The Bazaar #104 – Fudging Dice Rolls

GENERAL

The controversy of the Game Master “fudging” or altering dice rolls made behind the GM screen has loooooong since been a part of the TTRPG community discussion and vernacular. I don’t think there are too many gaming groups that don’t ever come across this issue, or at least have discussed it. And frankly, there are some merits to both sides of the argument. I’m not here to make a case for one or the other. Upfront, I fudge dice rolls – like, all – the – time. But for a specific variety of reasons. And I think some of those are worth discussing, more so than the generic: You there, Game Master, “DO you, or do you NOT fudge your dice rolls?” That just isn’t specific or nuanced enough.

There is also the social contract element that is brought up often enough. The GM has ultimate control over the PCs, and by extension (to some extent) their friends around the table. They get to design the adventure and see many of the critical dice rolls Players are not privy. That is a privileged platform, and one that can gain some respect when done well, or loss a great deal of respect when floundered. If Players feel cheated out of a well-earned victory on discovery the GM ‘fixed the win’ for them, you've committing one of the cardinal sins as a GM. So let's cover what lines not to cross.

DISCUSSION

YouTube Warning. If this is a deep dive you want to get into, fair warning: YouTube has a mega-plethora of Videos and Shorts on the topic of “GM fudging dice rolls” that can be of some benefit, others less so. For the most part, you’re looking at a wave of d20 influencers that popped up with very similar videos (a few with counterpoints). It appears that 2019 was the culmination point for the majority of these videos; Matthew Collville popped up with one, few others followed, and then it became vogue for ALL of them to do a video on the topic. Everything after is largely derivative.

New vs Experienced Game Masters. Something of a warning for newer GMs. The idea of ‘fudging the dice’ during the game and tweaking rules is a bit of a nuanced art, regardless of the system you’re using. I’m of the opinion newer and less confident GMs should likely stick closer to the Rules-as-Written (RAW) in order to get a feel for things as they are meant to be played; tweak them as you see fit later on. The veteran players reading this will likely have their hands in the air in a full-throated guffaw at this last point. Palladium Books RPG rules have at points a certain….. grey area that may require "interpretation." Just go with your gutt and keep your rulings consistent. Err on the side of less fudging of dice rolls over more. You’ll get it.

The Game Master’s Roll. One of the most critical elements to nail down in this discussion, in my humble opinion. For many, it’s about generating adventure ideas and then running the bad guys through combat scenarios for the Players to defeat and be looted of treasure. That’s fine, and can work. I would suggest several more important roles (ahem, not rolls):

• Curate the Game. This is largely what everyone talks about when they start going on about the “immersive experience.” I talk about this in GM Field Guide #16 - Player Immersion & Engagement. There are several things the GM can and should do to reinforce this, but a lot of these are dependent on the strengths and weakness of the GM. These are not a one-size-fits-all checklist of things that guarantee success. The Players also play a part and must be willing to accept those efforts, or it will all be for naught (e.g. if you provide in-character voices for NPCs but your Players aren’t into that, you detract from the “Immersive experience” they might be looking for). That’s why I prefer to call it the “Gaming Experience” and go from there. The GM runs the adventure in a way that provides the Players a venue to express their creativity through Player Character actions, which in turn are sometimes determined by the success/failure of dice rolls.

• Manage Players. This is more specific to each Player. Each Player has their unique quirks and personality. The GM needs to manage some more than others. That’s just a function of leadership in a group dynamic. It isn’t discussed very much, but the GM is a leadership position. Perhaps not quite the “put on your job application” kind of leadership experience, but valid none the less. For some groups this may entail more personality management than others, and that’s fine. This is not a one-size fits all aspect; I won’t purport it to be.

• Adventure Design. This is where we get down to brass tacks. The GM designs the adventure that ultimately feeds into the previous two points. I’ve presented a few articles on my personal template for designing adventure scenarios, whether part of a series to form a campaign setting or a stand-alone. Using dice for random tables to determine a setting or how an encounter will stack up is certainly a possibility, but you have to keep in mind the roll may not fit the theme of the adventure, or the setting. What good is a Coalition States patrol of heavy robots when the adventure is set hundreds of miles from any possible CS base? Are we really pitting the party of 3^rd and 4^th level characters against an adult Great Horned Dragon? While many of the thematic tables found in the Palladium Books RPGs books e.g. Rifts World Books) might be a fine start point, don't be afraid to tweak them to fit the power levels of your Player Characters or the campaign you've established. More on Adventure Design can be found at The Bazaar #62: Adventure Design Methodology.

