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Message: <blockquote data-quote="[OMENRPG]Ben" data-source="post: 5815730" data-attributes="member: 6677983">I like things to make sense. If something doesn't fit or belong contextually, then it shouldn't exist. If something is out of place, it should be interesting enough to have a purpose and reason to exist out of place. Even if that reason is as simple as the person who owns it brought it to a place it doesn't belong; like an ogre who collects left shoes. I stick rather closely to the principles of cause and effect. Even though we may perceive things behave in a chaotic soup, there really is a million variables and causes which have derivative reactions which cause other reactions, etc etc. My point is that random tables rob the creative flow for me. I think it serves as a crutch for GMs to lean on, or to fill unnecessary rooms with unnecessary details. I take a lot of examples from good screen writers/novelists as both a GM and a system designer, one shouldn't describe something unless it somehow adds to the story, tone, or spirit of the piece. If a particular player wants a more specific description, then the GM should have things that make logical sense.I'll use the "tub of butter" example [MENTION=8835]Janx[/MENTION] cited earlier. If I'm GMing a game, and my party enters a room, I might say something like:"You enter a quaint and relatively humble dining room. Despite the simple accommodations the remains of a rustic yet delicious meal wafts aromatically around the room, leaving a husky and humid atmosphere. Long bench-like seats surround the perimeter of the ten foot roughly hewn oak table."Then my inquisitive and intelligent player, who let's say is a halfling sorcerer, wishes to be informed of the food on the table. They haven't eaten for nearly two days as they have been on the long journey, and his character has an insufferable appetite. "The leftovers still seem fresh; there are the mostly eaten remains of several rabbits, two turkeys, a large crock of what appears to be some sort of mashed tuber, probably potatoes, and an assortment of other smaller pots of roasted and stewed fibrous vegetables. There is a large loaf of the honey-bread common in the region sitting beside a crock of butter."The other players get bored of this description, but the exceptionally hungry halfling is watering at the mouth at this description. Seeing as how he has a deep love of all dairy products, especially butter, he jumps at the chance to consume copious amounts of fresh butter and bread. And scene. Now, I could have made the butter poisoned, or he could have checked it magically to see if it was an illusion, and other certain in-character interactions could have taken place due to the description. If he were to dive right in, exhibiting a lack of judgment due to his love of butter, and his character became exceptionally ill, that could have dire ramifications to the party.If I had to roll random tables, it is obviously random. This is a cue to the party that it is either wildly chaotic (and thus not essential to the story) or I'm only pretending to be random (which slows down the story for no reason.) Either outcome I don't particularly like. Now you could argue that you want the story to be random, which is great. But I want the random elements to come from the players, not from crocks of poisoned butter. If the party simply asked, "Is there food on the table?" And I said, "Yes." And then they said, "We check the food for poison." They would never have tested the butter-loving halfling's lack of willpower despite his normal intelligence. In summation, random tables should only maybe be used when searching for inspiration. I don't believe in random encounters, I don't believe in pointless filler. Maybe this adds a lot more prep, but if everything you describe has a purpose, even just to create tone or to give clues, you won't have to waste time describing anything you don't need to.</blockquote>

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