History Main / RandomNumberGod

The name of this trope comes from VideoGame/{{Angband}}'s and VideoGame/NetHack's fanbases ([[TropeMaker coined in the Angband fanbase]], [[TropeCodifier spread by Nethack's]]), as a fanciful expansion of "RNG", for "MediaNotes/RandomNumberGenerator"; both games use GameplayRandomization and are partially [[LuckBasedMission Luck-Based Missions]], considering how many [[KilledOffForReal Instant Deaths]] there are, and the players of both games have been known to build altars to the "Random Number God" or curse his/her/its name. Or both.

A [[ArtisticLicenseStatistics statistician]] can tell you that properly generated random numbers will follow a discrete uniform distribution, giving you a roughly equal chance of rolling very good or very bad numbers. They may wax eloquent about how pseudo-random numbers are generated in computers, and how UsefulNotes/{{dice}} are wonderful randomizers. A good statistician will even disabuse you of the notion that a six sided die has an exactly 1/6 chance to land on any one side; most dice are not built to that kind of precision. (Casino craps table dice are. They're also more expensive.) But it's going to be close to even distribution, even with a cheap die.

A gamer, either of the [[TabletopGames tabletop]] or [[VideoGames video]] variety, will tell you that this is all [[UnusualEuphemism a load of dingoes' kidneys]]. The characters that gamers play live and die on [[CriticalHit good]] or [[CriticalFailure bad]] rolls, and even if your dice are perfectly square and uniform, even if your game uses cryptographically strong random numbers, these numbers do not follow "distributions" or "probabilities." Instead, they usually produce whatever number you ''[[FinaglesLaw really didn't want]]''. A tabletop gamer may say that the dice are "trying to kill" them if they encounter a long series of bad rolls (e.g. broke every weapon he was carrying). Unless, of course, you know the proper way to placate the Random Number God: then the UsefulNotes/{{dice}} will smile upon you. Usually.

The name of this trope comes from VideoGame/{{Angband}}'s and VideoGame/NetHack's fanbases ([[TropeMaker coined in the Angband fanbase]], [[TropeCodifier spread by Nethack's]]), as a fanciful expansion of "RNG", for "UsefulNotes/RandomNumberGenerator"; both games use GameplayRandomization and are partially [[LuckBasedMission Luck-Based Missions]], considering how many [[KilledOffForReal Instant Deaths]] there are, and the players of both games have been known to build altars to the "Random Number God" or curse his/her/its name. Or both.

* ''WebVideo/TFSAtTheTable'': The players had so much bad luck that they ended up adopting "Natural One-ders" as their group's official name, and joked that NPC allies weren't truly a part of the team until they'd rolled a Natural 1 themselves. On the other hand, sometimes RNG was on their side: a boss battle against a vampiric fallen paladin ended up being an utter anti-climax after DM Chris Zito rolled three consecutive Natural 1s, resulting in the villain [[SlipperySkid slipping on Grant's ball bearings]] and hitting the bottom of the ship so hard that he broke through it and quickly sank to a watery grave. Needless to say, Zito's AtomicFBomb afterwards was quite understandable.

* ''WebAnimationIfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'': This is perhaps the one god with power over Kaldor Draigo. When the Inquisition's fight to escape the Warp is represented as an actual tabletop game, he fails his rolls to use his psyker powers ''three times in a row''.

''Also known as [=RNG=][[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} esus]], if you're feeling [[JustForPun punny]].''

* Spectacularly ''[[AvertedTrope averted]]'' in the original ''VideoGame/BubbleBobble''. Nearly everything that happens in that game that looks random, from point items to powerups to which [[SpellingBonus E-X-T-E-N-D]] bubbles appear to enemy movement to bubble appearance rates, is secretly controlled by a whole stream of counters and timers. Literally the ''only'' random event is the [[RareRandomDrop hideously rare]] fireball bubble, which is a 1 in 4096 chance from each of the bubbles that appear of their own accord throughout the level.