The Best Nat-1 I’ve Ever Rolled

AKA How to Keep the Story Going No Matter What

Let me tell you the story of the best nat-1 I’ve ever rolled as a player. It happened in our duet D&D game just last week.

For a little background context, none of my dice seem to get along very well with my current PC, Draeza. This is probably a sign from Draeza to me that she needs her own dice! (What else could it possibly mean?!) These are dice that are tried-and-true for past PCs, inordinately lucky, even!

And yet Draeza rolls more nat1s than even seems possible. (Yes, I know it’s a 5% chance each time, but still.)

The Story Situation

Draeza and her new ghost friend had traveled to the spirit-realm to retrieve the spirit of her mentor so it could re-inhabit his body. (As one does.) In the process of her mentor’s spirit being thrown out of his body, his spirit had lost its memories of who it was but retained many of the mentor, Devrim’s beliefs.

Our intrepid heroine followed her intuition and the rumors of brewing revolution to track down the wayward spirit. Then, once she found him, she set about proving herself to him to earn his trust.

GM Strategy for Success #1 – Do More of What Your Player Loves

This trust-quest was already in and of itself one of my favorite challenges we’ve done in our game. To succeed, Draeza had to navigate an above-ground prison menagerie full of intriguing creatures like a naga prince and a telepathic two-headed wolf (who we immediately befriended of course). The prison was also full of, you guessed it, prisoners, one of whom we had to free to complete the trust-quest.

How this leans in to my player preferences: I am claustrophobic and I enjoy immersive gaming situations. I also have a vivid imagination. Unfortunately what this means for the “dungeon” part of Dungeons & Dragons is that I don’t actually like dungeons very much. Over the years, Jonathan has gotten better and better at adapting them for me!

An underground labyrinth where I have to keep choosing directions and avoiding traps? Not my favorite. An above-ground menagerie ruled over by an evil empress who’s absorbing emotions to enhance her power? Much more interesting!

Back to the Menagerie

In the center of the menagerie is a fighting ring with stands where evil, twisted spirits gather. Crow-kin (crow folk) supervise this space, as agents of the sorceress, and they are, in turn, supervised by ghouls.

For clarity’s sake, I’m going to skip ahead. One thing led to another and Draeza needed to steal keys from an unsuspecting crow-kin guard. Said guard happened to be placing bets with spirits and had a pile of gold in front of him. Between Draeza and her spirit-friend, she decided to toss a stone onto the pile of coins, scattering them everywhere, and distracting the guard long enough for her companion to steal his keys.

I rolled. Held my breath. Nat 1. (My third or fourth of the hour.)

I looked at Jonathan, that player look that says, “Maybe I should roll with advantage?”

He’s very sweet. He gave in. “Roll with advantage because your spirit friend is helping you.”

I rolled again. Nat 1.

Again, the look.

Jonathan shook his head. “I think the dice have spoken.”

All actions have consequences…

and skilled GMs make sure all rolls move the story forward!

He then narrates how Draeza’s rock that was supposed to strike the pile of coins instead hits one of the ghoul wardens in the head. Her cover was blown!

Chaos then ensued.

But within that chaos, Draeza leaned into the panic she’d accidentally created among the spirits and crow-kin. From there, she was able to drive the menagerie into such a state of frenzy that she freed everyone, not just the one spirit she’d been sent to save!

That nat-1 led to an outcome so much more interesting and satisfying than a perfectly executed nat-20 could have.

That’s the magic of not just tabletop gaming but also duet gaming, that you keep building a story together, whatever the outcome.

GM takeaway #2

When we were both still wide-eyed at our unforeseen success, Jonathan told me that he’d come across the advice that a nat-1 is always the beginning of something, never the end, in the Open Legend RPG books.

As a novelist, I know this. Complications, challenges, and barriers move the characters and plot forward. They’re necessary to it rather than slowing it down. Of course the characters may not recognize obstacles as necessary opportunities in the moment. It was really scary for Draeza to have her plan backfire in the worst possible way!

(I’m sure there’s a real-world lesson here if we want to notice it as well. 😉)

Closing Thoughts

I hope this example from our duet game has helped you reconsider the frustration that unlucky rolls can cause, though of course we’ll lament them in the moment!

Players, trust your GMs and lean into the chaos your dice inflict.

GMs, remember that all rolls are doors opening, even if it’s a door that neither of you expected.

And may we all keep telling amazing stories together!

Interested in learning more about Illios?

Jonathan has set up an absolutely amazing world in Illios, and we’ve been posting some preview content about it on our Patreon if you’d like to check it out! Meanwhile, I have been working on transforming our tabletop game into a LitRPG novel, Wielder of Shadows, which I’ll be releasing in serial soon!

The first novel will be free to read on Royal Road, and I’ll make sure to share the link with our newsletter community when it’s time!

Between now and then, if you’d like to get early access to the story, use the form below, and I’ll send you preview chapters! (And just in case you noticed, Adriel is still me, Beth, but publishing under my gamer tag which seemed appropriate for LitRPGs!)