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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannager" data-source="post: 5824579" data-attributes="member: 73683">Unless you're rolling random encounters in full view of the players, there is no requirement that they be aware that the encounter was random. The players are blind to what goes on behind the screen. Ideally, there will be no way for them to tell whether an encounter was random or pre-designed - if there is a way for them to tell, it's probably because the random encounter seemed incongruous, or seemed like flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants design. Neither of which is desirable.Your players enjoy good encounters. Promise. They don't enjoy bad encounters as much. Promise. Random encounters are more likely to be bad encounters than pre-designed encounters, assuming a DM of moderate skill.The players don't have control in either situation. When they open the door and discover orcs behind it, they are blind to whether those orcs were placed there weeks ago by the DM who designed the dungeon, or placed there just now when the random encounter dice were rolled. The only indications one way or the other is that pre-designed encounters can be carefully crafted, and the planning and effort that went into their design should express itself in play; similarly, random encounters do not have the benefit of that planning and effort ahead of time, and will, on the whole, seem more sloppily-designed.Even the most sandbox game in the world would be better served by a robust arsenal of pre-designed encounters to be dropped into the game when the DM felt it was appropriate, than by a few random encounter charts.That didn't stop multiple people from claiming that the only thing keeping them from writing a narrative instead of playing D&D is that they can be surprised by their own die rolls.You're absolutely right. But there are too many non-nuanced arguments in this thread, and it's really time that we as a community graduate from that sort of thing. EN World is, in my estimation, one of the most sophisticated tabletop roleplaying discussion forums in the world. I can't help but feel like we sort of have a responsibility to advance the collective understanding.I will continue to make an effort to do so.</blockquote>

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