Been playing a bunch of C&C RPG's lately. (C&C = Classic and on the Computer, and Choice and Consequence) And I was wondering what kind of physics system the dice rolls behind the scenes use? Examples are Fallout 2, and KOTOR. Seriously, who or what is actually determining these dice rolls? I was in the Klamath rat caves, and killed a certain rat at a certain corner. I died several times exploring this cave, but each time I loaded my save I killed that rat after on my last 5 action points. What gives? I thought this was supposed to be random.

 Been playing a bunch of C&C RPG's lately. (C&C = Classic and on the Computer, and Choice and Consequence) And I was wondering what kind of physics system the dice rolls behind the scenes use? Examples are Fallout 2, and KOTOR. Seriously, who or what is actually determining these dice rolls? I was in the Klamath rat caves, and killed a certain rat at a certain corner. I died several times exploring this cave, but each time I loaded my save I killed that rat after on my last 5 action points. What gives? I thought this was supposed to be random.

Lucky I guess? Depends on a few things, like if you're shooting said rat, your perception, agility and then your skill percentages compared with their perception and agility. KOTOR is basically a heavily modified D&D ver. 3.0 system.

Loaded dice :) 
 
BTW I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic about the physics comment...you're aware of random number generators right ?

Lol. What he said. They don't use physics at all. Duh. Btw, I like your cute c&c definition.

I don't know if this is the case, but in numerous games (Fire Emblem series especially) rolls occur before an actual order is given to prevent reloading the game to get a more favorable result.
 
I don't believe the Fallout games used a system like this however as Driadon said it is a base roll with modifiers applied based on range, skills, stats, and the like.

I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic about the physics comment...you're aware of random number generators right ? "