Living and Dying by the Dice

When you run a game, are your dice rolls absolute?  Do your players live or die based on random chance or worse yet the fickle whims of the Dice Gods? As a GM who’s been running some form of a game for the better part of 20 years, I must say that how I use the results of my dice rolls are completely dependent on the game and the situation.

I am not a Malevolent GM. I don’t enjoy killing off characters. Hurting them- check. Maiming them - sure. Having them lose all their treasure just to escape – oh yeah.  Burn a few bridges or earn the ire of the evil warlord – oh Gods yes.  Indiana Jones didn’t look so good after he finally recovered the Ark of the Covenant. Neither do my players once they finish a brutal session.

By the same token, I’m not a benevolent GM either. I don’t give my players what they want – they have to earn it. Rarely do they escape unscathed.  The treasure they earned may be to repair their gear, get new stuff that was damaged or destroyed – or pay for or to rebuild something they had a hand in destroying.  In my games money is easy come – easier go.

The dice help me tell my story.  They give me an idea as to what NPC’s and villains will do.  If I roll really well I’ll take that into account for the outcome. Maybe they break, maybe they hold. But I have never let the dice be the arbiter of my games. I even fudge the dice rolls or completely ignore them if it helps me further the story.

I have killed players before. For sheer stupidity.  I do put things in the game that they have no chance of beating – but usually enough clues that it would be a bad idea to try. Subtle clues and sometimes a flashing neon sign aren’t always enough .The ginormous paw prints that are longer than one of their horses. The charred and molten remains of the armor just outside of the cave.  When they use every skill and spell they have to sneak up on their foe only to find him waiting casually for them and then they attack him anyway. Then comes the TPK and the complaining.

I’ve killed a character for a player’s story arc. The player wanted to retire the character but go out with a bang. We built the tension, entered the scene, and at the most dramatic time he went down.  It was perfect because the other players had no idea.

For me the dice are more of a guide. I’ll often set up some options in my head and roll off it.  I’ll make my players roll against me – usually a single D6. If they beat me it’s usually a good thing. They fail – well time to break out the battle mat. Sometimes it is just to make them think something is about to happen.

Sometimes I’ll just roll dice behind my GM screen and make little comments to myself, or write little notes just to make my players paranoid.  Or I’ll just roll the dice to hear them roll. One player has told me he hates that.

For me GMing is all about the story and how my players help me tell it. I want them to have fun. The dice help add tension and maybe help something happen that normally would not have. If it is a one shot, I’m a bit more brutal. The characters are normally pre-generated and usually throw away.  If I’m running a Cthulhu game then all bets are off. Sometimes the best thing that can happen is that you die. Right now I am running a full blown campaign with a long story arc. I’ve had my players write up backgrounds; give me details, plot hooks, goals for their characters.  Unless they get bored with their character they should survive – though they may be missing some body parts.

One GM I played with briefly was the complete opposite. The dice were absolute and he loved to throw us at things that we didn’t always have a chance to survive. He had some program and would run simulations of the expected combat. One that he put us in, the party survived only 1 time in about 20 simulations. And by survive one or two did not die.  Needless to say we had a TPK early on and the time I spent writing and developing his background went out the window in about 2 sessions.  In that aspect it is good to let your players know just how brutal your campaign is going to be. 

I’ve also had a character killed by a lucky shot and brutal damage roll from a mook.  If you are a GM and you have fun doing that to your players, I’ll be sure to skip your game.

The dice are but one item in your toolbox. Don’t let them run your game, let them help you tell your story. But most of all don’t let them destroy the fun you are supposed to be having.