Bored with knowing what will happen next

[pallen]

What would you suggest for such a table?

If you want something easy, Robin Laws has suggested something like:

When the players try something unexpected or investigate something that you hadn't thought of, and you don't know what the result should be, roll a d6:

1-2: The action/investigation should have the most reasonable result.
3-4: The action/investigation should have a favorable result for the players.
5: The action/investigation should have a very unexpected result.
6: The action/investigation should have an unfavorable result for the players.​

Or something like that... It adds a bit of randomness into your game without destroying your prepared scenario.

Actually, here's a TRAP idea: When things seem ho-hum to you:

1: Introduce a threat
2: Introduce a reward
3-4: Introduce an asset
5-6: Introduce a problem​

If you want to try something more involved, I'd suggest taking a look at the Mythic GM Emulator.

 

[GMVictory]

Any suggestions on how to add more unexpectedness on the DM's side of the screen?

I usually apply this table for myself:

1-5 = unlucky incident or setback
6-10 = narrow failure (can try again) or narrowly succeed (reroll in d3 rounds)
11-15 = standard success
16-20 = lucky break or reward

Even if skill modifiers, BAB, etc result in a success, use the unmodified die roll to give you an idea of how well the PC, NPC, etc succeeded.

I also use it for food and drink, equipment, rooms, services, etc to determine quality.

 

[gunderval]

what are you looking to be surpised by

If what you mean is, "I know that the obstacle is the evil prince and they will either lose or win and being PC's probably win and then they will cast him down and put rightful heir on throne because they are heroes", and knowing that much is boring as DM, then...

Do you want to move to more "Story Now" (can you guess who this is?) play style which is tough with D&D given the need to design interesting challenges to test the full range of character abilities.

You can let players create scenes, albeit limited to ones with monsters from the book you have with you, CR x-y, each player can put 1-2 elements in of interest to them: thief says "there's a way to approach the area using stealth", cleric says, "there's a magic reward that you have to make a turn check to activate", ranger says, "my favoured enemy!", etc. They send that to you individually (don't know what others have said), or they send 4 @, you then create 4 scenes out of their elements, mixing/matching as needed. Challenges your puzzle skills etc.

All of that to "win the right to decide" something where their choice is a "Bang", revealing values, identity etc. as yet unexplored. You create scenes that give players choices which they themselves may not know which they will make till they make them and thus you won't know either, and where they can "go either way" on something that it would interest you to learn about their characters.

Risk is that in calling for 'character revealing' choice you may cause division among PCs, so impose requirement they must find a way to roleplay how their characters end up agreeing.

 

[John Morrow]

What would you suggest for such a table?

The Universal Table that I use when I GM and don't know what I want to have happen next is simple. Roll a die (a d20 is good, but even a d4 could work) and interpret the die by treating high rolls as good for the PCs and low rolls as bad for the PCs. The higher the roll, the better. The lower the roll, the worse. Rolls near the middle are what's expected. Use as needed.

Use a single die because a curve isn't really what you want unless you want the results to concentrate in the center.

 

[00Machado]

I'd ask the players if one of them wants to run a game for the other players using these same characters, or at least in this same setting that you can riff off of. They'll introduce a plot theme that they think it neat, and you can run with it. I guess eventually you figure out what happens next, but I still think it could controbute to some of what you're looking for.

Also, what about something like drama/plot cards? Someone had posted here on ENWorld a while back with an idea they were working on.

 

[Castellan]

If you want to try something more involved, I'd suggest taking a look at the Mythic GM Emulator.

I'll second this suggestion. I saw this system advertised here on EN World and picked it up on a whim. I haven't had a chance to use this with my gaming group yet, but it seems like it could be a good deal of fun -- especially if you're willing to cede a good bit of control to the group.

I suspect that the adventures you can come up with would still benefit from a DM, though, since the system could degrade into "adventure by committee" which I suspect would be awful. But with creative players who are willing to explore some interesting changes, you might discover that it's kind of cool not knowing the outcome of the story -- or even the next direction the story will take.

To date, my group has been pretty good at generating enough randomness that I'm never bored (no matter how many rabbit-trails I find, there's always one more that they discover). However, one of my players' wives is interested in our gaming, but is completely intimidated and turned-off by the amount of rules. The Mythic system may be just what the doctor ordered for that (though I'm also leaning towards trying a Jenga tower for it, too!).

Good luck!