Summary: Ignore the clickbait title. This DM tip centers around helping players and DMs alike avoid rolls until their results would actually matter.
This is another example of a method I’ve used for so long that I’d forgotten it wasn’t standard.
Long story short, the article tackles the topic of rolls that “don’t matter”. This is certain to be a point of some contention, but I’ll say I generally come out on the side of avoiding rolls until their results would actually matter.
This means that, for example, a player in a game run this way would not need to constantly say “I am checking for traps” at every encounter area of a hallway. Likewise, they would not need to roll a stealth check to creep along a hallway they don’t know is empty. Instead, the moment they are risk of triggering a trap, or being seen by someone, the DM would only then call for a roll from the affected players and the results would be immediately determined and declared.
Note that it’s entirely up to your group which rolls they want to be declared beforehand, and which could use this rule.
Some benefits:
Saving time
Assuming players make the rolls and not the DM - It avoids that awkward moment when a player suddenly changes their mind about sneaking forward because their Stealth/Hide/Move SIlently roll result was low.
Similarly, it avoids each player deciding to “try it too” in cases where the players that rolled before them failed, and then sending that one successful player forward as the only character that ‘actually’ took the action to its full conclusion.
Increased drama as the act of rolling and its consequences happen in the moment they matter most
