Deterministic and Random

Skill and chance.  Strategy and fortune.  Of the multitude of games in existence, most dance around these two themes.  Some are games emphasizing one over the other, but all deal with them in some fashion or another.  Roleplaying games are no exception.  Some parts are purely deterministic, the higher of two statistics being checked against each other triumphing, or in the case of a tie, whichever has the advantage of home turf or the like.  Other parts are purely randomly based, as is most evident for Dungeons and Dragons and many others that utilize dice rolls to determine if an attack lands and how much damage that it does.  Many players hold these random outcomes to be standards of tabletop gaming while others vilify the disparaging lack of control.  MaL seeks a synthesis of the two themes of choice and chance for all manner of mechanics.

When one or more characters enter combat with an opposing force, the statistics and attributes of each member to their opponent is compared.  If there is a clear winner, the loser may burn EP to reduce the amount of damage done, or roll to see where the attack or effect lands on the loser.  Say that a highly skilled and famous hunstman fires an arrow at a burdener that has barely begun to scratch his potential.  If the huntsman's accuracy is high enough to compensate the burdener's reflexes and attempts to temporarily improve it, and the force of the arrow is higher than the burdener's defensive abilities, gear and endurance, the arrow will impact the burdener.  Where it lands specifically, and how that affects further combat, is determined by a random number.  In the pen and paper version this is a dice roll, in the computer version it will be generated by atmospheric noise sampling, as done on places such as Random.org.  If a huntsman's accuracy is below that of a burdener's reflexes, they may burn positive LP in order to increase it for that specific shot, though the burdener may also do the same to improve their reflexes if it and their positive LP combined total more than the huntsman's accuracy.  Otherwise, the point is moot and a waste of LP.  The huntsman likewise should not burn positive LP if it will not improve that particular outcome.  Trying to use more LP than is necessary does not deal extra damage.  Utilizing more EP will, however, reduce the amount of damage received.  If a targeted attack misses and another potential target is within the potential range of said attack, an immediate check is done to see if the secondary target or targets are in danger in their current position or if it will harmlessly miss them as well.  The example given above specified an arrow in flight, but the principle remains for any attack, projectile or not.

Outside of combat, several other skills are also both deterministic and random.  Searching an area with high enough skill will potentially find anything the computer generation or GM specified as being there, but if nothing else is prepared random rolling can be done to pull from the various tables of search results as appropriate.  Additionally, in the case of a search, unless a character's skill his high enough, which of the various potential things to find may be rolled to see which is found with the first search and so on.  A furniture maker crafting stools may find the system generation or the GM's rolls landed some damaged or otherwise different traits to the wood than expected, meaning that if the furniture maker does not use a skill to inspect the wood before crafting the stool it may be unable to support the weight of the intended patron or themselves.  In the case of it being unable to support a client purchasing it, they might end up with an unfavorable review and loss of business if not further consequences along with that.  In games of skill and chance within the game, a character's skill types needed to play it improve their odds of comprehending the games and winning, but some will still rely on a fair amount of chance to win.  Other things, such as if a player's character buys a lottery ticket on some planet under a distant sun for a vacation to the beaches on a satellite resort or a space cruiser, will find that unless they somehow managed a way within the game to rig the system chance will deliver the final outcome and potential reward or disappointment.