#reddit article

This is another example of a method I’ve used for so long that I’d forgotten it wasn’t standard.

Long story short, the article tackles the topic of rolls that “don’t matter”. This is certain to be a point of some contention, but I’ll say I generally come out on the side of avoiding rolls until their results would actually matter.

This means that, for example, a player in a game run this way would not need to constantly say “I am checking for traps” at every encounter area of a hallway. Likewise, they would not need to roll a stealth check to creep along a hallway they don’t know is empty. Instead, the moment they are risk of triggering a trap, or being seen by someone, the DM would only then call for a roll from the affected players and the results would be immediately determined and declared.

Note that it’s entirely up to your group which rolls they want to be declared beforehand, and which could use this rule.

Some benefits:

Saving time

Assuming players make the rolls and not the DM - It avoids that awkward moment when a player suddenly changes their mind about sneaking forward because their Stealth/Hide/Move SIlently roll result was low. 

Similarly, it avoids each player deciding to “try it too” in cases where the players that rolled before them failed, and then sending that one successful player forward as the only character that ‘actually’ took the action to its full conclusion.

I’ve been using this same mechanic for so long in my own games that I had forgotten it isn’t standard. So when I saw the write-up I knew I really ought to share it.

Basically, if a player asks you if they might have been to a place before, or have met someone in the past, or essentially any question born from past happenstance and not directly tied to a skill check, it can be useful to assign a percentage to it and have a player roll a d100.