Roll in the open, fuck narrative first gameplay, it’s a game.

To newer DMs: Never admit to your players whether or not you fudge rolls. As the DM, The only thing you need to do to maintain the integrity of your game is to shut your damn mouth when you bend the rules. The players just need the illusion maintained.

As a DM dice are there to make noise behind the screen and raise tension. They’re a psychological tool as much as they are a randomizer.

Personally I play a lot of World of Darkness games, which runs on dice pools, so if I can just keep obviously adding more and more dice to a pool, recount once or twice and roll to really sell the illusion that they may be in for something a lot bigger and scarier than they are. Or just roll a handful of dice as moments are going on, give a facial reaction and let that simmer under the surface for a while.

i love how these threads are just people discovering the principles of game design on their own lmao

Answer: to give the players the illusion of fairness while I reach behind me to grab the plot gaf.