Tabletop Tales: Cheating and Diceless Games

Now, I'll admit that I've flubbed a few dice rolls in my day.

 

Every gamer has done it at some point. You might find yourself in a situation that you REALLY want to succeed in, the dice may just be refusing to roll in your favor, or maybe you did it to pull off something really cool looking and impress the other players. 

Whatever the reason, everyone has cheated or will cheat at some point in their gaming career. I'm not saying it's all right to do this, but I do believe it's acceptable to turn the other cheek in most cases.

MOST cases. 

This being said, there is a limit to what is acceptable. Fibbing about a dice roll once in a blue moon is okay in my book, both as the player doing it and as the gamemaster being lied to about the roll. Fibbing about dice rolls all the time...that's another story.

Heh...get it? "Loaded" dice

My gaming friends and I know of a certain individual (who shall remain nameless) that constantly cheats at his dice rolls. Is there proof of this? Not in the sense that someone has video evidence of him doing it, no. However, if his dice rolls are legitimate, he is the luckiest man on the face of the earth and should play the lottery immediately. 

Why does he constantly lie about his dice rolls? Well, I can't say for certain (not being him, and all), but I believe it's because he wants to always be the best in whatever game he's playing. And that's just selfish gamer behavior right there. 

It's understandable that any player will want their character to excel and be powerful, skillful, impressive, etc., but one should do that through skill in building the character and playing them creatively. NOT, as this article suggests, through the use of underhanded out-of-game tactics. 

 

The constant cheating in such cases gets so bad that it forces the gamemaster to take drastic measures in correcting it. In most situations, they would simply tell all their players that the dice rolls have to be done in the open where everyone can witness the result. However, the issue with this is that it detracts the amount of trust between the gamemaster and the players, specifically those that AREN'T cheating. On the other side of the coin, allowing the cheating to continue detracts from the honest players' enjoyment as well.

No matter the decision made, the outcome is lose-lose for everybody. 

This is why, when I hear stories about persistently untrustworthy gamers, I become irritated. There's no excuse for that type of behavior, as often as they're doing it. In my humble opinion, a game can be enjoyed without resorting to cheating to have the "best" character. Gaming is a communal activity and that sort of behavior completely contradicts that. Many games encourage teamwork and I, personally, feel a great sense of pride and accomplishment when the players start working together in a consistently effective manner.

This is why I enjoy diceless games, such as Amber.

What better way to eliminate the possibility of cheating than to get rid of the dice altogether. In diceless games, conflicts are typically decided through who has the higher appropriate stat or stats. For example, an arm-wrestling match is decided simply by who has the higher Strength. A more in-depth example may be a contest of who can solve a Rubiks Cube faster, determined by who has the higher Intelligence (for solving the pattern portion of the puzzle) and Dexterity (for twisting the puzzle into completion).

There is simply NO way a player can cheat in a diceless game. Yes, a player can find loopholes and use lateral thinking to make their character more powerful, but that all involves figuring things out in the game, and not actually using the aforementioned underhanded out-of-game tactics. 

But, unfortunately, most games aren't diceless, and therefore this solution is limited to the few that are. 

Honestly, when I run a game, I typically try to select players that I know will honestly play and enjoy the overall experience instead of trying to ruin it. However, you can't always predict people's behaviors so here's a short list of my ways to deal with cheaters (as the GM). 

• Before you even start playing your game, gather all your players together and tell them that you don't condone cheating of any kind. This upfront discourages most people from even considering it.
• If you suspect a player of cheating, don't call him out in front of everyone. Take him aside privately when the session is over and talk to him. This way, they aren't humiliated in front of everyone else and you can give them a warning. I personally like to use the three strikes rule, since I'm a patient person, but other GMs may prefer the one warning. 
• If you're a player and you notice another player cheating, don't call them out on it either. Bring your concerns to the GM privately so that he may deal with it accordingly.
• If it continues, even after you've issued the required number of warnings, you have two choices left. You can either resort to having everyone roll openly, as stated earlier, or ask the player to leave the game. Neither option is very fun to implement, but one must done if you want the cheating to stop. 

Hopefully, this will help in correcting any issues you may be facing within your gaming group. Being the GM and having to deal with a situation like this isn't an easy thing to do, but remember this: the honest players are looking to you to keep the game enjoyable. If you fail to address a problem like this, you're basically failing at doing your job.