Another small question that came up during our last session. Three people in the party went sneaking through the temple at night, so I felt that they were collectively defying the danger of being discovered by any monks that happened to be up late.
If it had just been them entering a specific room or area where somebody unexpected could be located, I probably would have asked “who of you is in front?”, and made that character roll Defy Danger. But this was more of a the-three-of-us-are-roaming-through-the-entire-building scene. So how do I as a GM best handle a zoomed-out ‘aggregated’ Defy Danger like that?
Generally, “everybody needs to roll, and if anybody rolls poorly everybody suffers for it” is not a fun setup. For group efforts like that, I say that solution you dismissed is actually the right one. Have whoever is taking point and leading the endeavor roll on behalf of everyone, and only require someone else to roll if there’s some additional factor involved–e.g., if the Paladin is trying to sneak in clumsy armor.
Aid rolls from the other characters can happen of course, and they can add a bit of flavor to the scene; Terrence is leading the crew in sneaking down the hallway, and Meredith pulls him back into the shadows at the last minute when she spots a guard he was about to bump into, that kind of thing.
You could also say : you all roll and if at least half of you succeeds, you all succeed.
As if they are all helping each others.
I’d only have the worst “sneaker” roll, with the others helping. It’s not like climbing where if someone fails the others can pull them up. If noise is made or one is spotted, there’s no covering it.
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I usually start with the question, “are you splitting up or staying together?”
If they’re all together, I tell them it’s a defy danger but only one needs to roll. The others can help by rolling aid. They succeed or fail as a group.
If they’re separate, then each rolls independently, and we go from there.
If they’re all defying danger, they all defy danger.
If they don’t all want to defy danger, something about the set-up needs to change so others can avoid having to roll.
Example, this is the: “we don’t all want to climb this sheer and slimy rock wall” scenario, where you send the rogue first and have him drive the pitons in and drop the ropes from the top so others don’t have to DD.
In the end I prefer the “only one roll” , way more cool, gives a spotlight moment to one of the characters who has to handle the situation so that others don’t have to roll.
Rogue goes sneaking and opens the door from interior and finds a safe way to walk his friends in unnoticed.
I don’t buy the “others aid” has it changes the odds too much in their favor plus if you’re not doing it yourself how can you help?
I’ve used something like this before, works okay:
When you Defy Danger as a group, decide how you all do it and you each roll your appropriate stat. On a 6-, you screw up, tell us what that looks like. On a 7-9, you pull your weight just fine. On a 10+, you do well enough to cover for someone else’s screw-up, if you can tell us how.
This is mathematically a lot more forgiving than “everyone rolls Defy Danger.”
If someone misses and no one is able to cover for it, you zoom in and put them in a spot, resolving that in detail.
If someone misses but another PC can cover, you get this cool little vignette. Like, maybe the thief gets caught out in the open by a suspicious guard, and while he tries to bluff his way out of it, the cleric slips forward and bonks the guard on the head. Then they proceed to their destination.
If everyone nails it, you give some color and proceed to the next point of interest.
I agree with Addramyr Palinor