Extra Secret Rolls

Our GM used to have us do secret rolls that only he could see for any checks we had to do. Right now we can do a private roll to the GM and both of us see it. I'd love to see a secret roll that only the GM can see in addition to a private roll.

That would be a good addition indeed.

Wouldn't the GM just roll themselves on your prompt?

as a GM, I wouldn't bother using eDice for any roll that I don't need to broadcast to the players so if I'm just rolling a search for doors or something else, I'll roll real dice sitting next to me. What might still give this idea some value, however, is that a Player might need a roll to happen that the GM sees, but he doesn't. For instance, Search for Traps. The PC is generally not supposed to know what he rolled, that gives it away. The GM does the roll, and tells the PC "You did not find any traps" if the PC succeeded and there were no traps OR if the PC failed. So the PC is initiating the roll, but isn't supposed to know the outcome. This can be handled by the PC saying "I search for traps" and the DM asking for his skill level and then doing the roll. Or, the PC could simply send: /gm searches for traps = [1d20+12] the player mustn't know what the result was.

I agree with this. My group has always been really bad about that sort of check - the players always just roll and tell the gm the result, and it's caused problems where we act based on knowing we failed a check that we weren't technically supposed to know we failed. It's just easier because the players like to keep track of their own skills and roll their own dice. So, a gm-only roll like that might make us actually do it right...

i was thinking the same thing. for search rolls, but also for spot, listen, use rope, any roll where the player isn't really meant to know the outcome, but should roll his own dice for the feel of it. when the dm rolls a check for me, even if he uses the same dice, it's not me rolling the outcome. what would also be good for these rolls would be for the player to have an idea of how good the roll was, but not whether he passed or not. for example, if i make a use ropes check, i can probably tell whether i just totally messed up the knot. if i roll d20+use ropes check, the dm could see the roll, and i could see a score of the d20. 1-5 poor, 6-10 average 11-15 good 16-20 excellent. so i type /dmp 1d20+15 dm sees: rolling 1d20+15 (14)+15=29 i see: rolling 1d20+15 outcome good (dmp=dm private roll)

I also agree that GM rolls should go JUST to the GM, and a new category (perhaps whisper roll) would go to both you and whomever you are whispering. In this way the GM can receive priveledged information, and a pair of users (perhaps both GMs?) can share a secret roll. Any user could also whisper roll themselves to create a truly secret roll known only to themselves... without having to keep dice on hand.

Most everyone on this thread has said they like to roll themselves, even if only the GM can see it. Not only does it give the player a sense of ownership to the roll, but it also frees up the GM from having to do so many rolls for his players.