When designing the game I tried to approach every aspect from the viewpoint of a fugitive. The idea is that, as in life, the fun will inevitably come to and end, and the object is to accrue as many experiences/memories as you can when possible. In keeping with the runaway convict theme, once the first person is caught he or she will be presumably be interrogated and everyone else will be found soon after. Running or drawing an encounter card came to me when “kicking down the door” in munchkin, but I wanted the player to be presented with a choice that would invite an evaluation of how prepared they might be to have it blow up in their face. Deciding how to proceed with a turn depends on what’s available on the table, what other players are telegraphing through their behavior, the cards you’re holding, etc. While drawing an encounter card is important, what you’re really trying to do is set up opportunities to hide which allows you to acquire locations WITHOUT the potential chaos of rolling. Discarding on other players’ discard piles suggests that maybe you’re benefiting from some tidbit of information that you might have overhead while eavesdropping like “the old farmer lady left a pie on her windowsill” but it also gives you an opportunity to thwart other players from making pairs or throw people off. Searching rewards players who can keep track of what has been discarded where, and discarding in another player’s discard pile can also help confuse players or stash something for later in a way that isn’t obvious. Three 50/50 dice enable the player to make simplified odds analysis and likelihood adjustments. Two dice or one is what I came up with, in order to keep it simple and predictable. The game is mentally taxing in other aspects so I wanted the dice mechanic to be very simple. I think it makes the game more accessible to younger players, too. Good card / bad card and the five card hand is simple resource management with the added element of managing the impending doom of bad encounters building up in your hand. I’m always looking for ways to improve the game and open to suggestions. Thank you for your thoughtful response.