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As a Dungeon Master, I traditionally avoided significant use of chance during my Dungeons & Dragons games. I preferred was for the plot and session development to be shaped by character actions instead of pure luck. However, I opted to alter my method, and I'm truly happy with the result.

The Inspiration: Watching a Custom Mechanic

An influential actual-play show utilizes a DM who often calls for "fate rolls" from the players. He does this by selecting a type of die and outlining possible results tied to the result. It's at its core no distinct from rolling on a pre-generated chart, these get invented in the moment when a character's decision doesn't have a obvious resolution.

I chose to experiment with this approach at my own table, mostly because it looked engaging and provided a break from my usual habits. The results were remarkable, prompting me to think deeply about the perennial balance between preparation and randomization in a tabletop session.

An Emotional Story Beat

In a recent session, my party had just emerged from a large-scale conflict. Afterwards, a player wondered if two friendly NPCs—a sibling duo—had survived. In place of choosing an outcome, I handed it over to chance. I instructed the player to roll a d20. The stakes were: a low roll, both were killed; a middling roll, only one would die; a high roll, they survived.

The die came up a 4. This led to a profoundly emotional sequence where the party came upon the corpses of their companions, still clasped together in death. The cleric held funeral rites, which was especially powerful due to previous character interactions. In a concluding gesture, I chose that the NPCs' bodies were suddenly transformed, containing a magical Prayer Bead. By chance, the item's contained spell was perfectly what the group needed to address another major quest obstacle. You simply orchestrate this type of perfect coincidences.

Honing DM Agility

This event led me to ponder if improvisation and spontaneity are in fact the core of tabletop RPGs. While you are a prep-heavy DM, your improvisation muscles can rust. Adventurers reliably excel at derailing the most carefully laid narratives. Therefore, a good DM has to be able to think quickly and create content on the fly.

Using similar mechanics is a great way to train these talents without straying too much outside your usual style. The strategy is to deploy them for low-stakes decisions that have a limited impact on the campaign's main plot. For instance, I would not employ it to determine if the central plot figure is a traitor. Instead, I could use it to figure out if the party arrive just in time to see a major incident occurs.

Empowering Shared Narrative

Luck rolls also serves to keep players engaged and cultivate the feeling that the story is alive, evolving based on their decisions immediately. It combats the perception that they are merely actors in a DM's sole script, thereby bolstering the shared nature of storytelling.

This philosophy has historically been part of the game's DNA. Original D&D were filled with encounter generators, which suited a playstyle focused on dungeon crawling. Even though contemporary D&D frequently focuses on narrative and role-play, leading many DMs to feel they require detailed plans, this isn't always the required method.

Striking the Right Balance

Absolutely no issue with doing your prep. But, there is also nothing wrong with stepping back and letting the dice to decide some things rather than you. Control is a significant factor in a DM's responsibilities. We require it to facilitate play, yet we frequently find it hard to give some up, at times when doing so could be beneficial.

A piece of advice is this: Don't be afraid of letting go of control. Try a little randomness for inconsequential details. The result could find that the organic story beat is infinitely more memorable than anything you might have planned in advance.