The Anti-Randomness Taskforce

Problem

Take a look at this mischievous little fucker. An arrogant nepobaby grandfathered into modern game design.

When was the last time it or any of its polyhedral cousins did anything for you? How many times has the perfect eureka moment been thwarted by a bad roll? How many playtests derailed by a fussy piece of plastic?

Lady Luck's whims toy with your hopes and dreams. Enough is enough. It's time to tell entropy to shove it.

(A) Solution 

The time has come to assemble the Anti-Randomness Taskforce. Many brave soldiers have already done the work remove dice from their games. However this is not enough.

No. The Taskforce's goal goes beyond removing the heretical math rocks from games. It is to remove randomness entirely, and supplant it with actual decisions.

Step One:

The Deterministic Resolution System  

A Post Inexplicably Part of the Random Blogwagon

Procedure

Follow the standard procedure for all rpgs, but when a roll/resolution system is needed:

1.  The GM lists the (Potential) Consequences for attempting the Task.
2.  The Player(s) argue what parts of their character sheet/background are relevant for the Task. GM decides if each argument is worth a "Free Point."
3. Players spend a Point to remove a Consequence. All remaining Consequences always occur.

Potential Consequences

• It takes time

• You're not subtle

• It costs you something (Money/Items/Gear/Etc.)

• Gain a condition/fatigue/stress

• Something gets misplaced

• There's collateral damage

• Someone else gets benefits

• Some other suggestion by the players

Quick Hacks

• Helping: Another Player argues how their Character is able to help. With GM approval, the original Player gets a Free Point, but both Players share the Consequences.

• Difficulty: GM decides how many Consequences must be cleared for the Task to succeed; 1 Consequence, 1/3 of all Consequences, ALL Consequences, etc.

• Flaws: GM decides that part of a Player's Character Sheet/Background works against their goal. -1 Free Point.

Conclusion

Pros

• Fairly straightforward/beginner friendly.

• Allows players to opt-in on how they wish to fail-forward.

Cons 

• Takes more time to resolve actions compared to rolling.

• Terrible for Players who hate taking the Director stance in games.

Inspiration(s):

"How To Set A DC in a D20 Dungeon Game" - Mindstorm Press

(Another) Solution 

One: How the fuck did you interrupt a Blog Post mid draft?
Two: Fair Point.

However, if you believe in causal determinism and subsequently that free will isn't realthe solution is obvious. Pre-existing Diceless Oracles mostly rely on a person's stream of consciousness. The next step is is to remove the initial bit of randomness.

Deterministic Oracles

A Post (Still) Part of the Random Blogwagon

Spark Tables

For open ended questions:

1. GM chooses the most situationally appropriate word:
   • Air - Sporadic Planning / Blast Apart
   • Earth - Grounded Approach / Tear Down Foundations
   • Fire - Ambitious Goals / Burning Bridges
   • Metal - Refining Ideas / The Wrecking Ball
   • Water - Go with the Flow / A Clean Slate
2. Have another person say the first word that comes mind. Repeat 5 times.
3. GM uses the last word as inspiration.

Yes/No Questions

If any of the following is true, the answer is Yes:

• Would it be logically consistent w/ world?
• Would it be logically consistent w/ the given character?
• Would it add an interesting wrinkle to the narrative?
• Could the given character apply some leverage or a relevant skill?

(Another) Conclusion

Pro(s)

• Relatively Straightforward.
• Broadly applicable for most situations.

Con(s)

• Requires a solid understanding of your given setting.
• Dependent on a High Trust Environment.

Inspiration(s)

• "Certainty" - Bastionland
• Diedream - Alfred Valley

Sure, this helps with the moment to moment rulings, but what about the overall story. How is the GM supposed to craft an interesting story without random twists and turns to surprise players?

(An Additional) Solution

No seriously, how do you keep doing that? This is a non interactive medium.

Glossing over the whole GM as storyteller thing (you've heard the "prep situations, not plots" spiel before), randomness is not a key feature of story telling. Even plot twists should follow some form of set up.

