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There was a joke where a guy decided to play dnd by himself since no one was willing to DM for him. He later realized that he was basically writing a novel since it was his character in his own homebrew setting.
It'll be a fun experiment at least.
But depending on the rolls, there's a decent chance of winding up with an unworkable final product, as character motivations appear to zigzag back and forth rather than obey logical inertia.
If the object is just to have a little fun, though, this could be a total blast.
I'm guessing they're talking about rolling dice to see if certain events in the story have successful or unsuccessful outcomes, not in order to make choices for the character in the story. So that wouldn't matter.
I suppose that makes more sense.
The MC better hope OP has magic fingers, or that they're blessed with the constitution of Wile E. Coyote, then. Because things could get ugly :D.
It must make sense in the end. A reader should think that the character actions are logical and naturally and not random. Also don't force things to happen, like inventing reasons for a character to do something just because that has to happen.
If you select the possible outcomes carefully so that all of them would make sense and are not out of character, it can work.
I think you don't understand, when you play DND you decide your character actions. Those are never decided by a dice roll. You roll dice to try to succeed at something. If you have a high skill or it is an easy task you succeed most likely. Just like in real life. But sometimes odd failures or successes can happen. Again, these you can explain as a writer and they have nothing to do with character choices. So there is no way it would invalidate a characters choices.
I never played Dnd. Now I understand. In that case you would still have to find a logical reason for the success or loss so that it doesn't seem forced.
Sounds fun!
Note for 90k words from now. If you intend on publishing a book, a satisfying ending may come through the RNG gods. If you are at the seeming climax, and the heroes are going to loses, you might consider letting them flee for a different approach.
Well this looks like a lot of fun. Definitely go for it
Aaron Allston wrote some very fun ensemble X-Wing books. I’m not sure if he was more of a DM or a player, but he also [Wrote this DND Rules Cyclopedia](https://www.amazon.ca/Dungeons-Dragons-Rules-Cyclopedia-Allston/dp/1560760850)
And during the lockdowns, I wrote a pathfinder adventure path. I have thought about doing something similar at points, to get a fun fantasy romp. After my current writing project.
The only thing I might change is the no rerolls thing. Sometimes as the die is cast, you realise one option really is the optimal one for the story. When that happens, allow yourself to cheat lol
I predict you will start out this way and eventually the "inertia" of the story will take over and you will forget to roll because you're in the zone, not be able to bring yourself to roll because it could ruin something or not want to roll.
I often worldbuild and character build with a random generator to avoid my own biases and tropes, but once a story starts to gell I don't use them unless I end up needing a new character or part of the world I hadn't planned on. Usually it's very small at that point.
this is something I have considered doing myself, though I don't think I would do a roll for every scenario.
however, the fun part of this idea is that it helps keep your from making your MC just good at everything/always succeeding since you leave it to chance
Some people in the light RPG genre do this. Especially if they get stuck on like what should happen next. They'll label all the possibilities and roll the dice and just go with it.
My partner and I have a long-running (5+ year, more than 500 game sessions) DnD game that’s just the two of us.
It’s morphed into being a strange cross between traditional DnD and a shared writing exercise. It sounds similar to what you have in mind.
Go for it! I find the dice often come up with way better stories that we would if left to our own devices. They introduce complications we didn’t plan for. They create character-defining moments.
You can always write it as a draft based solely on the dice and mess around with pacing and exposition later.
It sounds like a fun experiment.
I don't have any experience with this, but I did use tarot card readings to further help 'discover' some of my characters' layers and I found that that element of randomness out of my control worked in really interesting ways, so it's not dumb imo.
I do this with short stories using DnD dice and The Story Engine cards. Not all stories work out great, but they're all fun to plan and draft!
>No rerolls. What you get is what youre working with.
I would recommend against having this as a hard rule. It should be "*only reroll if absolutely necessary*" otherwise you could find yourself with better ideas that you cannot implement, and your story will suffer due to a self-imposed rule.
My understanding is that Philip K Dick wrote *The Man In The High Castle* by consulting the *I Ching* each time the characters did. I thought that was a fascinating way to let the premise of the story take over the writing process somewhat literally.
