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<blockquote data-quote="Mattachine" data-source="post: 5824208" data-attributes="member: 6678226">This is definitely true . . . but many of the stories that such a system tells have no plot, or detract from the ongoing story. When I was younger, I was a DM enchanted by random tables, and I used them frequently (especially city encounters) as a substitute for preparation. Sometimes they created a story, often they were one-shot encounters that were fun. Still other times, random encounters derailed the ongoing story to the point where the players would ask, &quot;What were we doing again?&quot; I can think of running the AD&amp;D Tomb of the Lizard King where the random encounters killed a couple characters and derailed the adventure. Was that unpredictable? Yes, Fun? Maybe, but it meant giving up on the adventure because of an incidental moment, rather than because of conflict with the antagonists.I think this discussion reveals some of the play styles at work: many want a game with the sandbox feel, where PCs often fail, without long story arcs; many others want a game where the plot is set and the PCs make choices that determine the climax and final outcome. Random encounters are part and parcel to the former, but antithetical to the latter.My suggestion is that random tables (monsters, treasure, magic, NPCs) can be presented as examples, but should not be relied upon (as they were in AD&amp;D).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mattachine, post: 5824208, member: 6678226"] This is definitely true . . . but many of the stories that such a system tells have no plot, or detract from the ongoing story. When I was younger, I was a DM enchanted by random tables, and I used them frequently (especially city encounters) as a substitute for preparation. Sometimes they created a story, often they were one-shot encounters that were fun. Still other times, random encounters derailed the ongoing story to the point where the players would ask, "What were we doing again?" I can think of running the AD&D [i]Tomb of the Lizard King[/i] where the random encounters killed a couple characters and derailed the adventure. Was that unpredictable? Yes, Fun? Maybe, but it meant giving up on the adventure because of an incidental moment, rather than because of conflict with the antagonists. I think this discussion reveals some of the play styles at work: many want a game with the sandbox feel, where PCs often fail, without long story arcs; many others want a game where the plot is set and the PCs make choices that determine the climax and final outcome. Random encounters are part and parcel to the former, but antithetical to the latter. My suggestion is that random tables (monsters, treasure, magic, NPCs) can be presented as examples, but should not be relied upon (as they were in AD&D). [/QUOTE]

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