilities. We require it to facilitate play, yet we frequently find it hard to give some up, in situations where doing so could be beneficial.
A piece of advice is this: Do not fear of letting go of control. Embrace a little improvisation for minor details. The result could find that the unexpected outcome is infinitely more powerful than anything you could have scripted in advance.
Elara is a seasoned writer and digital storyteller with a passion for exploring diverse literary genres and empowering others through words.
