Luck is a Lie. Roll High or Die Trying.

Stop Blaming the Dice—The Game Is Rigged for Those Who Play

You roll the dice. You fail. You call it bad luck.

You try something new. You stumble. You say you’re not cut out for it.

You see someone else succeed and assume they had better rolls than you.

But here’s the truth: Luck is a crutch for people who don’t take action.

The real difference between winners and losers?

Winners keep rolling. Losers quit before the roll that would’ve changed everything.

You could fumble a thousand times—but if you keep rolling the dice, you will eventually land a natural 20.

Probability bends in favor of those who refuse to stop.

Luck Is not what you think

Most people think success is a single roll. That some people are just born lucky. That one failure proves the game isn’t for them.

But D&D doesn’t work like that. Neither does life.

• A bad roll isn’t failure—it’s data. Roll again. Adapt.
• A critical fail doesn’t end the game—it just makes the next success that much sweeter.
• A streak of bad rolls means nothing—because probability resets every time you pick up the dice.

The only way to truly fail? Stop rolling.

Every legendary character you admire—in history, in fiction, in real life—has something in common:

• They chose a goal
• They pursued it
• They kept showing up—even when it sucked

And because they didn’t quit, their probability of success increased to 100%.

It’s not magic. It’s math.

Nat 20s Aren’t Born—They’re Ground Out on a Whetstone of Failed Rolls

Most people fail because they never fully commit.

• They chase too many things at once and never go all-in on anything.
• They quit when they get bored, discouraged, or when it stops being fun.
• They walk away before probability had a chance to catch up.

But the moment you decide: "I will succeed at this, no matter how long it takes." The game changes.

• Failures don’t hurt as much—they’re just stepping stones.
• Impatience fades—because you know time is on your side.
• Every roll—even the bad ones—brings you closer to the win.

You can’t lose unless you choose to walk away.

And if you never walk away?

You’ve already won.

DC 15 Reality Check Even a skilled hero (+5 modifier) only has a 55% chance of success on a "Medium" DC 15 check—a reminder that failure is baked into growth1. Jeremy Crawford once ruled that true mastery bypasses dice rolls entirely (e.g., an arm wrestle decided by raw Strength scores.) Sometimes, persistence turns skill into automatic success.

How to Shift from waiting for luck to inevitable success

Success is a probability game—and you can rig the system in your favor.

Thomas Edison famously said: "I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work." (Especially when it came to Tesla and Topsy the elephant…)

1. Pick Your Goal—And Actually Commit. Not “try.” Not “see what happens.” Decide. Give yourself permission to suck at first. No detours. No distractions. This is the main quest.
2. Keep Rolling the Dice. A fail isn’t a sign to quit—it’s just a bad roll. Recalibrate. Adapt. Roll again. The only roll that matters? The last one.
3. Ignore the Fake Deadline. You don’t “deserve” success in a week, a month, or even a year. Keep going until it happens. Play the long game.
   Time is going to pass anyway. You might as well win eventually.
4. Bet On Probability—Not Perfection. You don’t need every roll to be a success. You just need enough wins over time. The ones who succeed aren’t the best, the smartest, or the luckiest. They’re the ones who didn’t stop playing the game.
5. Make Every Failure Count. Every setback = EXP. Every fumble = Knowledge. Every bad roll = Another step toward the critical hit.

At the end of the day, success is never about luck.

It’s about who’s still at the table when the game-changing roll finally lands.

So pick up the dice.

And roll until you win.

-Rex