D&D: A Better Way to Fudge Die Rolls?

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Are you a DM who fudges the dice? Do you want an alternative that doesn't make you have to lie to your players? Do you want to maintain player trust in your game? You don't actually have to fudge the dice. There are better ways. Consider my alternative approach to saving your game.

[loremastersllc]

Great advice. As someone that is not a fan of dice fudging, your alternative gives players back agency to change the outcome. Knowing the consequences of dice rolls and death keeps that exciting element of danger in the game.

Dice fudging should be reserved for the rare times a DM makes a mistake. For example, I once had a monster attack more often than it should for a couple of rounds before I realized my mistake. To make up for it, I fudged two rounds of attacks to miss to make up for the extra attacks at the start.

I also agree that fudging dice is more often used as a result of an unwillingness to "let go of the reigns" in your game. I, and others I know, that have fudged dice in the past did it to "control" the story. As it turns out, letting the dice create unexpected changes to the story can be one of the most exciting and fun parts of running a game.

I also really love that you include "Loremaster" as a game master title. It is a fitting title for game masters that share a passion for mastering the art of storytelling through RPGs.

[DarkRitualBear]

Hi there Marty! I had a question about how to handle Thri-Kreen communications in a modified 5e ruleset for Dark Sun (your article about simplified encumbrance was how I found you and I thought it was brilliant). I am using that 5e conversion that was posted around the internet a few years back by someone.

I love the richness of the language in 2e, and I like the attempt to add the clicks and odd vocalizations interspersed into dialogue to really hammer home the alien-ness of the Thri-Kreen compared to standard classes. With that being said, I can't seem to land the clicking lol and I'm having trouble with Thri Kreen clicking accents (if that's the right word for it), or the number of consonants they cannot pronounce.

Because of that I thought of using the later edition rules where they removed the ability for the Thri-Kreen to speak, but this feels like such a loss of flavor, and it incentivized players to play psionics regardless, so they can still communicate.

I know I'm overthinking this to death, but I've been dying to play or run a dark sun campaign for around 10 years, and I'm finally going to get the chance to, but this one silly aspect is getting me all hung up lol. I appreciate any insights on how to handle this.