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When I am a DM, I traditionally steered clear of significant use of randomization during my tabletop roleplaying adventures. My preference was for story direction and session development to be shaped by player choice as opposed to random chance. However, I decided to try something different, and I'm truly glad I did.

The Spark: Seeing 'Luck Rolls'

An influential podcast utilizes a DM who often calls for "luck rolls" from the players. The process entails selecting a type of die and outlining potential outcomes based on the result. While it's essentially no different from rolling on a random table, these are created spontaneously when a player's action has no obvious conclusion.

I chose to experiment with this approach at my own session, primarily because it appeared novel and offered a departure from my normal practice. The results were fantastic, prompting me to reflect on the ongoing tension between preparation and randomization in a D&D campaign.

An Emotional Story Beat

In a recent session, my group had just emerged from a city-wide conflict. Afterwards, a cleric character wondered if two beloved NPCs—a pair—had made it. In place of deciding myself, I handed it over to chance. I asked the player to make a twenty-sided die roll. I defined the outcomes as: on a 1-4, both were killed; on a 5-9, a single one would die; a high roll, they both lived.

Fate decreed a 4. This led to a profoundly poignant sequence where the characters came upon the remains of their allies, forever holding hands in death. The cleric performed last rites, which was uniquely powerful due to earlier roleplaying. As a parting reward, I improvised that the remains were strangely transformed, containing a magical Prayer Bead. I randomized, the bead's contained spell was precisely what the party required to solve another critical story problem. One just plan this type of serendipitous coincidences.

Sharpening On-the-Spot Skills

This experience led me to ponder if improvisation and thinking on your feet are truly the beating heart of this game. Although you are a prep-heavy DM, your improvisation muscles can rust. Adventurers often excel at derailing the most detailed plots. Therefore, a skilled DM has to be able to think quickly and invent details on the fly.

Using luck rolls is a excellent way to train these abilities without straying too much outside your comfort zone. The strategy is to deploy them for small-scale situations that won't drastically alter the campaign's main plot. To illustrate, I would avoid using it to decide if the king's advisor is a traitor. But, I would consider using it to decide if the characters arrive just in time to see a key action unfolds.

Enhancing Collaborative Storytelling

Spontaneous randomization also serves to make players feel invested and create the impression that the adventure is responsive, evolving based on their actions as they play. It combats the feeling that they are merely actors in a rigidly planned narrative, thereby strengthening the shared aspect of the game.

This approach has long been integral to the game's DNA. Original D&D were reliant on encounter generators, which fit a playstyle focused on exploration. Although current D&D tends to focuses on narrative and role-play, leading many DMs to feel they must prep extensively, it's not necessarily the best approach.

Finding the Right Balance

It is perfectly nothing wrong with doing your prep. But, equally valid no problem with relinquishing control and allowing the whim of chance to decide some things instead of you. Authority is a major aspect of a DM's responsibilities. We use it to run the game, yet we often struggle to release it, at times when doing so could be beneficial.

A piece of suggestion is this: Do not fear of temporarily losing control. Experiment with a little randomness for minor details. You might just find that the organic story beat is significantly more powerful than anything you would have planned on your own.