  
  

Why Use Dice?

• Historical Template. Without regurgitating what Matt Colville very adequately describes in his video about this whole subject, the use of dice originated far before the release of D&D during the burgeoning disco era. I don’t necessarily hold that the Krieg Spiel was the key to Prussian military success, but it did create the dynamic that would produce the GM-Player concept we now accept as baseline for any TTRPG. It was referred to as the Referee (what would become the Game Master) that would roll the dice and use charts to determine results based on Player injects. These were learning simulations for the officer corps, and some of the best Referees “fudged” the results, or “ignored the tables” to provide the best learning experience. Ironically, modern militaries use simulation systems that mimic much the same.; and even they ‘fudged’ the dice for much the same reason, to better the learning experience.

• Random Generator. This should likely go without saying. The dice provides the GM and Players a way to express the various random elements and chance of something occurring, or the range of possibilities that might occur. These are then expressed within the rules system, based on the specific types of dice and interactions they create.

Example: d20 systems use a d20 plus Modifiers against a target number to determine success/failure; AEG had a complex system of roll/keep d10s against a target number, where any 10s rolled exploded into larger numbers. Palladium Books is a d20 system for Actions and d100 system for Skills, each with their own Modifiers.

• Not All Randomness Is Equal. Even without a degree in math or courses in Statistical modeling, it’s easy to understand the variance between a 1D6 and 1D100 is vast; the latter has many more possible results. The types of dice and the system they use further influences randomness. The variables between a 1D6 vs a 3D6 vs a 1D6 x 3 are vast. In any of those examples, if the 6 ‘exploded’ and you added another roll of a D6 to the result, it would skew results even further.

• SDC vs MDC. For anyone that has played a game with both SDC and MDC, it is evidently apparent that damage and influence of MD greatly changes the results of any encounter over the introduction of SDC weaponry. Here we’re talking about scale of the damage involved in MD weapons, or the scale in damage capacity that MDC armor can sustain. Randomness doesn’t play much of a factor when damage simply exceeds any possible of resilience, or is incapable of causing any damage to the target. The dice play no roll in the outcome.

• Damage. Largely based on the weapon itself, the capability of a combat weapon to inflict damage is based on its construction and the strength of the wielder, while ranged and modern firearms damage are based on the technology of the weapon. The former can see vast swings in potential based on strength of the user, while the latter can be dramatically influenced by advanced technology (e.g. powder-based firearms vs plasma ejector rifles). Even those based in the same era might see swings in capability to inflict damage based on quality of manufacture, despite using the same technology. So one laser rifle might inflict 2D6 MD, while another might inflict 3D6, and a third might inflict 5D6; it’s obvious which of the three most would choose in terms of raw firepower. Now one must consider range, clip capacity, recharge, availability and other factors.

• Skills. The Palladium System using d100 for Skills is a great differentiator, and a classic way of presenting this part of the game. Most Players intuitively recall this kind of academic element from school, which was based in percentage grades. The majority of Classes get their baseline tradecraft with significant bonuses, and the preliminary skills learned at the outset will gain significant increases throughout a career. Relatively front-loaded, this gives Players a niche element to try to develop as they see best, given the dynamic of bonuses and their vision for the PC.

Where to Fudge Dice

• Character Creation. There are a host of differences in how people approach the various rolls required during Character creation. Whether it be Attributes, amount of PPE or ISP, amount of Black Market gear or random cybernetic implants, whatever. All of these are various ways the GM allows the dice rolls to be “fudged” in some ways. Most of the times we turn a blind eye or reinforce the deviations!

Example: My personal “system” for Players rolling “human” baseline characters: Roll all 8 Attributes, in order, re-rolling all 1s. Roll two Extra Attributes, re-rolling all 1’s and 2’s, getting a minimum of 17 in each. Replace any two Attributes with these Extra Attributes. Any PPE/ISP rerolls 1’s and 2s as well. This pretty much ensures Players have “heroic standard” characters. But let me tell you, I’ve been proven wrong by the dice gods. Anyone playing another RCC is rolling Attributes in order, and I allow rerolls of 1’s, but that’s it. No extra rolls, nothing.

