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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 9317508" data-attributes="member: 4937">It takes a bit of learning to trust in the dice.&nbsp; A lot of new/younger DMs want to go, &quot;The dice are wrong.&quot;&nbsp; But the older I get, the less I fudge and the more I am able to run with whatever happens.As for what I'm typically using a random encounter for, it's worldbuilding.&nbsp; Random encounters are meant to simulate a world more diverse than I can plan for or detail out.&nbsp; They are there to make the world come alive.&nbsp; And yeah, they aren't always hostile.&nbsp; I no longer tend to rely on a purely random roll to determine reaction the way old school D&amp;D did, but not every group you are going to find going to tilt hostile.&nbsp; The determining action is generally, &quot;How do you react?&quot;&nbsp; If the PC's react by attacking, most of the time the random encounter will react accordingly - flee, fight, surrender, whatever.&nbsp; If the PC's react by trying to be friendly, even if it is with say a carnivorous plant (this has happened) we spontaneously get a very different kind of encounter than I expected (assuming the PC makes some sort of social interaction check).&nbsp; I'm not sure I buy that.&nbsp; Can you give an example?&nbsp; In the nar systems I'm familiar with wierdness happens, but not as the result of random chance but as the result of GM empowerment.&nbsp; GMs are empowered to respond to situations where they have the narrative control to make up whatever weirdness they want.&nbsp; Nar games tend to allow and even encourage what would be in a trad play GM metagaming and railroading because the players failed the test or got some sort of &quot;consequences&quot; on the test, and now the GM is allowed and even encouraged to make up new challenges.Randomness?&nbsp; No.&nbsp; I don't hate that at all.&nbsp; But I am leery of the amount of power that Nar GMs have over the situation.&nbsp; It's one of the reasons I'm not particularly a fan of that style of play except for one shots, and it's the reason that I generally don't GM Nar games.&nbsp; I don't really enjoy that level of power over the scenario.&nbsp; I like having the dice make the decisions for me when consequences are unclear.Agreed.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 9317508, member: 4937"] It takes a bit of learning to trust in the dice. A lot of new/younger DMs want to go, "The dice are wrong." But the older I get, the less I fudge and the more I am able to run with whatever happens. As for what I'm typically using a random encounter for, it's worldbuilding. Random encounters are meant to simulate a world more diverse than I can plan for or detail out. They are there to make the world come alive. And yeah, they aren't always hostile. I no longer tend to rely on a purely random roll to determine reaction the way old school D&D did, but not every group you are going to find going to tilt hostile. The determining action is generally, "How do you react?" If the PC's react by attacking, most of the time the random encounter will react accordingly - flee, fight, surrender, whatever. If the PC's react by trying to be friendly, even if it is with say a carnivorous plant (this has happened) we spontaneously get a very different kind of encounter than I expected (assuming the PC makes some sort of social interaction check). I'm not sure I buy that. Can you give an example? In the nar systems I'm familiar with wierdness happens, but not as the result of random chance but as the result of GM empowerment. GMs are empowered to respond to situations where they have the narrative control to make up whatever weirdness they want. Nar games tend to allow and even encourage what would be in a trad play GM metagaming and railroading because the players failed the test or got some sort of "consequences" on the test, and now the GM is allowed and even encouraged to make up new challenges. Randomness? No. I don't hate that at all. But I am leery of the amount of power that Nar GMs have over the situation. It's one of the reasons I'm not particularly a fan of that style of play except for one shots, and it's the reason that I generally don't GM Nar games. I don't really enjoy that level of power over the scenario. I like having the dice make the decisions for me when consequences are unclear. Agreed. [/QUOTE]

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