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Message: <blockquote data-quote="howandwhy99" data-source="post: 5823882" data-attributes="member: 3192">First off, I agree with a lot of what you say in the rest of your post, but I don't believe randomness, at least in terms of die rolls, was intended to promote unpredictability. On the contrary, I think it was to express a swath of potentiality with a pragmatically static probability curve. Attack or To Hit rolls are typically understood this way every day. What are the odds of getting an 11 or better on a d20? How about a d12? It's about expressing reliable, predictable probability with a range of results and as few as possible predetermined yeses or nos.To the above quote, remember Wandering Monsters tables also include % in Lair in their creation. In my estimation WM tables are defined by a particular territory, especially creatures who share a relatively fixed territory (like a dungeon level). A positive WM result means a (still only possible) encounter of creatures in their perceived territory. % in Lair is how often these creatures are at home and not guarding/roaming their territory. Activity Cycles (nocturnal or diurnal, sleep, hibernation, eating, nursing, etc.) all factor into the WM and % in Lair probability determinations of individual monsters as well as their encountered behaviors.WM checks are based upon territory population density, but a positive result could still wind up with no PC encounter if the WM spots them and successfully evades before the PC has much of a chance. (Most of these monsters have better vision and other senses by far.) So yes, WM results are bumping into creatures in their claimed territories. The exception is emptied territory currently being expanded into by surrounding elements (a.k.a. emptied dungeon levels being refilled).Civilized paths, as opposed to wilderness trails formed by animals and the like, are for civilized WM table encounters. These are all manner of NPCs with NPC classes, but those results are usually described with varied constancy, like plant life in most wilderness territories. The relevant rolled results are the creatures that prey upon these others, usually more often in less populated regions (basically PC foes like goblins who ambush merchants in the borderland frontier).</blockquote>

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