Put The Dice Down

Often times, especially when people are trying out a new game, the dice have a tendency to come out a lot. Often times when they do, the dice aren't really adding anything to the scene or to the tension. People are rolling the dice for the sake of rolling the dice, as if their character's ability to do something is so varied that at any given time they could give a performance barely acceptable for someone on their first day, or an absolutely masterful performance the likes of which even a master with 30 years of dedicated practice would be hard pressed to match.

There is no need for those dice rolls, or to call those dice rolls. Today I want to talk about that.

When To Roll
While this may vary for you based on group/game/gm/style - and that's perfectly ok - most rule books I've read are pretty clear. Dice are only supposed to enter the picture when the possibility of failure is dramatic and/or interesting. Some people take this to mean when failure is highly likely, but that leads to a lot of needless dice rolls. In my D&D game recently I simplified it for an out of combat encounter to "you only need to roll if you are going for some kind of mechanical effect."

By this I meant that the player didn't have to roll in order to entertain a crowd at an inn - they have the performer background which lets them stay for free at Inns so presumably they can do their job - but if they were looking for some specific in game effect (i.e. getting the crowd to all get up and dnace, thus giving them a way to sneak out the back door) that would require a roll.

Even this description is limited though. A player could be looking to open a locked door. Here they are trying for some mechanical effect. They want to open the door and gain access to an area currently denied them. Should they roll? Well, that depends. Are they under some sort of time constraint? Is something going to happen should they fail? If the answer to either of these is no, then there is no need for a dice roll. If the only real cost of failure is you pick your stuff up and try again, and then again, and again until you get it...well, what is the point of making the roll at all? Just go for it.

By contrast, in that same situation with the locked door, if the player needs to get through the door before the room they're in fills with lava, or a failed check is going to trigger some sort of trap, then a roll is more than appropriate.

The Cost of Dice Rolling
We use dice for dramatic moments in games but at the same time they're something of a double edged sword. Dice bring drama up when the drama is the unknown. This is why they are good in combat. It is unknown what is going to happen, how hard someone is going to get hit, and thus the dice can bring a kind of drama into the scene through the harsh reality of random chance and the fact that sometimes bad shit is going to happen.

However, dice also break tension. Specifically they break the dramatic tension found in tough decisions and strong RP. When you tell someone to roll dice you break them out of the moment, and that breaks the tension that is held in that moment.

You can see this in some combats if the GM is on a roll with narration. The situation looks bleak. The GM describes the monsters coming out of the caves and looking for blood. The situation looks hopeless. Tension mounts. The players' brains wants to know what happens next...and then the GM says to roll for initiative. In that moment the tension is gone as the mechanics of the game breaks through and what was this tense dramatic puzzle is suddenly a mechanical problem with strong set rules to deal with it.

As a GM your job is to find the balance  between the two. Only call for rolls when it is appropriate, otherwise what is the harm in letting the players feel skilled and capable?