Previously posted about RNG. In this post we will look at how it applies to the games I've last played.
Well the last game I played was Terror in Meeple City, which is a dexterity game ... There generally isn't RNG in dexterity games as it is a physically skilled game. Okay the only RNG aspect in this game is probably the Character, Power, and Secret Super Power cards. Each player gets one of these at the start of the game. Character gives you point scoring opportunity, Power gives you a continuous ability to use, and Secret Super Power lets you use a once off ability. These randomly generated cards will influence the whole game as players compete to gain extra points from their Character and use their unique Powers to give them advantages. In this game the importance of the Power depends on ones dexterity ability.
Example from this game is there is a blowing move in the game. This is not a recommended move as it is difficult to pull off. However because it's such a unique move, everyone else wanted to practice and try it. One particular person was probably the worst at this ability ... and while we were distributing Powers, they got one that specifically applies the blowing action. In their case this would be getting the worst card or rolling the worst number. But that is how RNG works. Some of the scoring cards are easier to score with and it should work well with your power. In this game most people's power didn't really work towards their scoring. Just ended up with people knocking each other over however they could and eating whomever was within their grasp. Not the best example of RNG.
The game before this was ... Disc Duelers ... another dexterity game ... Actually there's a mechanic in this game that works around RNG. The idea of RNG is complete randomness. This means you can get the best, or the worst seen in the previous game. What you're dealt is what you get. In Disc Duelers you draft. The RNG is that you get 6 characters you choose from. However in drafting you choose one of those 6 and you pass the rest on for them to choose, with someone passing you their leftovers for you to choose your next character. This mechanic tries to mitigate the chance one gets a totally useless hand of characters. If you did get a hand full of useless characters, least you have a chance to get a better one from a hand that is passed to you. Also means eventually they need to pick from the original hand you have so would also have to pick a useless character. It is true that they would have the best of the good hand of characters, but you would have picked the best of the worst.
This is usually a good way for players to even out the abilities of the characters they have and also to take characters that you think would be advantageous to other players. However we did find that with overpowered characters, doesn't matter who else is left, that character would win. This is something game developers need to take into account when creating characters. Pure RNG should not dictate the winner. It should be able to be mitigated by other cards, game mechanics or other things, which did not happen for this character. And this is where you house rule games and remove that character from future games.
I was going to stop here but these two games really didn't give light to RNG so I will post one more time about RNG after this.
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