I saw a comment on a YouTube video the other day about GURPS which stated the Number One problem with GURPS – of the two given – was that you “roll dice too often”. My face scrunched up and I thought, “Really? Isn’t that more of a play style thing?” I mean, GURPS doesn’t mandate die rolls any more than most other RPGs.

GURPS specifically says,

“To avoid bogging down the game in endless die rolls, the GM should only require a success roll if there is a chance of meaningful failure or gainful success.”

GURPS Basic Set Campaigns, page 343

That’s advice which is very common today but was written in GURPS twenty years ago, long before I became aware of that advice in wider circulation. But that comment got me thinking about my own play: Do I roll the dice too frequently? What does it mean to roll the dice? Why am I using dice anyway?

Dicey Thoughts

I’ve been playing – yes, actually playing – in a game of Call of Cthulhu with Keeper “Runeslinger” from the Casting Shadows YouTube, Podcast, and blog. In our first session, we rolled dice to create my character but then we played for about an hour and a quarter without making a single further die roll.

Runeslinger explained his rationale for this approach thus:

I did make note of the character’s scores and I use the BRP novice to expert roll guide to assess when dice are needed, coupled with the rubric of no stress or time limit equals no roll. I roll or don’t roll dice for the NPCs using the same rubric and they advance their plans over time via dice rolls.

Extract from a personal email

Thus, dice will be used but only when there is some significant pressure on the character in the moment of action – such as a time constraint or some significant doubt of their ability.

As a GURPS GM, I recognise something similar to this approach in the Basic Set:

…the GM should require success rolls when . . .

• A PC’s health, wealth, friends, reputation, or equipment are at risk. This includs chases, combat (even if the target is stationary and at point-blank range!), espionage, thievery, and similar “adventuring” activities.
• A PC stands to gain allies, information, new abilities, social standing, or wealth.

The GM should not require rolls for . . .

• Utterly trivial tasks, such as crossing the street, driving into town, feeding the dog, finding the corner store, or turning on the computer.
• Daily work at a mundane, non-adventuring job.

This idea that you roll when something that the character cares about is at risk is powerful.

The default assumption, at least in GURPS, is that you roll when the task is a clear risk or reward situation and that the straight up unmodified roll represents the adventuring level of challenge. Trivial tasks, if rolled, would gain a +10 modifier and +0 is the average difficulty for a Player Character under pressure, as in, “Most adventuring tasks, and the majority of skill use under stress.”

Reflecting, I probably do make too many dice rolls when playing my current Fellmyr game powered by GURPS. I tend to forget that the adventurers only need to roll when skill use is under stress. One example might be when they pick a lock on a door and there’s no real time constraint so I could just eye-ball the likelihood based on the character’s skill.

On the other hand, many players enjoy rolling dice and a kind of equilibrium has emerged at the table based on the preferences of the group. Put another way, sometimes you roll the dice when you don’t strictly need to because the player enjoys the sensation and experience of rolling dice. You run the game for the group you’ve got in front of you.

My personal preference is to run the game with fewer rolls and to roll them all behind the GM screen. The reason is that I would rather encourage deeper Otherworld-immersion by cloaking the game mechanisms with the shield of rules opacity. Fewer rolls are necessary when you apply the principles discussed above but also when your players don’t need to clatter plastic in their sweaty hands.

All that to say, really, that “No, GURPS doesn’t have too many rolls,” unless you specifically have a taste for zero dice rolling. If you don’t like rolling dice, well sure, GURPS is probably not your jam. Amber Diceless exists instead. But if you apply the rules as written and some common sense, you can enjoy the clatter of D6s while not feeling too overwhelmed.

Game on!