Here, you will find the basics of rolling for plot, which I just came up with so you can feel free to point and laugh at my ignorance or help improve my explanation/suggestions.
A definition.
WTF does "rolling for plot" MEAN? Well, it's quite simple and yet, brilliant. Basically, you have a numbered list of potential plots/severity of n number of plots and you roll a n-sided die to discover what your character's plot will be. That's it, really. It's great because it alleviates the guess work and stress of assigning an outcome to every character and generates fairness/excitement for your players.
Yes, this is an idea borrowed from table-top gaming, but don't worry, you don't need to physically own a 16-sided die to make this work. That's what the internet is for.
An example.
At the long-running Harry Potter game Valesco on Scribbld, whenever there are large, multi-character-impacting plots, we use a system called "death rolling", which is an idea was originally adopted from blurred_lines. Here's how it works for us.
Players decide which character(s) will participate in the plot.
Players assign a range of numbers (anything that falls into 1 through 8) to each character, which will be used as the possible outcomes for that character in their roll.
Using an online number generator (there are a lot of great die sites out there), the moderators setup the parameters for each individual character and then roll.
The outcome is weighed against a standardized table of possible fates.
Players are privately informed of the outcome while the rest of the community awaits the in-chat announcement by the player, if they choose to immediately divulge, of the character's fate.
Now that the players know their character(s)'s fate, they plot their demise and execute through threads, logs, narratives, etc.
The following is the table we use, which is color coded like a threat scale.
8 → Death
7 → Gravely wounded with lasting/fatal effects; combination of 2 - 6 (survival at discretion of player)
6 → Gravely wounded; concussions, broken bones, major internal injuries, major blood loss
1 → Relatively unharmed; barely a scratch, rattled greatly, etc.
A few notes: Including 8 in your range doesn't mean you WANT your character to die, you're just open to the possibility of it. Any range is acceptable as long as you are able to justify the outcome with an appropriate plot. For example, if your character is running and hiding and generally avoiding all conflict, a range of 1-3 is acceptable. However, if your character is participating in the violence? 1-3 is not really going to cut it because if you're opening your character to violence, you should be more accepting of more dangerous outcomes and ranges like 3-7 or even 1-8. You don't have to get a 1 to be badass in battle. Plenty of the greatest fighters come out worse for the wear. Also, don't roll if you're not going to actually participate in the plot. It's just bad form and a waste of time.
- Have fun with it! They're FICTIONAL CHARACTERS, which means you already control everything they do. Why not take a little bit of the control and fate out of your hands once in a long while? It can be thrilling.
- Don't just do death rolls. Not every plot is going to revolve around violence. Make rolls for love lives! Friends! Enemies! Is my character brave enough to do this? Is my character stupid enough to do that?
- Don't roll for EVERYTHING. Then you're a roll-player and you're giving up most of the responsibility for your characters' actions and traits while being focused on the next roll. It's isolating and tedious when it comes to journal play. If you find this to be truly fun, though, I do suggest you give table-top and pen-and-paper gaming a try.
- Don't make it mandatory participation. Like miss_manners pointed out in the comments, forcing players into this can kill a game. So, I recommend that, as moderators, you don't force this onto players. Let them wade into it at their own pace. Not everyone wants to give up that bit of control. Also, don't force players to include death in their possibilities for a death roll. That's just going to make people cranky and that never ends well.
And that's the gist of what I wanted to say, here. I hope someone finds this informative and/or thought provoking.
Questions/Feedback? Leave a comment to this post. Thanks!