No Bad Rolls



There's no such thing as a bad roll. Every time you throw the dice, no matter what value turns up, that's a good roll.

Common game wisdom is that you don't roll to determine an outcome if you're not ready to accept the result. If something in the game matters to you enough that you're not willing to leave it to random chance, then you don't roll and you handle it in a different way instead. So if you're rolling at all it's because you already decided that whatever outcome you get will be okay. Ideal? No. Exactly what you hoped? No. But it'll be something you can play around and have fun with.

You can't win an RPG. The point of an RPG is to play the game, and the reward for playing is that you get to keep playing and having fun. Every roll you make moves the game along, doesn't matter if it's a success or a failure. Every roll gives you something to react to and continue from, that's the point of the game. No matter what happened as a result of the roll the game goes on and you get to keep playing, so it was a good roll.

Where good or bad comes in is in how you react to rolls. And here good or bad doesn't mean high number-low number/succeed-fail, it means fun or boring.

When you roll, run with it. Whatever the result is, own it and play it out. Either crash headlong into consequences or adapt and find another way to do what you wanted, but play.

If the result's not what you were hoping for stop and think about what's possible instead of immediately going "oh no." Sure you might be disappointed, but don't let that overshadow the reason you're there: To play the game and have fun. The only "oh no" at the table should be an expression of gleeful horror at what's about to happen.

Having only what you want to happen happen isn't the game. If you need that much control over events to enjoy yourself, then maybe playing a collaborative semi-randomized imagination game isn't for you.

Reacting to what does happen in that shared creative space is the game. So accept your good rolls, play, and have fun.