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Message: <blockquote data-quote="bloodtide" data-source="post: 9122321" data-attributes="member: 6684958">Yes!I fact, this is why you have seen the vast majority of the vast majority of random tables be removed from most RPGs.Wandering monsters or random encounters are a good example from D&D.  For nearly 30 years this was a staple of most D&D games: any time any where 'monsters' or 'encounters' might just 'pop' out of thin air to attack or interact with the PCs.  And this roll was mostly independent of any player actions.  Players can not effect this rule much at all: if the characters were in a place that could trigger a monster or random encounter, then there was a chance it would happen.  For many such games, it's common for random encounters to happen "every so often" in a typical adventure: you can figure on one or two an hour most of the time.  But it is possible to have a session with only a couple or even none; and on the other hand, it's possible to have lost and lots of them.  And sometimes, they will happen several times....and always at bad, wrong or inconvenient times.  For example, the characters might have a big fight...and as soon as it's over, face attack from some wandering monsters.  Even worse might be when the wandering monsters show up during that big fight and join against the characters.As has been said in other threads, the only way for player agency to happen is by game rules or GMs actions.  Random Tables remove both of these.  Any player using a rule can be effected by anything random, even more so a random encounter.  And a random roll, even more so a random encounter, can effect a GMs actions.  I random table also prevents the players from knowing anything ahead of time because as a roll on a table, it does not exist in the game world until the roll was made.  Just take a simple treasure chest table: empty, exploding or treasure.  The roll is not made until the chest is opened, so the player can't get any information to make a decision.  And when a character 'scouts' a location they might see a random encounter at that location or not.  Either way, once the character leaves and comes back again an amount of time later...the random encounter is rolled again.  On Monday the character saw the random encounter of a pack of kobolds, but when they come back on Friday is a battle dragon.And this is even more so with well made random tables that have a good mix of possible things on the list.  With a good mix of things on a table, a lot of weird, strange or worse can happen.  The characters might open a treasure chest and find nothing, or a trap, or a monster, or some treasure, or some trapped treasure and on and on.  Even more so, is the way the GM can't control things to give the players agency: whatever the GM randomly rolls must happen.</blockquote>

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