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12:50, 28th March 2024 (GMT+0)

Invisible rolls.

Posted by icosahedron152
icosahedron152
member, 938 posts
Fri 22 Mar 2019
at 12:31
  • msg #1

Invisible rolls

Can the dice roller perform invisible rolls - ie a player makes a roll that only the GM can see. Neither the rolling player nor any other players can see it?

It would be like a GM asking a tabletop player to cast the dice behind the GM screen.

Let's say I have a game in which lordly PCs may have vassals of unknown loyalty. If I want a disloyal vassal to roll for something his liege shouldn't see, I have to roll it myself. As the number of vassals rises, this could become a major chore.

If I could delegate the vassal rolls to the players themselves, yet they could not see the result, it would remove a straw from this camel's load.

I'm aware of the Secret Roll function, but AFAIK, the rolling player can see this as well as the GM. I need a 'doubly secret roll'.
JohnB
member, 2087 posts
Demigod of the Stunties
Fri 22 Mar 2019
at 13:09
  • msg #2

Invisible rolls

There are quite a few Entourage-Assistants, effectively lowish level NPCs controlled by players, in my game.    If I need to roll anything for them, I use a D20 that I keep on my desk, and don't go anywhere near the Dice Roller.
steelsmiter
member, 1978 posts
BESM, Fate, Indies, PBTA
NO FREEFORM! NO d20!
Fri 22 Mar 2019
at 13:56
  • msg #3

Invisible rolls

GMs have a secret roll clicker, but I dunno if it works for players.
LonePaladin
member, 807 posts
Creator of HeroForge
Fri 22 Mar 2019
at 16:12
  • msg #4

Invisible rolls

The only way -- within RPoL -- to have a die-roll that only the GM sees, is to have the GM roll it. Any time a player makes a roll, secret or public, that player sees the result.
donsr
member, 1544 posts
Fri 22 Mar 2019
at 16:51
  • msg #5

Invisible rolls

from what we have used?... if you  check 'secret roll' only the GM and the roller  can see it.

you could  copy and paste  that   roll into a  private line in the  IC thread..so only whomever  you wanted to see it.

 Like JohnB..have  have a lot of rolls  to make  for NPCs  and     the flow of the game, most of  it is taken care of  , BY player    RP.

 I go to a site that is   dead to roll, or  I will roll  the dice  needed    myself  Like JohnB….sometimes  for battle s and such, I'll let my grandkids  help with the rolling, if they are here.

 I sue my own system in two of my games, and  dice rolls are  important  for  randomness and  clear cut  answers?

 but I try to keep the dice out of the game, and RP heavy.
icosahedron152
member, 939 posts
Sat 23 Mar 2019
at 03:44
  • msg #6

Invisible rolls

Hmm, just as I thought, then; no rest for the wicked GM...

Thanks guys. :)
facemaker329
member, 7076 posts
Gaming for over 30
years, and counting!
Tue 26 Mar 2019
at 06:26
  • msg #7

Invisible rolls

A potential work-around might be to have OTHER players make secret rolls...for instance, if you have Players A-F, and you need to do a loyalty check for vassals of Player A, you ask Player C to make a secret roll...tell him how many dice to roll.  You'd need some kind of short-hand they could enter in the 'purpose of the roll', perhaps, so you could keep straight whose rolls were intended for which player's vassals, but if players aren't rolling for their own people, the element of surprise is maintained when the results are revealed.

You still need to tell people when to roll and all that...but you're freed of the onus of actually having to make all of the rolls for every player's various groups of vassals.  Not the most elegant solution, perhaps...but it kind of accomplishes your purpose of freeing you from rolling everything and keeping the results secret from the player who's affected by the rolls.  And if you shuffle around who is rolling for whom, players are less likely to be able to puzzle out whose roll they just made...especially if you incorporate a few 'fake' rolls that don't actually apply.  It's the closest thing to a double-blind I can think of off the top of my head...they're not told who they're rolling for, and they don't know which rolls actually count, so even if they figured out who they're rolling for, they still can't be sure of what, exactly, the results they get are supposed to mean.
steelsmiter
member, 1983 posts
BESM, Fate, Indies, PBTA
NO FREEFORM! NO d20!
Tue 26 Mar 2019
at 06:48
  • msg #8

Re: Invisible rolls

facemaker329:
A potential work-around might be to have OTHER players make secret rolls...for instance, if you have Players A-F, and you need to do a loyalty check for vassals of Player A, you ask Player C to make a secret roll...tell him how many dice to roll.


I really like this one, except have all the players make the same roll using Secret Roll as the reason, then using dX where x is the player's position on the Cast List to determine which player's roll is the one that counts. The roll modifiers reflect the stats of whoever actually needs to make the secret roll, but since everyone's rolling and you're only taking 1, it's still secret.
JohnB
member, 2088 posts
Demigod of the Stunties
Tue 26 Mar 2019
at 09:42
  • msg #9

Re: Invisible rolls

That sounds like more work than actually making the roll :)
facemaker329
member, 7077 posts
Gaming for over 30
years, and counting!
Tue 26 Mar 2019
at 17:45
  • msg #10

Re: Invisible rolls

It does have the benefit of keeping players invested in the game. I'd be up-front with them and say from the start that you're having them roll for NPCs, and some of the rolls aren't going to count...but that means that the players are kind of reliant on each other to be there for the dice rolls, and if you, as a player, want people to be prompt in checking dice for you, you owe the same courtesy to them.  And using steelsmiter's approach, you only have to keep track of one roll,

In a one-roll-a-month scenario, yes, it would be more work.  But if you've got four or five checks to make in a week, your effort is limited to telling everyone you need them all to make five secret rolls of...say, 3d6, then you just look up the results of the players you've chosen to roll the actual results, instead of having to go into and set up the dice roller five times and keep track of the results.  If you're only doing an occasional dice check, it's not much more difficult for you to set up a secret roll and do it yourself than it would be to have a player do a super-secret roll for his own people.
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