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The random encounter roll is absolutely connected to the game world. The encounter tables are by terrain type, the terrain being the aspect of the world being traveled through. It's also based on the likelihood in-fiction of randomly running into a monster, which connects to the game world...

It is, but folks like to call it goal and approach. Gotta have terms for everything you know. At least they aren't calling it GAP and making it an acronym. :P

It's generally X number of times per day, varying based on terrain or location(dungeon, temple, etc.). If they linger, there will be more rolls in that area. Going back several hundred pages now, I roll in advance so that I can make the random encounter more fun. Rolling in advance, though...

It isn't even an appeal to real authority. Gygax didn't play like the book rules said to, either. He played the game very differently.

But it is based on PC skill. The more skilled the PC in the fiction, the less likely to encounter the cook behind that door. To the point that it would become apparent to the PCs that bad things happen a lot more often when unskilled members try stuff.

It's quite common. Rather than, Player: "Can I roll to make a raft?" It's goal and approach, "I'm going to try and make a raft to get across the bay. I'll go into the forest to look for dead trees that I can lash together with my rope. I also have some pitons that I can use with my hammer...

Yes, but not as anything that has to do with what happens after a failure. Goal and approach are just to inform the DM of what you are trying and how. That way he can adjudicate auto success, auto failure, or whether it's in doubt and a roll is called for.

Yes. How people(including Gygax and the other D&D designers) ran the game back then was typically different than how he wrote it.

And this is perfectly fine. We are all entitled to our preferences for what we like when we play RPGs.

Don't forget the skill of the lock picker, which is the worst part of all of this. Let's say both are level one and the DC for the lock is 15. A PC with an 8 dex untrained has a 75% chance of failure and running into the cook. A PC who is trained and has an 18 dex has 40% chance of failing and...

The master thief would also note movement under the door, listen for sounds at the door, and/or look through a window to note the cook. He would also try to quietly pick the lock so as not to alert possible people on the other side.

Okay. Let me try and explain. So if a random encounter is successfully rolled, that monster is in that spot. Period. It was always going to be in that spot. When the party goes through that area, they will encounter that monster. If the party decides before the time of the random encounter...

You need to rephrase that if you want me to answer it. I'm not sure what you are asking.

Nope. It doesn't do that, either. The monster is there even if the PCs never go that direction is all. If they do, then the roll is just to see if at someone point the party traveling through intersects with a monster already present.

About 15 years ago I was at Yellowstone when the tour bus stopped at a bunch of cars to see what wildlife everyone was looking at. I was at the very front of the bus directly across from a park ranger. A few seconds later a black bear came walking down the street and when it got to the ranger...

Not to an extent. It's completely true. You can in fact play D&D like that. This is in my opinion most of what makes D&D so popular. With a few tweaks(optional rules and homebrew), you can play pretty much any playstyle out there. It isn't truly great at any of them, but it's decent to very...

Except not. The monster will be there in that location at that exact time whether or not the PCs are there. The cook is both in the kitchen and not in the kitchen based on the sleight of hand skill of the PC combined with a roll to open locks. Oh, and whether or not the PC has thieves' tools...

There have been many threads over the years that were longer, not just 3. :P

It doesn't have to be. Nor is anything retroactively added. If the DM has only narrated a few things, then one of those few things will be what is used for the ambush. In the traditional game, no retroactive additions are happening unless the DM doesn't know what he is doing. Retroactive...

That person posted an incorrect assertion about the surprise mechanics and tried to equate two very different methods of introducing an NPC(farrier vs cook or guards) when they weren't the same.