Does Your Game Have Random Encounters?

[Laurefindel]

Unsure what to answer. I went with the last option given the erratum in the OP.

At any case, I don’t use random encounters in the classical D&D nomenclature (where encounter = necessarily hostile or adverse, with a randomly generated nature from tables, and randomly triggered regardless of narrative).

Unplanned or unscripted fights will happen spontaneously based on the actions of PCs, but that is not « random » in my definition.

Sometimes, fights or environmental threats may or may not happen based on a probability model, but that doesn’t make them unplanned or unscripted (or « random »).

 

[Kichwas]

Outside of doing a few randomly generated dungeons back during AD&D 1E in the early 80s just as a gag because those crazy tables were there, I've never liked random encounters and almost always if not actually always avoided using them.

If something doesn't have a purpose in the story or narrative, I don't want it in there.

That doesn't mean something can't happen that the players think is random. I grew up around drivebys and other conflicts after all.

But I'm not doing an RPG as a life simulation game. I'm doing it for a shared story. And in a story you put in conflict as a part of plot or character. Not because Tolkien rolled a 23 on a d100.

Note that save for the time I was running Pathfinder 2E adventures, my games have never been scripted. They're an improv affair as I work through the story with my group. So... not sure which answer in the survey works for me. Is that a "different method for that" given that for me there is no "that"...

 

[TheHand]

I voted “yes, but rarely…” and it largely depends on the style of game I’m running and the group I’m running it for. I have one group who are very RP and story-focused, so for them the answer is “almost never,” but another group I run for are more old school dungeoneers, and for them I use plenty of random encounters.

When I do use random encounters, I also like charts that aren’t just battles. Sometimes random encounters can result in neutral or friendly folk, and sometimes they are just terrain obstacles, an odd omen or marker, or something mysterious to explore.

 

[Professor Murder]

So it depends.
Most often, no. I preplan out some situations where there can be combat, do up stats for the encounter, and what happens happens. In nearly all games I run I don't just have "An interval has happened, lets see if you encounter an obstacle randomly."

The exception are games based completely around random occurrence, like say Pirate Borg, with a whole mess of tables.