DM Adventures presents:

     In order for you to keep the game properly balanced and exciting, you have to be great at information-gathering, organization and most importantly, be able to weave a tale "on-the-fly" (spontaneous improvisation). Highly-skilled DMs will have these abilities and be able to tie seemingly random (and they definitely start out this way) unrelated details together into working plots (as if you had worked out the story long before the game began). A DM with these types of skills is highly treasured by his or her players. Before I start a game I tell the player(s) that:

1. I have modified the AD&D rules.
   
2. They should pay attention to every detail because everything ties together at some point in the multiple plots.
   
3. Nothing is what it should be but rather what it could be (this one really confuses the heck out of them unless they've been players in my gaming sessions).
   
4. Expect the unexpected and you might just survive long enough to chase dryads amongst the sycamores.
   
5. Adult dragons in my AD&D campaigns are the equivalent of an unstable hydrogen bomb. Teenage dragons are the equivalent of say your average 14-year-old child. Those of you with children of your own will quickly figure out that you have a much better chance with an adult dragon as opposed to a teenage dragon. Your best chance of surviving a dragon encounter in one of my AD&D campaigns is if you have the incredible luck to meet up with a gnome dragon-handler (this is not always a good thing depending on the intelligence of the gnome), come across a young dragon, or .... (can't give away all my secrets, can I?)
   
6. I use a Roll of 1 rule modification on magical or non-magical combat dice rolls to implement chaos theory. I call this modification, Roleflaying 101: Creative DMing -- Murphy's Law, an insidious DM, and the unfortunate NPCs and PCs who roll a 1.

     To add some spice into my AD&D campaigns for my players, I developed a unique idea. When a player rolls a die or dice for combat situations, I use the now infamous Roll of 1 scenario. If you are DMing for someone who is good at ad-lib acting, then you want to use my tables for Rolls of 1. These tables will definitely challenge the player(s) and hone their acting abilities. They will also provide random variety and humor to keep a game from going stale. Here's how it works:   AD&D combat situations usually call for the roll of a special 20-sided die. The DM rolls the attack die for the Non Player Characters (NPCs) and creatures. The player rolls the die for his or her character(s). If the dreaded 1 comes up, the DM should check either Table 1 (Spells, Magic Items) or Table 2(Non-Magical weapons), depending on the type of weapon (magic or non-magic) involved. If a player's character was attacking an NPC or creature with a magic weapon or casting a spell (always have the player roll the die even if the books say it is an automatic hit. What you are rolling the die for is chaos theory in this instance.) and rolled a 1, you would consult Table 1 and have the player roll a 20-sided die. Depending on what the table calls for you can either notify anyone in the group who has the best chance of knowing that something may or may not have occurred (if there are no visible effects at that point in time), not let anyone know, or write something down on a note and give it to one player. Passing notes delays a game somewhat. But it really stirs up your players' imaginations. The players' characters can not know what they themselves just saw. The only way they would know that something was amiss was if the character of the person that got the note started behaving oddly. But in proper roleplaying, tying the present together with past events is not a conclusion their characters can make without help from the character whose player received the note. You should stress this to them at the start of a game, so they don't "forget."

     For example, say you are DMing a scenario involving a group of players whose characters ambushed (or were ambushed by) an orc scouting party. One of the PCs swings his two-handed sword +2 (ie. magicked sword) at an orc warrior. The player rolls a 20-sided die. He gets a 1. You, the DM open your Rolls of 1 notebook to Table 1 and (without grinning--Remember, you want the players to believe you aren't out to get them; you're just the narrator, which you really are, but it is fun to mess with their heads at times.) tell the player to roll a 20-sided die again. The player does and gets a 12. You consult the table and decide to pass a note. First you should roll a die to determine how many characters will be involved. The die roll depends on the amount of characters in the group. Some characters, depending on their race or magic items worn, may be immune to certain magical side effects or spells. Take that into account. Upon rolling the die or dice, you learn that two characters are involved. You can either make two notes for each individual or just one and tell both of them to read it. The event may not begin at this moment (a die roll will tell you this). So it is up to you to let the two involved players know what triggers the event. And how they might at first react to it. Their party will have to figure out what is wrong with these two characters and how to cure them (usually a Dispel Magic spell will work) based on whether they actually believe that what their buddies are experiencing is real or imagined. Remember, what occurs after a roll of 1 may not actually affect the player who rolled the 1. That is what makes the Roll of 1 rule modification so much fun for the DM and so much havoc for the party of characters.

     You can even modify a particular die roll. Say this party has had particularly bad luck with combat scenarios and are in dire need of medical attention. In this instance, if a player cast a spell or used a magical item and rolled a 1, I would get out the book, roll some dice, and either act as if nothing happened or pass a note to a player saying, "So what do you think about the Red Sox?" or something just as bland. Ask them to write down something on a note and pass it back to you. If the player you passed the note to can keep a secret and play along, you've just heightened the suspense a notch by making the other players think something just occurred.

     The tables are self-explanatory if you are familiar with AD&D . 1d6 means you roll a 6-sided die once. 2d8 means you roll two 8-sided die. Roll dexterity (roll a 20-sided die). Roll system shock or a saving throw means to roll percentile dice (a percentile die if you have one, or two 10-sided dice). 1d6/10' means roll a six-sided die once and the number times 10 feet is how far you fell or rose or the height of something that fell on you.

• gp=goldpieces
  
• sp=silverpieces
  
• pp=platinum pieces
  
• cp=copper pieces

     I've only drafted Rolls of 1 tables for combat situations involving magic or non-magic weapons. You could make your own set of tables for other dice roll situations. Feel free to make modifications to suit your style of play. Have fun. If you've been a DM for as long as I have you don't need the TSR books or modules because you can create believable scenarios within your improvisational imagination. If you don't have a book you think you need, check with your players first. Chances are they've already bought it. Use the Internet to find what you want or the multitudes of AD&D bulletin boards in the world.

Last updated, March 14, 2008.   Copyright © 1998-2008 Terry L. Karkos.

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