In a lot of early role playing games, players would roll dice to determine a successful or failing outcome, but the Game Master would ultimately decide and narrate the effects of that outcome. This helped prevent ludonarrative dissonance between roll results and the described outcome. We’ve come a long way since RollMaster, though. In modern roleplay the shift has been towards player agency. But how does one encourage descriptive creativity from the players as well as avoid discussions at the table regarding how much (or little) a single roll can do? Some of my thoughts below.
Introducing Agency
For many players, the power that comes with deciding the effect of a die roll is a challenge to wield. It requires additional on-the-spot thinking and creativity that, previously, was the responsibility of the GM. It’s easy to want to use that power to make every success awesome or override failures. It can also be difficult to determine and dictate how other characters (NPCs) react to the roll. From personal experience, I’ve found it’s best to start with non-crucial and non-conflict rolls (for example, general skill rolls). To put the player in the mind of possible outcomes, have them describe what they’re doing, roll, then let them describe the outcome that fits the roll. Once that becomes more comfortable, I move the players on to social challenges. Finally (depending on the system), combat.
Success Rolls
Successful dice rolls are usually easier for the player to describe. Often this description follows their pre-roll description of what the player character was attempting to do. It can be tempting for players to magnify a success, trying to “win” the game with their description. As a GM, rather than flat-out saying “no,” I turn the exaggerated description of success into a series of rolls. This helps players identify how much impact a roll has and often tempers future rolls as they realize a grandiose description can lead to multiple rolls–some of which may result in failure.
Failure Rolls
Allowing a their character to fail at even a simple task can be difficult for some players. I typically encourage players to not think of failure rolls as a block, but more of a hurdle. In order to succeed they’ll need to try again or approach the problem from a different angle. This helps players keep in mind that when describing their failure roll it doesn’t have to be an end to their task, but a stumbling block. For the most part, this tactic keeps the game going and allows players to use their failure descriptions as a “pivot point” to handle the challenge a different way.
Criticals
Many game systems incorporate critical success and/or failure rules for dice rolls. As a GM, I’ve found these to be dangerous for a group of players to narrate. One player may be able to reign their rolls in, but rarely an entire table of players. For that reason, I suggest having players describe any critical as a standard success or failure, then embellish as a GM. For example, if a player was fast-talking an NPC into allowing them access to a location and critically succeeded, the player should narrate as if it was a standard success, “they believes me and let me in,” in which I (as a GM) would follow with “not only do they allow your character access, they make you a temporary permit so you shouldn’t be hassled by any guards.” This keeps the agency with the player, but also allows those critical rules to come into play. For games that don’t use critical rolls, I also will accommodate good role-playing and post-roll descriptions with such embellishments. A well-described failure roll might be followed with a GM suggestion for later success or work-around.
Combat
In combat-heavy systems (D&D, Pathfinder, et al), this type of player agency can be a bit more difficult to keep on the rails. A descriptive success roll could lead to limb severing, bleeding rules, additional movement, or other effects that the roll may not have allowed for based on the rules. For these types of systems I’ve found it easiest as a GM to describe the combat actions, but allow players embellishments in terms of how they strike their opponent or their placement (in terms of direction, not movement) following their action.
Passive and No-Agency Rolls
There are some rolls the player will make in which they will not have agency. These rolls are typically limited to information solely under the GM’s knowledge of the adventure, such as investigation or observation rolls (both active and passive). Other rolls that continue to fall under sole GM responsibility would include initiative and status effect rolls (bleeding, poison, disease, etc.).
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