What's more relevant is pacing when running the game. Is it possible for a GM to reliably switch between Slow and Fast Pace Scenes in games?

Yeah, Cyberpunk Red pretty much solved this:

Mike Pondsmith's Story Beats

Procedure

For those who don't have the game, the basic formula boils down to:

1. At the start of the Game, establish the Session's Plot Hook.
2. From there, alternate between "Info" and "Action" Beats.
   • Info - Slow paced respites. Think Discoveries, Meetings, Respites, etc.
   • Action - Traditional, high octane action scenes. Think Firefights, Ambushes, Chases, etc.
3. Finish off the Session w/ a big Climatic Scene followed by some sort of Revelation for next Session. Ideally this Finale should build upon most of the beats established this session.
   • A traditional Cliffhanger for the next session will work in a pinch and saves time coming up w/ the Plot Hook for next session.

Cyberpunk Red assumes each Story Beat will take ~30 minutes. Your mileage with different systems may vary.

When transitioning between Beats, Pondsmith recommends not having two Info/Action beats in a row. Likewise, action heavy Plot Hooks should precede an Info Beat, and "cerebral" Plot Hooks should precede an Action Beat.

Scene Pacing

How do you know if a Scene goes on for too long? Usually, if you have to ask that question, then you already know the answer. However, a good rule of thumb is when:

• The question the Scene posed has been answered.
  • "Will you catch the spy?", "What does the maid know about the Murder?", "Who has the briefcase?"
• The players have exhausted all options within the scene.
• It is self evident which side will "win."

(Yet another) Conclusion

There's nothing really special to summarize here chief, a good chunk of this was just repacking neotrad prep advice as a non railroady(mat covile link) pacing tool.

"Inspiration(s)"

• Story Beats - Cyberpunk Red / Mike Pondsmith
• How to Master Pacing in D&D / TTRPG - Corkboards and Curiosities

What about people who are running pre-written adventures in their own game? How are they supposed to remove randomness from their roll tables?

(An Absurd Amount of) Solution(s)

Sure, fuck it, why not? Hope you know how to do modulus division though.

Rolling w/ a Linear Congruential Generator

Despite Everything, This is Still a Post Part of the Random Blogwagon

Formula

Any die roll can be calculated as the following:
x_n = ⌊ (e_n * x_n-1 + d_n-1) % d_n ⌋ + 1
Where:

• x_n = result of the nth roll; if this is the first roll, then x_n-1= 1
• d_n = max die face for the current roll; if this is the first roll, then d_n-1= 0
• e_n = expected die value for the current roll
• ⌊x⌋ = round down x to nearest whole number

Example: The Attack Roll

The table is fighting a group of bandits and Jimmy tries to hit him w/ his sword. Normally, he'd roll a d20 + 2 to hit for d8 damage, but instead halts the table to crunch the numbers:

• Attack Roll = ( ⌊ ((10.5) * (1) + (0)) % (20) ⌋ + 1 ) + 2 = (11) + 2 = 13 to hit
• Damage = ( ⌊ ( (4.5) * (13) + (20) % (8)) ⌋ + 1) = 6 damage
  Thus Jimmy get's a 13 to hit for a (potential) 6 damage. Unfortunately, He forgot to roll with disadvantage, and thus needs to redo most of his calculations (Otherwise the order you roll the dice would be arbitrary, i.e. random).

(For the Love of RNGesus Please Let this be the Final) Conclusion

Pro(s)

• Deterministic (wow!)

Con(s)

• Requires math skills greater then 1st grade
• Time Consuming.
• Player's could potentially use rng manipulation to skew the dice in their favor.
• Good luck you if you forgot to roll w/ advantage after calculating 3 attacks.

Inspiration(s)

Random Numbers - Numberphile

The solutions you offer technically work, but aren't actually that fun to play. The table feels more like a design by committee writer's room, but with large blocks of math in between the narrative bits.

Is there some way bring back unpredictability in these Anti-Random games without taking minutes to resolve or requires constant creative energy?

...

Fuck it, bring back the dice.