As an avid boardgamer, I've noticed there's a big difference between American and European board games (and probably also table top RPG frameworks) in the sense that the American tendency is to favour luck and hail Mary rolls to save the day. Eurogames tend to be focused on resource management and long term strategy. So definitely a cultural thing. Both systems do have their merits, but "rolling for combat" is traditionally associated with "Ameritrash" games, a term used both lovingly and derogatorily.
I see that The Dark Eye does use rolling for combat, but it calculates armour differently, in a more predictable manner (for example, in D&D armour makes you less likely to be hit, whereas in The Dark Eye it makes you take less damage) which I think demonstrates the different tendencies.
> I've noticed there's a big difference between American and European board games (and probably also table top RPG frameworks) in the sense that the American tendency is to favour luck and hail Mary rolls to save the day. Eurogames tend to be focused on resource management and long term strategy.
D&D especially since 4e, is very much by conscious design centered around structured resource management (that in 4e this was done in a very heavy-handed metagame way by way of, e.g., encounter/daily powers, I think, contributed to a lot of the complaints against; 5e’s short/long rest system is nearly equivalent in effect but ties the mechanic in a more organic way to the fiction.)
> I see that The Dark Eye does use rolling for combat, but it calculates armour differently, in a more predictable manner (for example, in D&D armour makes you less likely to be hit, whereas in The Dark Eye it makes you take less damage)
This is extremely common in American TTRPGs that aren't D&D or deliberate mechanical clones.
Well I think table top RPGs by necessity have to more closely meet in the middle on the luck vs resource management spectrum, but "normal" board games are where the differences really get highlighted. Risk is a traditional "American" game, where you role dice for combat, and it can be very frustrating. More modern examples such as Arkham Horror or Elder Sign are similar, where any turn could be horrible or amazing, depending on your rolls. Compare that with Terra Mystica or Agricola and there's very little "chance" and more about planning ahead, and following some sort of strategy.
I'm not passing judgement or saying one style is categorically better than the other, but there's definitely a huge correlation between continent-of-origin and level-of-chance-involved.
I see that The Dark Eye does use rolling for combat, but it calculates armour differently, in a more predictable manner (for example, in D&D armour makes you less likely to be hit, whereas in The Dark Eye it makes you take less damage) which I think demonstrates the different tendencies.