At Gen Con last year I was about to run a 4-hour Call of Cthulhu game when I realized my dice bag was sitting on my kitchen table back in Chicago. I panicked and borrowed a set from the booth next to me, but those dice were cursed, I rolled a 99 on a sanity check and the whole table wanted to reroll. The player running the booth laughed and handed me a free set of cheap plastic dice from a promotional bucket, and honestly those felt better than my expensive metal ones. Since then I always keep a zip pouch with two full sets plus a golf pencil in my car glovebox. It cost me nothing extra and saved my bacon twice at local game store events. Do you guys have any emergency gear you swear by for convention horror stories?
Last campaign, I kept quietly adjusting enemy crits because I was scared of killing the party. One player finally called me out after a near TPK and said, 'Let the dice tell the story, even if it hurts.' I switched to open rolling for all combat and now the tension at the table is unreal. My group actually cheers when I roll a nat 1 and groans when the goblin lands a 19. It also forced me to design encounters with escape routes and backup plans, which made me a better GM. Has anyone else gone from secret rolling to full transparency? How did your players react to the first real character death?
Rolled three nat 20s in a row during a boss fight in Portland, then the next session my d20 gave me five straight rolls under 5. Has anyone else had a single day where the dice just decided to be both amazing and terrible back to back?
One guy at the shop says it changes the physics of the dice, the other says it's just to keep them from bouncing off the table, so what do you actually think is the right way to roll at a tournament?
I remember running a 3.5 campaign back in 2012 where our wizard dropped a fireball and it was a real game-changer. Now in 5th edition, the damage cap feels way too low for a level 3 spell. My group tried a one-shot last month and our sorcerer's fireball barely scratched a group of orcs. Has anyone else noticed how spells got weaker compared to the old days?
I bought this fancy wooden dice tower off Etsy for like 40 bucks because I thought it would be cooler than rolling on the table. First session I used it, the d20 got stuck inside on the second ramp and I had to shake it upside down to get it out. My group laughed at me for 5 minutes before we could keep going. Anyone else have a dice tower fail on them or am I just unlucky?
I always thought rolling low was just bad luck, but watching my character drop made me realize failure adds way more drama than a clean win. Now I'm actually rooting for the dice to mess me up more often. Anyone else find themselves leaning into bad rolls for the story?
We were in a dusty old tomb near the starting village, and the rogue kept rolling 3s while the barbarian wanted to smash it, and the wizard insisted on casting knock even though he had one spell slot left. Has anyone else had a simple obstacle turn into a whole evening of debate?
I used to run random encounters as random until I went to GenCon 2023 and played in a game where the DM pre-planned every single wilderness encounter. It felt so much more organic and tied to the story. Now I spend about 30 minutes before each session picking 3 encounters that connect to the plot instead of rolling on a table. My players actually care about fighting the bandits now because they stole a family heirloom, not just because the dice said so. Has anyone else ditched random tables after trying this approach?
I had a guy last session who rolled 4 natural 20s in a row on his d20. Four. In. A. Row. We were all losing it. But here's the thing, it actually BROKE the game. He one-shot my big boss encounter I spent 2 hours planning. My buddy who DMs for another group told me I need to start using a dice tray with a lid or a dice tower so nobody can cheat. But this guy wasn't cheating, he was just lucky. Has anyone else dealt with a streak like this? Did you just let it ride or change something about how you run encounters?
I kept having players roll every round instead of just once at the start because I misread the rule in the 5e PHB. Took my group 9 hours of combat before someone finally asked why we were doing it that way lol. Anyone else ever run a rule wrong for way too long?
I spent 2 hours last night arguing with my group about which dice to use. The d100 gives you that 1% chance of instant death which is fun but brutal. I went with 2d10 because the curve is more predictable and players don't rage as hard. First session with it, a guy rolled snake eyes and his ranger tripped into a campfire. Took 5 damage but man the table exploded laughing. You gotta know your crew when making that call. Has anyone else had a die choice ruin or save a campaign?
It was a d20 I'd been using since 2018, and after watching it chip the floor I just sat there for a minute wondering if I should switch to softer rolling trays for good - has anyone else had a dice fail on them like that?
I was running a session last weekend and this kid looks at my makeshift dice tray and goes 'why don't you just buy one?' Made me think about how we used to roll on whatever was around. I still have my first set of dice from 15 years ago, chipped and faded, and they tell more stories than any fancy tray ever could. Anyone else hold onto old beat-up gear for nostalgia?
I was digging through old campaign notes from 2004 and realized we spent more time erasing and rewriting stats than actually playing, now everything's on digital sheets and I kinda miss the chaos, has anyone else switched back to paper for a game?
I've been rolling dice since 2nd edition AD&D and I swear the whole "nat 20 on a persuasion check means the king gives you his crown" thing has gotten out of hand. Last session I ran at my local shop in Portland a new player argued their character could convince a dragon to just leave because they rolled a 20. That's not how it works folks. A nat 20 on a skill check is just the best possible outcome for that situation not a magical win button. I remember back when a crit only applied to attacks and even then it just meant max damage. Now I keep seeing DMs let players get away with wild stuff and it breaks the game's tension for me. Has anyone else noticed this shift or am I just yelling at clouds?
They said I was making combat too realistic after I added a rule about armor slowing you down, and it got me wondering if GM freedom should ever be limited by what the group actually wants.
I was at Dragon's Lair in Austin last week and noticed they have this little plastic box labeled 'Dice Jail' for dice that roll poorly. It got me thinking about how in D&D we treat luck like it's a punishment thing. But my DM just told me last session that he tracks which dice roll nat 1s and rotates them out, and I realized that's basically superstition with extra steps lol. Has anyone else had a dice that seemed cursed but then totally turned around after a break?
Last Saturday at Gen Con I pulled out fresh dice from a $5 grab bag without testing them first and they rolled four natural 1s in a row during a boss fight, has anyone else gotten burned by new dice that felt unbalanced straight out of the package?
I was dead against it at first, thought it would just be random junk. Then last session our rogue pulled a grappling hook that let him swing across a chasm mid combat and actually saved the party. Has anyone else had a house rule they hated turn out awesome?
Ran a session last night in the basement with my group and I finally get why people swear by hex maps. We were doing this chase scene through the docks of Port Nyanzaru and with theater of the mind everyone argued about who was where for 10 minutes. On the grid it took maybe 2 minutes to set up and the rogue actually used his bonus action dash to cut through three alleys. Has anyone else had that moment where switching systems just clicked for you?
He said he never uses the CR system and just eyeballs it based on how many potions the party has, which hit different because I spent 3 years calculating encounters down to the XP threshold and my players still breeze through them.
I was running a one-shot last Saturday and my rogue kept rolling under 5 on every check. After the third natural 1 in a row, the guy next to me offered to trade dice for a round. I grabbed his purple sparkle d20 and rolled a 19 on my next stealth check. Learned that sometimes dice just get cold and swapping with someone else's can reset the luck.
I was running a boss fight for my group and I kept tweaking the HP and damage numbers over and over. The whole thing was supposed to be a quick tough fight but I ended up rewriting the stat block like 6 times. Then I realized I had forgotten to even check the party's daily spell slots and they were mostly tapped out. So I had to restart from scratch and adjust everything down to like half the original difficulty. Total time from start to finish was about 4 hours for what should have been a 20 minute prep job. Has anyone else gotten stuck in a loop like that where you just keep second guessing your own numbers?