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<blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 9324202" data-attributes="member: 7006">The positives of randomness is that it forces people to act and react in ways they are not expecting-- thereby producing results that are different and varied from what everyone has experienced previously.&nbsp; And that leads to new creativity.The negatives of randomness is that we humans like order and expect order in a great many things.&nbsp; And if that order gets disrupted in a way that &quot;breaks our reality&quot;-- usually because an element of randomness was too random / chaotic and doesn't &quot;make sense&quot; in what is going on-- it can reduce our interest in the thing.&nbsp; We are willing to suspend our disbelief only so far before we just stop.&nbsp; And once we lose it, it's exceedingly hard to be willing to give it another go.So we want randomness... up to a point.&nbsp; Just enough to keep us on our toes and trigger our creative synapses... but still within the reality of what we are doing.&nbsp; So for me... since all RPGs are about producing interesting and compelling stories for us all at the table, randomness should be used to redirect us in an interesting direction we weren't expecting to go, but not be so chaotic that we lose complete interest in the story because it no longer makes sense.&nbsp; The better the DM, the better chance they have to spin even outrageous random events into staying within the reality, but there always is that risk.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="DEFCON 1, post: 9324202, member: 7006"] The positives of randomness is that it forces people to act and react in ways they are not expecting-- thereby producing results that are different and varied from what everyone has experienced previously. And that leads to new creativity. The negatives of randomness is that we humans like order and expect order in a great many things. And if that order gets disrupted in a way that "breaks our reality"-- usually because an element of randomness was too random / chaotic and doesn't "make sense" in what is going on-- it can reduce our interest in the thing. We are willing to suspend our disbelief only so far before we just stop. And once we lose it, it's exceedingly hard to be willing to give it another go. So we want randomness... up to a point. Just enough to keep us on our toes and trigger our creative synapses... but still within the reality of what we are doing. So for me... since all RPGs are about producing interesting and compelling stories for us all at the table, randomness should be used to redirect us in an interesting direction we weren't expecting to go, but not be so chaotic that we lose complete interest in the story because it no longer makes sense. The better the DM, the better chance they have to spin even outrageous random events into staying within the reality, but there always is that risk. [/QUOTE]

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