Random encounter
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A random encounter is a feature commonly used in role-playing games to simulate the chaotic nature of a monster-infested wilderness, dungeon or other area.
In table-top RPGs, random encounter tables have been available since the early inceptions of the games in the 1970s. Usually they're based on terrain (and/or time/weather), and have a percentage chance for differing encounters with different numbers or types of creatures. Further modified by character tables, or other types of tables, which will determine whether the encounter is friendly, neutral or hostile. GMs are often encouraged to make their own tables, or modify results as they see fit. Specific adventures often have specific tables for micro-locations, like a temple's hallways.
Computer and console RPGs have used random encounters since Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy in the mid-1980s, if not earlier. Random encounters happen when the player is traveling from one place in the game world to another (often through the use of a "world map"). Most often, the player encounters enemies (usually multiple) but sometimes also friendly or neutral characters, with whom the player might interact and possibly trade. Random encounters are, as the name implies, most often more or less random. But they can also vary in form and frequency depending on a number of factors, such as, for example, where the player is located in the game world and the statistics of the player character. As such, random encounters usually occur more frequently in caves, forests and swamps than in open plains.