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As a DM, I historically shied away from heavy use of chance during my tabletop roleplaying adventures. I preferred was for story direction and what happened in a game to be shaped by character actions as opposed to random chance. However, I decided to alter my method, and I'm incredibly happy with the result.

The Spark: Seeing an Improvised Tool

A well-known podcast utilizes a DM who frequently asks for "luck rolls" from the adventurers. He does this by picking a specific dice and assigning potential outcomes contingent on the roll. While it's fundamentally no different from consulting a random table, these are devised on the spot when a player's action doesn't have a predetermined resolution.

I decided to try this method at my own table, primarily because it looked engaging and offered a departure from my normal practice. The experience were fantastic, prompting me to think deeply about the ongoing tension between planning and randomization in a roleplaying game.

A Memorable Story Beat

At a session, my party had concluded a city-wide battle. Later, a player wondered if two friendly NPCs—a brother and sister—had made it. In place of deciding myself, I handed it over to chance. I instructed the player to make a twenty-sided die roll. The possible results were: a low roll, both would perish; a middling roll, only one would die; on a 10+, they both lived.

The die came up a 4. This led to a deeply emotional scene where the characters found the remains of their friends, still holding hands in death. The cleric held a ceremony, which was particularly powerful due to prior character interactions. In a concluding reward, I decided that the NPCs' bodies were strangely restored, showing a magical Prayer Bead. By chance, the bead's magical effect was perfectly what the party required to resolve another pressing situation. One just orchestrate this type of serendipitous story beats.

Sharpening On-the-Spot Skills

This incident caused me to question if randomization and making it up are actually the core of D&D. Even if you are a meticulously planning DM, your improvisation muscles may atrophy. Groups reliably take delight in upending the best constructed plots. Therefore, a skilled DM has to be able to think quickly and create scenarios in the moment.

Using similar mechanics is a fantastic way to develop these skills without straying too much outside your usual style. The key is to use them for minor decisions that won't drastically alter the overarching story. As an example, I would not employ it to decide if the central plot figure is a secret enemy. But, I could use it to figure out whether the party arrive moments before a major incident unfolds.

Enhancing Shared Narrative

This technique also serves to keep players engaged and create the feeling that the story is alive, progressing according to their actions immediately. It combats the feeling that they are merely characters in a pre-written script, thereby bolstering the cooperative nature of storytelling.

This approach has always been integral to the original design. The game's roots were enamored with charts, which fit a playstyle focused on dungeon crawling. While current D&D tends to emphasizes story and character, leading many DMs to feel they need exhaustive notes, it's not necessarily the only path.

Striking the Sweet Spot

Absolutely no issue with thorough preparation. But, there is also nothing wrong with stepping back and letting the dice to decide some things instead of you. Control is a major factor in a DM's role. We require it to manage the world, yet we frequently find it hard to cede it, even when doing so can lead to great moments.

My final advice is this: Do not fear of relinquishing a bit of the reins. Embrace a little chance for minor outcomes. It may create that the surprising result is far more powerful than anything you could have scripted in advance.