Have you ever played with a DM/GM that would roll a dice behind their screen, apparently for no reason, and then maybe make a sound like they are worried or just look at a specific player as if the roll would impact that character? Once in a while, the roll would be legitimate. I can remember Dwarves having a 1 in 6 chance of noticing sloping passageways or elves having a 1 in 6 chance of noticing secret doors and that kind of thing, but most of the time it is the dicing equivalent of saying “Are you sure?” after a character decides on their action.
These are just devices to try to add some tension to a game. They are not going to work in a solo game, which is why we used things like drama dice and clocks so we can see doom approaching or the chances of success ebb away.
But I was thinking about those fake dice rolls. Could they have a place in a solo game?
How about this…
At the start of your session, roll a handful of whatever dice are the most appropriate for your game system. Say something like 10d20. In no particular order, I just work top to bottom and left to right based on how they land, and record all those numbers.
Now, the next time you are required to make a roll for an event or action by an NPC or an inanimate object, take the first number and strike it off.
If you have a minor encounter, use the numbers for their attack rolls, perception checks, or whatever.
What you gain is that this is a tiny bit faster than having to grab dice and wait for them to land before you can determine the result. Sometimes the result will be obvious as soon as you know what the number is, in which case you are much more likely or able to simply use a narrative description of the action rather than going through the motions of resolving the attack. Sometimes you will know that a run of really good attack rolls is in this sequence, and you can narratively rationalize them. Knowing that the next three goblins are all going to roll natural 20s against you is going to heighten the danger of that minor encounter and give you fodder to imagine how that fight is going to go.
It is also a way of foreshadowing something, like knowing that if you are using the dice as attack rolls for NPCs, then you are going to have a tough fight at some point.
If you use these rolls for friendly NPCs as well as for foes, it has the effect of making the character more of the star of the show. It is your PC that has the jeopardy of rolling for success or failure, and the supporting cast is handled more narratively.
When you hit a significant foe, an end-of-level boss, or a key figure in the adventure, you don’t use the fake rolls; you roll for them as you would normally.
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