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You can roll some dice but it doesn't need to be a skill check (or whatever the naming is in your system of choice). When I don't know what should happen, I may roll a die. If it's high then it should be something good and if low, maybe it will give me inspiration to think about some new lurking danger. But I may discard the result and go with the gut feeling. Whatever, it was an "oracle roll" as I like to call it. Not tied to anyone's statistics.
I like to use a deck of cards as well. In Savage Worlds, it is used to determine a random encounter. Clubs indicate an enemy, hearts a friebd, diamonds some good omen and spades obstacles. I like to draw a card so it inspires me on what should happen next (of course as long as it makes sense with the world)
I may discard the result and go with the gut feeling
this is fudging rolls
I was worried someone might take it this way. Fudging rolls means stating the result of a secret roll was different than it was in reality. What I'm talking about is using a die to inspire you what should happen in a situation where rolling is not applicable. Players decide to go to the sewers for some reason. What's in there? I don't know. Yet. There are no rules on what to roll when they go to the sewers now. I may ask them what they expect to find. I may draw a card. I may roll a die. I may consult the random encounters table. It's not a "roll" in the gaming sense, it's a way to get some inspiration on my next description. But it's like with a coin toss, sometimes you know what should happen when you make the roll and before you even see the result.
Fudging rolls means stating the result of a secret roll was different than it was in reality
which is what you're doing when you ignore it...? otherwise you wouldn't be ignoring it
Because the result has no meaning, it's not a roll in a gaming sense. It being 20 or 1 makes no difference, it's just to spark something in the imagination.
it has the meaning you assigned to it before rolling it, whether or not you're pulling that meaning from a specific table, and whether or not you reveal the system to the players
if you decide ahead of time that a low result is going to be a tough encounter, and a high result is going to be a pile of treasure, then it comes up low and you decide to ignore that and give them treasure instead based on your gut feeling, you're fudging the roll
if you decide what's going to happen next based on your pull from a tarot deck, and somehow get "death" four times in a row, anything less than a disaster scenario is fudging the roll
it's the exact same instinct that leads to "hmm, maybe this piss shit little goblin shouldn't decapitate the barbarian in one hit because it happened to roll well"
But that's the whole point, I don't know beforehand what any result would mean. Yeah, generally by habit you think higher roll is good and low is bad but you can't apply it to every scenario. Let me visualize how it works for me
"What's in the sewers? I don't know, let me see. I rolled 14. Maybe it's something good? Maybe someone friendly? No, it doens't make sense in this context. It should probably be a hideout of crocodile people gang."
Did I know 14 would mean that? Should it? Is it good? Bad? I could also not roll. I could use a coffee stain to decide. I could toss a paper clip.
Personally I don't consider it as fudging rolls just because dice is involved. There are no procedures. I use it to guide my imagination because I have it right here before me. Tarot deck? Usually not, but it's also a fantastic tool to do so and you may interpret it however you want. But I agree with you that drawing death 3 times is rather self explanatory and it's an obvious disaster (also what a fun one!). But a die result is just a number without meaning, it only gives me a starting point for my thoughts. It's a habit; a tick; a real object that binds me with the virtual world. Not a roll to hit or a skills check.
If that's fudging rolls for you then I guess I need to stir up some dice to get my flow going.