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As a DM, I traditionally shied away from heavy use of chance during my Dungeons & Dragons games. My preference was for narrative flow and what happened in a game to be guided by character actions instead of pure luck. That said, I decided to change my approach, and I'm very pleased with the outcome.

The Catalyst: Watching 'Luck Rolls'

A well-known streamed game features a DM who regularly requests "chance rolls" from the adventurers. He does this by selecting a specific dice and outlining consequences contingent on the roll. While it's essentially no different from using a random table, these are devised on the spot when a course of events doesn't have a predetermined conclusion.

I decided to try this technique at my own table, mostly because it looked interesting and offered a change from my normal practice. The results were fantastic, prompting me to reconsider the perennial tension between planning and improvisation in a tabletop session.

An Emotional Story Beat

In a recent session, my group had survived a city-wide conflict. Later, a cleric character inquired after two key NPCs—a pair—had lived. In place of choosing an outcome, I handed it over to chance. I asked the player to make a twenty-sided die roll. The possible results were: a low roll, both died; on a 5-9, a single one succumbed; on a 10+, they made it.

The player rolled a 4. This resulted in a profoundly moving sequence where the adventurers came upon the corpses of their allies, still clasped together in death. The party held funeral rites, which was particularly powerful due to prior roleplaying. In a concluding gesture, I chose that the remains were suddenly transformed, showing a magical Prayer Bead. I randomized, the bead's contained spell was precisely what the group needed to resolve another major situation. It's impossible to script this type of magical moments.

Sharpening Your Improvisation

This event made me wonder if chance and making it up are truly the beating heart of D&D. Although you are a meticulously planning DM, your improvisation muscles need exercise. Adventurers often take delight in upending the best constructed plots. Therefore, a skilled DM must be able to think quickly and invent content in real-time.

Using on-the-spot randomization is a fantastic way to practice these skills without venturing too far outside your usual style. The strategy is to apply them for small-scale situations that don't fundamentally change the overarching story. As an example, I would not employ it to establish if the king's advisor is a traitor. But, I would consider using it to determine if the PCs arrive just in time to see a major incident takes place.

Enhancing Player Agency

Spontaneous randomization also helps maintain tension and foster the feeling that the game world is alive, progressing in reaction to their actions as they play. It reduces the feeling that they are merely pawns in a pre-written narrative, thereby enhancing the cooperative aspect of storytelling.

Randomization has long been part of the core of D&D. The game's roots were enamored with charts, which fit a game focused on treasure hunting. Although contemporary D&D frequently emphasizes plot-driven play, leading many DMs to feel they need exhaustive notes, that may not be the required method.

Striking the Right Balance

Absolutely no problem with being prepared. Yet, it's also fine no problem with stepping back and permitting the whim of chance to decide some things in place of you. Authority is a major part of a DM's responsibilities. We use it to manage the world, yet we can be reluctant to release it, even when doing so might improve the game.

A piece of suggestion is this: Do not fear of relinquishing a bit of your plan. Try a little chance for minor story elements. It may discover that the unexpected outcome is significantly more memorable than anything you might have scripted by yourself.