“You miss.”
Two of the least interesting words that can be uttered by a
Game Master.
Regardless of system there is always a target roll to hit or
miss and the closer a players’ roll is to this number the more spectacular a
miss can be. After all, just because
someone didn’t deal damage, it doesn’t necessarily mean they “missed”. When fighting creatures with thick hide or a
soldier with thick armor a “miss” is often a hit that didn’t deal damage.
There is, in fact, a combat session that has gone down in
history as one of the best just because of such color. Both sides, goblins and heroes, were rolling
poorly and the deciding factor came down to a critical fumble taken advantage
of with smart decisions on the part of the players. But the whole combat was nearly an hour of “You
Missed” that had everyone laughing and trying again just to see what would
happen!
“Your arm jolts from the swords impact on his shield and
sparks fly, but it bounces ineffectually off of his shoulder plate.”
Or “Chips of stone fly and dust puffs into the air as your bullets riddle the wall just next to their head.”
Or
“You can feel the tumbler in the lock starting to give before it snaps back into place”
Or
“After nearly an hour of studying the book some of the concepts still seem foreign but they are starting to make sense.”
A little color to the “you missed” can do a lot for the
moral of a player whose character may not be suited to the situation they might
find themselves in or the player that is rolling poorly. Some players even try for the one in a
million rolls because if they succeed it will be cool but failing can still be
fun and interesting.
