Every Roll Doesn’t Need a Mechanical Outcome

Not every roll needs a mechanical outcome. Sometimes a successful or unsuccessful roll can, instead, result in a fictional outcome without a mechanical component. As GM's we're drawn to the mechanical outcomes of the rolls players make in a game. There needs to be a consequence for a roll – good or bad – and that consequence needs to matter. Mechanical outcomes feel like they matter. Let's look at overland exploration and travel. Lots of RPGs have some form of overland exploration and travel systems. The characters take on roles like pathfinder, scout, quartermaster, leader, and potentially others. When the characters travel, you have your players roll checks to see how well they do. If they roll well, they succeed in their job – traveling without being detected, finding potential dangers along the journey, following the right path, and not getting dehydrated along the way. If they fail, we're drawn to include some sort of mechanical detriment. Maybe they suffer a level of exhaustion.…