• Adventure Design. The use of dice rolls in Adventure Design can definitely be a boon for the GM. Several Books within the Palladium Books RPG Library provide some great world building tools that with some quick dice rolls, voila! An easy-to-use formula for the GM to move forward with. In some cases, however, the formula just doesn’t match exactly what you need.

World Book 27: Adventures In Dinosaur Swamp. Includes a literal 101-entry of adventures the GM could roll from to develop side quests or adventures from.

Siege on Tolkeen 3: Sorceror's Revenge. A series of Adventure Generation Tables provide a clutch resource for GMs looking to launch an military-based campaign.

Heroes Unlimited GM Guide. What I'd consider the penultimate GM Guide for any Palladium RPG. While heavily leaning to superpowers, adventure tables abound for a variety (nay, a smorgasbord) of topics a GM should read.

• Random Adventure Tables. One of the biggest issues is the use of random encounter tables. For the most part, these are great ideas for starting points, but can be a lazy answer to a GM’s responsibility of Curating the Game and Adventure Design. Whether by chance the PCs have burned through all your encounters or you didn’t plan enough, it’s an easy out to go to the table and just roll for something to kill the time; some tables are even really well designed. But the results rolled might very well be overkill for the group, or not fit the specific circumstances/setting the group it at.

Example: A pair of SAMAS on patrol might seem like a light encounter, but the party just finished expending all their resources in the last battle, in an underground dungeon complex. What are two SAMAS doing there?

• Damage Rolls Against Player Characters. One of the most common GM sneak-cheats is the damage roll a Monster/Antagonist does against the Player Character. The fight has dragged on for some time, damage has occurred, and a particularly well-struck hit deals a massive amount of damage; much more than the PC is capable of surviving. A descent GM might be asking to keep track of PC’s MDC armor during the fight; a great GM might be doing so as the fight progressed. This also calls into consideration whether the GM is using the “Gi-Joe” rules for armor – where the last strike to eliminate the last bit of MDC doesn’t matter by how much, the armor simply absorbs the excess damage; the armor is rendered useless thereafter. This can be manageable if a hit is under 20 MD, but what if a PC eats a Glitterboy shell rolling hot (3D6 x 10 MD) and gets close to max damage?

Example: When you see that a PC with 12 MDC left in their armor takes a whopping 39 MDC, decisions need to happen – fast. Did they walk into it with a bad decision? Is this PC a key to mission success? How will this PC death affect the Player? The group? Is the “Gi-Joe” rule in place?

• Damage Rolls Against Monsters. To some extent this applies to damage against monsters as much as against PCs, just in the inverse. In some cases, the dice rolls just aren’t going the Players’ way and the encounters are getting the better of them. To a lesser degree the same could be applied to Players having too easy a time with an encounter (fair warning this isn’t one I’d recommend mucking around with). That said, if combat is dragging on and the flow is looking like molasses in February, feel free to throw in a few injury rolls, or negatives to the monster rolls to make it easier to complete the encounter and move on. If this is supposed to be an easy kill turned drag-out combat, tweak the MDC. If this is a crucial encounter, and PCs and Monster/Antagonist are slugging it out blow-for-blow, don’t you dare touch those dice! Let those PCs earn that victory in a spectacular, hard-earned fashion. This reinforces the Curate the Game aspect of a GM’s responsibility.

• Player Character Action Rolls. Something a Player Character just needs a little help getting something accomplished during an Action. Be it a Strike roll, or some other critical ‘thing’ that needs to occur. This is particularly effective when you are applying Action Penalties or Bonuses that might reflect the final dice roll needed. The Player doesn’t need to know the required dice roll, just that there are some negatives/bonuses. This gets more difficult if you’re the type of GM that insists on sharing all details about every roll.

• Player Character Skills Rolls. Much like the Action Rolls issue, the tweaking of a Player Character’s Skill Rolls with Negatives/Bonuses can be done “in the clear” with everyone knowing exactly what must be rolled, or from “behind the screen” where the GM has some fiat to influence the final roll dependent on the criticality and other factors. To be honest, I’m not one for always hiding “behind the screen,” especially those involving the PCs.