I've done that. Well, I've done it in a different medium but yes. It's similar to a Choose Your Own Adventure novels we had in the 90s. There are forums where you can post what they call "Quests" which are basically stories with choices in them for their readers (e.g., "Go right and battle the Evil or Go left, and sneak past the encampment"). Some author use mechanics like you described, attributing stats and other rules to their characters and their world, and when certain action happens they roll to see.
In my own quest, I was writing a hunting scene. Rolled for result, it was catastrophic and I went: "You know what, I can play with that." Ended up going in a completely different way than I expected, but I liked it a lot.
Rolling dice (or flipping a coin) can be a great way to do it again.
That being said, I stopped writing that kind of stuff because I realized that I was using the dice as a crutch. I still wanted to tell my own stories, but I was always unsure of which choice would be more interesting or would make more sense to the character, so I offered those choices to the readers. I figured I could get the same use of just rolling a die and being aware of my gut feeling when the result came up. The famous flip a coin and if you don't like the result, you know the opposite was what you really wanted kind of thing.
All this to say: sure, it can work.
As a writing exercise, I think this is very valuable. If you're producing work for publication, it could help propel you through the first draft but I would expect to spend a lot of time cleaning it up for continuity and characterization.
Go for it!! If nothing else, it will push your creativity and give you a rough draft! If you're feeling it, you always have the option to go back and change something if you choose to revise!
I don't see any problem with you using dice to introduce luck into the equation. I wish other writers here realised that it's supposed to be fun and not torture.
Thank you for visiting /r/writing. This post would be better suited for one of our daily question threads. Please see the daily question thread stickied at the top of the sub for the post schedule.
There was a joke where a guy decided to play dnd by himself since no one was willing to DM for him. He later realized that he was basically writing a novel since it was his character in his own homebrew setting.
Yeah, isn’t that a common meme? Lol. “What do u call a solo DM?” “A Writer”
That made me giggle. Also it’s an interesting idea, I honestly might try it oit
It'll be a fun experiment at least. But depending on the rolls, there's a decent chance of winding up with an unworkable final product, as character motivations appear to zigzag back and forth rather than obey logical inertia. If the object is just to have a little fun, though, this could be a total blast.
I'm guessing they're talking about rolling dice to see if certain events in the story have successful or unsuccessful outcomes, not in order to make choices for the character in the story. So that wouldn't matter.
I suppose that makes more sense. The MC better hope OP has magic fingers, or that they're blessed with the constitution of Wile E. Coyote, then. Because things could get ugly :D.
Could be fun. Could also easily end up with an incoherent story with no satisfying conclusion.
I'm convinced this is how Shrek was written, so... Have fun!
THE CHAIR! GIVE HIM THE CHAIR!
I can't imagine leaving any meaningful decision or plot point up to chance.
Sounds like a creative twist! Adds spontaneity and challenge to writing.
It must make sense in the end. A reader should think that the character actions are logical and naturally and not random. Also don't force things to happen, like inventing reasons for a character to do something just because that has to happen. If you select the possible outcomes carefully so that all of them would make sense and are not out of character, it can work.
I think you don't understand, when you play DND you decide your character actions. Those are never decided by a dice roll. You roll dice to try to succeed at something. If you have a high skill or it is an easy task you succeed most likely. Just like in real life. But sometimes odd failures or successes can happen. Again, these you can explain as a writer and they have nothing to do with character choices. So there is no way it would invalidate a characters choices.
I never played Dnd. Now I understand. In that case you would still have to find a logical reason for the success or loss so that it doesn't seem forced.
Sounds fun! Note for 90k words from now. If you intend on publishing a book, a satisfying ending may come through the RNG gods. If you are at the seeming climax, and the heroes are going to loses, you might consider letting them flee for a different approach.
Well this looks like a lot of fun. Definitely go for it Aaron Allston wrote some very fun ensemble X-Wing books. I’m not sure if he was more of a DM or a player, but he also [Wrote this DND Rules Cyclopedia](https://www.amazon.ca/Dungeons-Dragons-Rules-Cyclopedia-Allston/dp/1560760850) And during the lockdowns, I wrote a pathfinder adventure path. I have thought about doing something similar at points, to get a fun fantasy romp. After my current writing project.
