Comments on: Encounter Roles http://www.gamecrafters.net/archives/578 Advice on making your game great. Wed, 18 Jan 2012 22:31:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Brian http://www.gamecrafters.net/archives/578/comment-page-1#comment-60150 Brian Sun, 04 Apr 2010 22:36:35 +0000 http://www.gamecrafters.net/archives/578#comment-60150 Hey, no problem. Yeah, I generally like to have at least a few non-story-related encounters in an adventure to add some variety and verisimilitude, but I tend to stay away from random encounters. In my opinion, random encounters are a lot of work for not much payoff. You have to scramble to get all the stats for the monster, then come up with some terrain for the encounter, then when it's done you have to calculate XP and assign treasure (making sure to deduct it from what your PCs should be getting) . . . and what does it really get you? An encounter that, by it's very nature, does very little to advance anything but the PCs' levels and loot collection. Instead, what I like to do is either plan for an encounter that isn't related to the plot, something that seems random but that I actually have some control over and can plan for. Another method that I sometimes use is to come up with a few "random" encounters beforehand, maybe three or four, and insert them into the session whenever it makes sense. If there are some I don't use, that just means there are fewer that I have to come up with for the next session. Hey, no problem. Yeah, I generally like to have at least a few non-story-related encounters in an adventure to add some variety and verisimilitude, but I tend to stay away from random encounters. In my opinion, random encounters are a lot of work for not much payoff. You have to scramble to get all the stats for the monster, then come up with some terrain for the encounter, then when it’s done you have to calculate XP and assign treasure (making sure to deduct it from what your PCs should be getting) . . . and what does it really get you? An encounter that, by it’s very nature, does very little to advance anything but the PCs’ levels and loot collection.

Instead, what I like to do is either plan for an encounter that isn’t related to the plot, something that seems random but that I actually have some control over and can plan for. Another method that I sometimes use is to come up with a few “random” encounters beforehand, maybe three or four, and insert them into the session whenever it makes sense. If there are some I don’t use, that just means there are fewer that I have to come up with for the next session.

]]> By: Cole http://www.gamecrafters.net/archives/578/comment-page-1#comment-59606 Cole Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:44:08 +0000 http://www.gamecrafters.net/archives/578#comment-59606 I have pondered for awhile why D&D 3.5 had placed so much emphasis on random encounters. As I have switched systems, I still carry on that mentality and keep a large number of encounters in my games. It had never occurred they also showed the PC's that 'other' things were happening in world aside from what they are doing. Thank you for you insight. I have pondered for awhile why D&D 3.5 had placed so much emphasis on random encounters. As I have switched systems, I still carry on that mentality and keep a large number of encounters in my games.

It had never occurred they also showed the PC’s that ‘other’ things were happening in world aside from what they are doing.

Thank you for you insight.

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