Originally Posted by
Fox
I love using RNG in game systems. But only ever a little bit at a time, you know? As a general rule, the bigger the event you're rolling for, the worse an idea it becomes. Let's say you're fighting a dungeon boss in an RPG (maybe even an online one, you heathens); every attack there is probably a little bit of a dice roll to determine the damage you deal. Maybe the minimum will be 500 and the maximum 550. If you get a bad roll and only do 500 damage... no biggy. You'll be attacking again in a couple of seconds. Over the course of the fight those rolls will even themselves out to be virtually unnoticeable. Even if the odds of dealing the higher values are very small, because it has such a tiny impact moment to moment you're unlikely to care.
When you defeat the boss, however, he drops loot. If you miss it, you will be furious. It's just too big an event, and in my opinion having things like random loot drops is almost universally bad design. There are exceptions, as with all things, but I'm generally not a fan of it in those instances.