So I recently played AD&D 2e with some long time friends in Roll 20. Prior to the session this weekend, I had only played with them once prior in Roll 20 and I was the DM. In this last session one of my friends was the DM. Everyone that played has known each other for 20+ years but we all live in different areas of the USA now. In this last session, the other DM surprised me when he declared that he would be making all the rolls, including the players to hit and damage rolls. He said this was so he could adjust the dice to make us hit more often or harder as need be. I also inferred that meant the opposite... if he thought we were moving through his encounter too easily, he could cause us to miss or do less damage. My initial surprise was shared by one other person who was also a first time player with the DM. The other two players had played with him before and so looking back on it, I guess that is why they were silent in the discussion. The DM relented and let us roll our To Hits, but insisted he roll our damage. After the game was over, the DM said he did not like the Roll 20 vessel. All he used it for was so we could roll to hit, while he rolled all other dice on his desk on his end and reported the results to us. A week later, I was chatting with him and mentioned how I felt a little inactive during the session because I had no dice to roll other than to hit. As a player, I am used to rolling my own to hits, damage, saves, etc. The DM always rolled for the npcs and in some cases for the players, when it came to things like discovering secret doors. I have always enjoyed the "live by the dice, die by the dice" feeling that to me was a big part of the game. Even the low rolls were part of the fun in playing. By the DM taking away the dice and for the reason he did, it felt like there was no risk. We were going to win no matter what, because he would adjust the rolls and we wouldnt get on a string of bad luck rolls and be in dire straights at some point. Our discussion brought out my concerns and he still refused to budge on letting us roll. In the process of the discussion he revealed that for the 35 years he has played, thats how everyone he played with has played. The other two players who have known him since high school confirmed it as well. The DM rolled all the dice. That floored me. I have DMed since I was in elementary school over 35 years ago myself and never once have I seen nor heard of any DM doing that. I have played live at conventions as well and never seen this practice. I did a search on Yahoo and was hard pressed to find the same occurrence. So I thought I would post here and see what other gamers have experienced. Has my practice of letting players roll for themselves been outside the normal all along? Do most DMs roll all dice including the characters to keep more control over the game?
