Casting Shadows

Today’s #RPGaDay Question:

Share a story of random events in your game which through recurring so often, did not in the end seem random.

• Tense outcomes are resolved using dice or other randomizers in the majority of our hobby’s games, and devices such as charts, or lists are popular in some types of games. What random series of events or outcomes in your game ended up feeling not at all random?

The role of chance in games can be responsible for a lot of tension, excitement, or even be the basis of an entire series of events and stories. Sometimes, however, despite the integrity of the system and its players, the outcomes do not seem random at all. It is almost like the dice, or whatever method, have a story of their own to tell, and you are along for the ride.

Sometimes.

One such time in my gaming history occurred way back when I was in university and playing what turned out to be a healthy campaign of Palladium Fantasy, cut short only due to the appearance of Call of Cthulhu in our rotation. It consumed everything else for a long time.

The group was a large one, with a core of 7 players and a more random roster of hangers on, whose characters alternated between NPC and PC status in accordance with the players’ dating and essay requirements. After a few weeks of that, they took on a more permanent status: NPC. I am patient, but there are limits.

The initial plan was to do some nautical adventuring and head by sea to the Eastern Territories. It was expected that life aboard ship would help be one of the forces which drew the group together into a team. A randomly-rolled storm followed by a shipwreck on the southwestern coast of Timiro helped that along well. Without banding together, everyone would have died. Now that would have been a short campaign.

The group did some brief exploration and discussion, but reached the conclusion that they would forsake sea travel and go overland. Digging out Monsters and Animals and Book Two: Old Ones, I got myself ready for a lengthy trip across the sandbox.

I had no idea how lengthy it would end up being.

Or how plagued it would become by wolves.

Wolves!

Everywhere!

From the coast to the border with the Old Kingdom and many points in between, the group was hounded (ha ha) by wolves like they had been marked out by the species for extinction.

How far?

Look:

Palladium’s Excellent Timiro Kingdom as done by FeroceFV on DeviantArt

Faaaaaaaaaar!

#RPGaDay