on the roll

Do not fidget with your dice. However, it’s okay to pre-roll at times. Of course you want to clear this with the GM first. Discuss with them when it is okay and when they may want you to wait. Personally, combat is optimal for pre-rolling your hit/damage dice.

I know many of you think this is a form of cheating. I’m not denying that cheaters can use this as a way to fudge their dice results, but this is a great way to speed up combat. You must know your players before implementing this, and make sure that pre-rolling turn actions do not distract from other players. Being an online gaming group, this is simple. I trust my players already and do not ask them to roll digitally or have a “die cam”, so this is easy to implement at my table.

Along with this, it can also spread to skill checks. After I describe an area or set a scene, I am perfectly okay if players roll their dice and let me know what their skill check results are. For example, I set a scene of an unusually quiet field with overgrown crops, the scarecrow hanging by one arm, and an unnatural mist rolling in from the western forest. My players are allowed to just roll a skill check and let me know what their character is doing and the result of the roll. I will then give them what they discover, based on the result.

I think this cuts down on the mechanical talks at the table. This is one way to stay in character without breaking into rules talks or metagaming. If the check that they rolled doesn’t apply, as a GM, you can change that and ask for a different roll. The more you play with your group and they become comfortable with you as their GM, they will roll what you would have asked for eventually.

I am a very relaxed GM and I like my players to take initiative. Part of this probably comes about because of delving into other systems. I have discovered that the more player agency for a game, usually the more fun is being had. Very few people like to play an RPG and be told what you see, how you feel, the action you can take, and what is the result. This kind of experience can be found while reading a good book. RPG players want the ability to make decisions and respond to the effects. They want to develop their character from a nobody to a somebody, and make friends along the way.