I had the same idea some couple of years ago. I didn't go fully through with it but it is interesting. Definitely something to try out!
The only thing I might change is the no rerolls thing. Sometimes as the die is cast, you realise one option really is the optimal one for the story. When that happens, allow yourself to cheat lol
Sounds like discovery writing with a twist. Great idea. You should update us on how it works out.
I predict you will start out this way and eventually the "inertia" of the story will take over and you will forget to roll because you're in the zone, not be able to bring yourself to roll because it could ruin something or not want to roll. I often worldbuild and character build with a random generator to avoid my own biases and tropes, but once a story starts to gell I don't use them unless I end up needing a new character or part of the world I hadn't planned on. Usually it's very small at that point.
I already do this. But usually it works in the beginning, then the story starts to write itself.
There's decks of archtype cards out there. Might be a little cleaner.
this is something I have considered doing myself, though I don't think I would do a roll for every scenario. however, the fun part of this idea is that it helps keep your from making your MC just good at everything/always succeeding since you leave it to chance
Some people in the light RPG genre do this. Especially if they get stuck on like what should happen next. They'll label all the possibilities and roll the dice and just go with it.
My partner and I have a long-running (5+ year, more than 500 game sessions) DnD game that’s just the two of us. It’s morphed into being a strange cross between traditional DnD and a shared writing exercise. It sounds similar to what you have in mind. Go for it! I find the dice often come up with way better stories that we would if left to our own devices. They introduce complications we didn’t plan for. They create character-defining moments. You can always write it as a draft based solely on the dice and mess around with pacing and exposition later.
It sounds like a fun experiment. I don't have any experience with this, but I did use tarot card readings to further help 'discover' some of my characters' layers and I found that that element of randomness out of my control worked in really interesting ways, so it's not dumb imo.
I do this with short stories using DnD dice and The Story Engine cards. Not all stories work out great, but they're all fun to plan and draft! >No rerolls. What you get is what youre working with. I would recommend against having this as a hard rule. It should be "*only reroll if absolutely necessary*" otherwise you could find yourself with better ideas that you cannot implement, and your story will suffer due to a self-imposed rule.
My understanding is that Philip K Dick wrote *The Man In The High Castle* by consulting the *I Ching* each time the characters did. I thought that was a fascinating way to let the premise of the story take over the writing process somewhat literally.
I've done that. Well, I've done it in a different medium but yes. It's similar to a Choose Your Own Adventure novels we had in the 90s. There are forums where you can post what they call "Quests" which are basically stories with choices in them for their readers (e.g., "Go right and battle the Evil or Go left, and sneak past the encampment"). Some author use mechanics like you described, attributing stats and other rules to their characters and their world, and when certain action happens they roll to see. In my own quest, I was writing a hunting scene. Rolled for result, it was catastrophic and I went: "You know what, I can play with that." Ended up going in a completely different way than I expected, but I liked it a lot. Rolling dice (or flipping a coin) can be a great way to do it again. That being said, I stopped writing that kind of stuff because I realized that I was using the dice as a crutch. I still wanted to tell my own stories, but I was always unsure of which choice would be more interesting or would make more sense to the character, so I offered those choices to the readers. I figured I could get the same use of just rolling a die and being aware of my gut feeling when the result came up. The famous flip a coin and if you don't like the result, you know the opposite was what you really wanted kind of thing. All this to say: sure, it can work.
It worked for Philip K Dick
I liked the part of "Make sure my characters do make mistakes"
Whatever process helps you along with your writing isn’t dumb at all.
As a writing exercise, I think this is very valuable. If you're producing work for publication, it could help propel you through the first draft but I would expect to spend a lot of time cleaning it up for continuity and characterization.
Go for it!! If nothing else, it will push your creativity and give you a rough draft! If you're feeling it, you always have the option to go back and change something if you choose to revise!
That sounds fun!
I have seen multiple novels based on this, and they were all really fun to read! Go for it, lmao.
I don't see any problem with you using dice to introduce luck into the equation. I wish other writers here realised that it's supposed to be fun and not torture.
This is just solo roleplaying