When Not to Fudge Dice Rolls

• Bad Player Tactical Decisions. An adventure presents a situation where the Players just do everything wrong, or they consistently make the wrong choices and the only way to save them from themselves is to arrange they get captured, or heavily hint they drop the loot and run away for their lives, that’s on them. It doesn’t need to be a Total Party Kill. I’ve had the unfortunate happenstance of causing this once, where the Player opposite me was only an acquaintance, and acting like a total douche-canoe, and itching for an above-table fight over issues no Player had the right to make waves over (I make no excuses, LOL. I did apologize to my buddy the GM though, that simple encounter ended up butchering all eight of us).

• Not All Decisions Need Dice. There are going to be design decisions where instead of a random table, you just decide what the monster is going to be. Something is evidently going to happen, and the dice roll is simply a formality, or the roll of a 1 on a d20 would cause you to have to come up with a complex reason to railroad things back on track. A PC has so much assistance, proper tools, and time that a roll is not really required to check to see if the repairs are successful. Just make it happen.

• Saving the NPC. A significant pet peeve of mine. Your GM-played NPC as part of the group is there for a reason, but it should not be so key that they must remain alive and part of the group to execute a specific task or kill a certain monster or the adventure fails. The NPC is not on the same level as a Player’s PC; it’s a throwaway character, or one with a very specific role. After it’s completed, you honestly could and likely should forget about them. If you’re fudging dice to keep them alive, you’re cheating your Players; that part of the social contract they have with you.

• To Save Poor Planning. This is something that develops with experience, so newer GMs can be granted a certain amount of grace on this one. If your adventure design is based on a certain roll developing exactly in a certain way, you're setting yourself up for failure. Do yourself the favour of making the table choices limited to something you know will advance the adventure how you want it to go (this is not railroading).

• Robbing Player Agency. If there is ever a time where you the GM are at a point where you have a dice roll that can/could rob a Player of their agency, strongly consider how you proceed/how you designed the adventure. Psionic or magic possession and use of a Player Character against their will is a slippery slope; making a Player to roll for permanent Insanity might be a hard body-block/tackle instead of the nudge you think it is; setting a roll-playing engagement conclusion up to culminate to a dice roll instead of acting it out as you and the Players could or should. Frankly, any time you make a dice roll decide on the "drama" that Players should have primacy on deciding how it develops will find the Players unsteady in how they feel about continuing. Fair warning.

CONCLUSION

I’m not here to make a definitive case for or against fudging the dice.’ Frankly, I’m guilty of it, and will happily continue to do so, when and as it seems appropriate. This also comes with decades of gaming experience. I’m well aware from the get-go of character creation in Palladium Books RPGs that a 3D6 for Attributes can break a character quickly; I’ve house-ruled a system for 1^st level characters that influences the dice rolls. During adventure design, I almost never use random encounter generators; those I do use are typically very simple D4 or D6 tables, or provides exactly the same result in each case. Regardless, they get balanced to the party before being rolled. Thereafter, management of any combat scenario is largely stage management on a sheet of paper with a lot of scribbles by the end of it, often with Action Modifiers to as the Monsters/ Antagonists get injured or lose compatriots to the Party’s attacks.

Ultimately, the use of dice is to create the illusion of variance and chance through the Players’ adventuring. It’s something to consider; honestly, don’t go too deep into it. As the GM, you have three key responsibilities: Curate the Game, Manage the Players, and Adventure Design. Dice rolls can be an issue in all three of these elements from very different angles. What you are trying to avoid is unwanted drama for yourself and the group. Design the scenario, pit the Player Characters against it, see how your friends react to it, and keep the flow of the game (the vibe) going from there. Don’t think you have to let the dice rule every decision. Even as far back as the Prussian Empire, when wargaming started, Referees ignored dice rolls that didn’t fit the narrative.

If it’s a mismatch for your adventure, consider changing what the dice reads or ignoring them altogether. Guage how well you feel in tweaking things as they turn up, and go from there. Always ensure you mentally check in with the Players to make sure you haven’t crossed any Rubicon (e.g. stolen any Player Agency). So long as the vibe is flowing and everyone is having fun, and the few tweaks you might slip in either go unnoticed or are so minute as to not overtly influence the outcome of the adventure, all the better and happy gaming from there.

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