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When I am a game master, I usually avoided heavy use of luck during my tabletop roleplaying games. My preference was for narrative flow and what happened in a game to be guided by deliberate decisions instead of random chance. However, I decided to alter my method, and I'm truly glad I did.

The Inspiration: Observing an Improvised Tool

A well-known actual-play show showcases a DM who regularly asks for "fate rolls" from the players. The process entails choosing a specific dice and assigning possible results tied to the number. It's fundamentally no unlike consulting a random table, these are created in the moment when a character's decision doesn't have a obvious resolution.

I chose to experiment with this technique at my own table, mostly because it looked interesting and presented a change from my usual habits. The results were fantastic, prompting me to reconsider the often-debated balance between pre-determination and improvisation in a tabletop session.

A Powerful Story Beat

During one session, my group had concluded a city-wide fight. Afterwards, a cleric character wondered if two key NPCs—a sibling duo—had survived. Instead of deciding myself, I handed it over to chance. I asked the player to make a twenty-sided die roll. The possible results were: a low roll, both would perish; a middling roll, a single one would die; on a 10+, they both lived.

Fate decreed a 4. This triggered a deeply poignant sequence where the adventurers discovered the corpses of their friends, forever clasped together in death. The party performed a ceremony, which was particularly significant due to prior story developments. In a concluding reward, I improvised that the forms were strangely restored, containing a enchanted item. I randomized, the item's magical effect was precisely what the party needed to solve another pressing story problem. One just plan these kinds of serendipitous coincidences.

Honing On-the-Spot Skills

This incident made me wonder if chance and making it up are truly the beating heart of D&D. While you are a prep-heavy DM, your improvisation muscles can rust. Adventurers frequently excel at ignoring the most detailed plots. Therefore, a skilled DM has to be able to adapt swiftly and invent content on the fly.

Employing luck rolls is a great way to develop these skills without straying too much outside your usual style. The key is to deploy them for minor decisions that don't fundamentally change the campaign's main plot. As an example, I wouldn't use it to establish if the central plot figure is a secret enemy. However, I might use it to decide if the party arrive just in time to see a critical event takes place.

Enhancing Shared Narrative

Luck rolls also helps keep players engaged and foster the sensation that the game world is responsive, shaping based on their choices immediately. It combats the sense that they are merely pawns in a pre-written story, thereby strengthening the shared foundation of storytelling.

This philosophy has historically been integral to the game's DNA. The game's roots were enamored with random tables, which fit a playstyle focused on dungeon crawling. Even though modern D&D tends to focuses on story and character, leading many DMs to feel they must prep extensively, that may not be the best approach.

Achieving the Healthy Equilibrium

There is absolutely no problem with being prepared. However, equally valid nothing wrong with letting go and permitting the dice to guide minor details instead of you. Control is a big factor in a DM's job. We need it to manage the world, yet we often struggle to give some up, in situations where doing so might improve the game.

My final advice is this: Have no fear of temporarily losing control. Experiment with a little chance for inconsequential outcomes. The result could discover that the unexpected outcome is significantly more memorable than anything you might have pre-written by yourself.