Secret Rolls STOP Metagaming | D&D 5e Blind Player Rolls

Increase Role Play and Tension, while decreasing Metagaming with secret rolls. Metagaming in D&D 5e can break players immersion to the game. BUT if the players are blind to their own roll (some times) and they don't know the result... then they cant Metagame at all! I go over 4 different "Secret Roll" methods that you can try both in person and online for a variety of rolls. ⏬More Below⏬

=== 🔗 DC Links ===

=== 📍 Credits ===
🖱️ Video Editor: Zack Newman

#DnD #dungeonsanddragons

0:00 Intro
1:46 Examples
7:20 DM Making Secret Rolls
9:35 Secret Roll #1
10:01 Secret Roll #2
10:35 Secret Roll #3
12:00 Secret Roll #4
14:10 Outro

[TheDungeonCoach]

How might YOU use these Secret Rolls at your table?!

[stefanpodell]

My version of technique number 4 is to create a card with all the numbers from 1 to 20 in a random order. The player rolls a d20 and I pick that entry from the card. That way all the numbers are available. Occasionally I regenerate my lookup table so they don’t get too comfortable figuring out the “secret code”.

[CHATTNERDS]

That DC Artificer sounds like a cool guy

[zreyon]

The 4th method sounds perfect. I'm going to use it and maybe add an extra roll. Instead of sorting columns by player name, assign each of them a number. Then the players roll1dX, where X is the number of players in your table, and 1d10, and that way you have a die to pick a column and another to pick a row. There will be no way they can remember them all

[BobWorldBuilder]

Secret rolls sounded familiar from your death/resurrection videos! I like the idea of using them for insight checks too, but my groups usually just go with their gut: “do YOU believe them or not!” And Seth Skorkowsky is awesome! 👍🏻

[leeallen]

I agree that using secret rolls adds to the suspense of the game, however, having only DM'd whilst we are all in lockdown has meant that I cannot do secret rolls as we're playing via the internet. But something that I found that worked well, at least for searching for traps in a dungeon, was to always say "it doesn't appear to be trapped" when the player either rolled well and there was no trap, or rolled poorly whether there was a trap or not. It helped that one of my players would search for traps in every room or corridor, and I didn't place that many so he was over searching and becoming paranoid. I think this worked because unless the player rolls a natural 20, they don't know how high I have set the DC so as long as I was vague they weren't sure if they had succeeded and I was being obtuse, or if they had failed because the DC was very high. They were on edge throughout that whole dungeon though, which is how it should be.

[AdmiralStoicRum]

Playing on discord has an advantage for private communication. Which is great for roleplay.

[andersonchaney]

Dude, your videos are useful and funny. Thanks for the tips

[Nonats]

One of my groups has always played online, and having a "Conspiracy" channel to switch over to for one-on-one conversations has helped so much in keeping the tension and mystery in our games.

We've talked about using Secret Rolls and definitely plan to try them out sometime soon. I agree that players don't necessarily meta-game on purpose, it's just tough to separate player knowledge from character knowledge.

[jamesjohonnott]

Hey I'm super late to the party here but I really love this video. Quick question:

Using these systems, how would you handle effects that allow a character to reroll a d20 when it's a secret roll? I won't bring up the Lucky Feat (I hate it too) but there's also the Halfling's nat 1 reroll. Monk and Fighter also get a saving throw reroll ability. Interested to hear your thoughts.

[stefanpodell]

Another thing that helps preserve the suspense is to have the players occasionally make rolls when no roll is actually necessary. Delicate balance, and it can slow down the game a little, but paired with your technique #3, I think the impact would be minimized.

[icelandic]

I **love** this idea. Most of my group is pretty good with staying in the moment, but one or two are much harder to keep from metagaming. With this, I can keep tension much higher in the really important moments. Thank you! :)

[T-Mobull]

I've been using option 3 for a few years, it works extremely well at my tables. The biggest benefit is from the players knowing that something is happening, but not what. My "in lore" explanation is this is their "Fight or Flight" kicking in. They're skilled adventurers and so they have heightened awareness for feeling the presence of important information.

It works REALLY well if you're running a game that makes liberal use of perception altering magic, like my current campaign. If you just ask for the roll, and then start describing the scene, they never know whether they failed a Wisdom/Int save for an enchantment/illusion, or if they succeeded in a Perception check. There are many other similar applications, but this is my favorite.

[TalkativeHands]

I really like the last one. The bowl sounds fun too.

[quantum_ogre]

Glad to see another fan of Seth's! I like you version of the secret roll sheet more- the players still get to roll, and all based off what they threw down earlier. I also enjoy the 1 and 20 edition to keep that feeling of 'anything can happen' going.

[jasonp]

Every Saturday you post another great idea I can’t wait to fold into my game. We need more Saturdays!

I really like this for insight check. I’m going to use method #4 since we’re all remote. No more will my PLAYERS know if that NPC is a traitor, or if their character is just being paranoid!

[dragonking]

I've never felt the need for secret rolls (in my experience, my players knowing if they succeeded or not never actually ruined a moment) but if did use them, I would definitely use method 3. Only for the fact that whenever I ask for a straight D20 roll with no modifiers my players are usually tipped off that something is up.

Also, a little nitpick, In my humble opinion insight is better used, not as a lie detector, but more as a peek behind the curtain. As in, finding clues through body language, tone, syntax, diction etc. to maybe sense that there is something deeper under the surface. Thus a low insight wouldn't automatically result in a "you trust them" but more of a "there is nothing/you don't see anything that suggests there's more to the story", that way a PC can still be not trust a person without it seeming metagamy.

Another sidenote: As a player, secret rolls would take me out the game way more than if a DM just said roll perception. Mostly because if a roll happens and I know about it, not knowing if my roll impacted the situation at all would just drive me crazy.

[braddrac]

What I came up with to solve this issue is a mystery dice. Have a player roll a second die, as if they had dis/advantage, then roll a die to determine whether they use the higher or lower result, eg. High on an even result and low on an odd.

[THACFactor]

Very good topic. I recommend doing this, I've been using secret rolls since 1E. They will keep your players alert or guessing whats next. They never know when a bunny is going to cross their path or a Rust monster will be in the pit trap they fell into. Something else I do is have them make 15 D20 rolls before the session, and put them on a 3x5 card with their characters name. I start some where in the middle and go down with each encounter. This is their blind initiative rolls for random encounters friendly and possible not so friendly encounters.

[davemills]

great video bro! On perception, deception, insight and survival rolls I pointed a cardboard tube from a wrapping paper roll at them and they dropped their d20 in and it rolled into a tray only i could see