Recently I had the opportunity to attend an amazing event Called RPG Escape 2020, held here locally by The Adventure Game Store who are also the publishers of the awesome space exploring tabletop Game, Esper Genesis! (Which by the way is an amazing game that you should look into!)
The event they held hosted some incredibly talented people who have had major success in the tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) industry. These guests came out sat down and answered a laundry list of questions presented. By those that attended. From there they broke off into smaller groups and ran some brainstorming sessions with those who attended. I must say that I had an absolute blast and look forward to returning next year!
Does Failure Have To Be Failure
But one thing that a fellow dungeon master brought up to the Panel that stuck out with me was the notion that in Dungeons and Dragons, failure is failure. I remember him stating that he had left Dungeons and Dragons after 4th Edition and went to another gaming system known as Dungeon World (Also a great system to look into). After leaving he now found himself struggling to get back into D&D 5th edition. His frustration was derived from his love for the concept of failing forward. A concept that is a huge part of the Dungeon World system.
But it made me realize that many people struggle with using this concept inside the D&D ruleset. In Dungeons and Dragons, when someone fails a perception check a DM might, on many occasions say, “You don’t see anything.” or “Nothing seems to catch your attention.” Another example might be when someone attempts to pick a lock and the roll just isn’t giving them the success they are hoping for. The Dungeon Master might simply tell them, “it doesn’t open”.
I think this type of failing is completely fine to do, but I also think as DMs it’s our creative right to change things up especially if it might be at crucial moment in the story we want to share with our players, or if the players are slamming up against a brick wall.
Try Failing Forward
Nowhere in the rules does it say that a failure absolutely has to be just a straight failure. It simply means you didn’t succeed at what you wanted to do.
I occasionally like to do things to move the story along even when a player has a failed roll or two, but with complications. Much like we see in Dungeon World and other games with a fail forward mindset.
If a player fails a perception roll instead of saying you don’t see anything, I might say you see a strange figure moving through the crowd, for a moment you think it’s the necromancer you been chasing but as you go to focus on the man you lose sight of them in the crowd.
Or if they are trying to break into a nobles home and fail the lock picking, instead of you cant open the doors, I might say something like as you pick the lock your tool is now jammed in the door. Not only do you need to replace your tools but if someone walks by they will clearly see that someone has broken into the home. So you guys will have to be quick…
Never Stay Stuck, Move Forward
These kinds of failures are great to keep your story moving forward especially if it’s in situations where you feel your players might become stuck.
I am not saying every roll needs to be done this way, but feel free to throw in a mix of regular failures and falling forward failures. It can really add some new layers to your game, as well as make your heroes feel like they are doing something even when they aren’t rolling their best. Because nothing is worse than rolling failure after failure for 3+ hours and feeling like you contributed nothing to the entire game.
In Conclusion
So to quickly recap, don’t ever feel like a failure has to be a simple road block in the games you run. At the end of the day its your judgment call on what happens when someone succeeds or fails. Allowing players to have some sort of success even when their dice fail them can really add a new dynamic to your game and the failing forward concept is a great tool to add to your arsenal.
I hope this tip was helpful, if it was please share your thoughts, questions or opinions below! You can also follow Mindflayed Mondays on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!
