Blind combat dice

[pumonca333]

I've been running quests for my brother's kids and have been rolling my dice behind the screen and just narrating the results, has anybody tried this. It's kinda fun with kids, they seem to connect more with each others turns and stay more focused as opposed to just the die rolls. It also allows me to fudge rolls a bit and sparingly, the kids can be a little more lemming the barbarian, little less Sun Tzu sometimes. This goes hand in hand with a Botch house rule where when an attacker rolls no skulls, if the defender rolls at least one appropriate shield all his other skulls are dealt to the attacker, this always leads to some comical descriptions. Characters stabbing themselves in the foot, or knocking a stone out of the doorway above and being hit with it are always funny.

[StratosVX]

If the kids are fairly young, I think it's a pretty good idea. You don't want to discourage them from playing early on because they are getting poor dice rolls. They may focus on that and not on how fun the game actually is. If they are older kids (early teens and up), screw 'em. Let them learn that life doesn't always go their way.

[mitchiemasha]

What??? The dice are half the fun... I mean they've got skulls on...

[IvenBach]

But when your barbarian whiffs terribly like my group always did it can be frustrating. Be gentle on little kids so they have good gaming experiences early on. If they get mouthy then give them a few heavy hits and they should learn quickly. Just make sure if they waterworks come on Zargon/Morcar doesn't care about feelings, only winning

[pumonca333]

The intent is not so much to change rules often if at all , but just add more story. For example hero attacks with , goblin rolls , I might say "the goblin tries mightily to deflect your blow, but he is too weak, and is squashed. or chaos warrior attacks , hero defends I might say " the warrior swings his axe with deadly force, you parry his attack skillfully, but he grazes your shoulder dealing one body point of damage. Each different roll is thus given a flavor. They don't see my dice, but still get a nuanced tale of what just happened. It does take some work to keep the descriptions fresh, but it is fun. Don't worry once in a while you get to say stuff like " you find yourself on the dungeon floor, confused, the chaos warrior that's laughing down at you turns toward your friends as your vision fades....you are dead". Zargon is still Zargon

[mitchiemasha]

yeah i like the extra flavour, it makes for a much better game. They could still see the dice though, like those mystic symbols are drawing out the momentum of the quest.

Momentum might be the wrong word but i'm stuck right now!!!!!!!

Roll the dice, all eyes look with no clue of result then turn to you waiting for your expression. You, gasp for air, act surprised or overjoyed at the roll, then tell your story.

This makes the dice more exciting, as they should be, they control your destiny.

[IvenBach]

Try playing where a/the player(s) never roll the dice. That would make descriptions that much more enjoyable. Either way keep them into it and using their imagination!

[Malcadon]

This kid has the right idea. It make the whole game play feel different! But this is not unique...

I have heard of this on some OD&D (Original 1974 D&D rule set) forum posts and blogs about blind dice rolls — the Referee (old-school term for DM) conducts all the combat procedures form behind the DM screen, and only describe what happen from the characters' prospective — to further a more narrative-focused game, than a mechanically-driven game. Although they noted that this method was extremely rare back then, but a number of old-school "Grognards" have recently embraced this method, not just to make the action more narrative-driven, but also to highlight the gaming philosophy of simplicity and rule abstraction over tactic-heavy rule-sets and special rule-exempts (Feats, Combat Maneuvers, etc.) to preform unusual stunts. This method fundamentally changed the way they play the game, as their mindsets are not on a technical level, but are on a narrative level, thus increasing the general immersion of the game. The only issue with this method, is that it put a lot more work on the Ref (DM, GM, EWP, whatever...), who is already having to do his usual work as a Game Master, so this can only work if the rules are quick and simple, or if he knows the game mechanics inside-and-out.

If one applies the same principles to a game like Dragon Strike — what it lacks in presentations or long-term playability, makes up for in simple rule mechanics, and open-ended role-playing — then, with the right props (basically, anything else) and a few house-rules (to patch-up a few issues and expand play), one could have a great, fast-pace adventure that is as enjoyable as any D&D game. Ming you, I noted Dragon Strike as an ideal system for this, as HeroQuest have too many limits to make it an open-ended RPG, and rolling Combat Dice is one of the best aspect of the game (there is much enjoyment at seeing an Orc getting dispatched with a 3-Skull attack roll). With Dragon Strike, all the GM have to do is roll a polyhedral dice equal or higher to a static number to make a character or monster succeeded at something. The mechanics are so underwhelming in design, the GM could resolve a bunch of dice rolls without loosing his train of thought or rhythm in the narration.

[chaoticprime]

I don't think I've ever ran a session of D&D where I respected the numbers indicated by the dice I may or may not have actually rolled in accordance with an act within the game.

Also, D&D did used to be played with the Dungeon Master making all the dice rolls secretly while the players fed him their numbers (if they were using a character sheet that contained game data). I often just give my players notebook paper, as there is less want to fill in blank forms, though that really was never a problem until 3rd Edition came along and tried to turn it into a fraggled up video game.