Random Encounters Tweaked to Perfection
Yesterday I briefly talked about something that is a sore subject among my fellow Dungeon Masters, the evil RANDOM ENCOUNTERS TABLES (RET). Now Third edition D&D is such a complicated pile, that it makes RET’s worthless. From what I understand, it’s been done away with. However since we who cling to our faithful 2e like a bottle of old scotch, we still have access to monsters that we can create with a handful of d8’s.
Lots of DM’s curse these ancient things, calling them filthy names that I dare not post of a family friendly blogspace such as this one! Just rest assured that they get called lots of bad stuff, and on top of it all, COMPLETELY IGNORED TOO!
Before I go any further, I just want to explain something to the lot of you: We DM’s play test things a lot! Sometimes these tests are successful, and sometimes they aren’t. The key is to find things that work for you and get rid of the stuff that doesn’t. Many DM’s play tested RET’s and found that it didn’t work . . . However, I on the other hand, was able to tweak these little lists, because I was convinced that they had potential, and really got them to the point where they not only function, but actually are one of the staples in my games!
The key to making RET’s work, is that you remember that they are tools, and we mustn’t become slaves to our tools. Random Encounters come with their own rules, and these too must be broken to make the thing function like they should.
Their basic function, is that RET’s liven up a scene that would otherwise be dead. These things help with speeding up prep time, and I shouldn’t hear any bitching from the back row about that! They are only used when characters are moving about from point A to point B. If we have a planned encounter, say NPC Thieves have created an ambush on the road, then we aren’t going to use our RET’s. Neither are we ever going to use RET’s when characters need every hp that they got to survive a massive encounter, nor will we use them when they are healing from coming out of one. THINK LIKE A PLAYER!!! It’s one thing to die during a grand encounter, sacrificing yourself so that your team can survive, however it is something entirely different to die during a random encounter.
Let’s look at one of mine. A simple one, I want to show you how simple you should get with these. Of course these are all checked with a 1d100. . . .GRASSLANDS
01-20---------1d4 Farmers
21-40---------1d3 Merchants
41-70--------- No Encounter
71-80---------1d4+2 Goblins
81-90---------1d4 Wild Dogs
91-95---------1 Wild Boar
96-00---------1 Poisonous Snake
Now grasslands are fairly safe, and the RET reflects that; it can also change at night all by itself because farmers and merchants won’t be traveling the roads at that time, which would make all rolls under 71 no encounters. The Goblins are also variable, this was just what I had originally created the list for, the goblins were the bad guys henchmen, thus if I was telling a story about a Necromancer, then it would be Zombies, or even a Dragon hunt, it could be something as simple as a dragon paw print being found next to a half eaten body. It doesn’t always have to be a combat encounter. The farmers aren’t going to go mad and start throwing poop at the characters, they are just fluff. Proof that there is a living breathing world. It also helps me as a DM, I don’t want anything random about my story, but this stuff adds just the right amount of chaos to the mix. If I see somebody at the table getting bored, or if I’m getting bored, a simple Random Encounter can really break the foul mood and get everybody back into the game!
I also want you to look what is on the list. It is all stuff right out of the Monsterous Manual and it’s all unmodified. All you have to do is roll hp and the monster is done. Don’t put anything on there that takes more then rolling up hp for. No wizards, because you won’t have time to generate a spell list for him. If you do put a classed creature onto the list, be specific as possible! 2d4 2nd level soldiers for example. You know their all of them will have the same AC, and use weapons that you know by heart.
All Random Encounters will also be treated like attacks of opportunity, no strategy, and all frontal assaults, and as a general rule: Should always be resolved in under 5 minutes, unless, of course, your players are really itching to toss some dice, and you’ve got nothing lined up for them.
Take a look at the inside of your Dungeon Masters Shield, most of the tables on the back of that thing are specifically there for you to quickly run RET’s. They are the Salt and Pepper of any good campaign, they add flavor to what normally would be a boring day’s march, and you can also get a chance to put some wildlife in there for them to interact with. Instead of just calling a wood, Haunted, with RET’s you can quickly populate an entire area. The danger will be REAL! And you don’t have to write 2,000 page essays on crafted encounters, which allows you to focus even more energy on crafting your stories. Where is the negative to Random Encounter Tables again? I forget!
Sunday, April 20, 2008
|
Labels:
encounters
|
- campaign ideas
- NPC's
- combat
- Miscellany
- encounters
- rants
- Ripper's Gaming Sessions
- monsters
- money and equipment
- Reviews
- pc classes
- magic
- Proficiencies
- Treasure
- Time and Movement
- Sunday Supplemental
- experience
- campaign add-ins
- Alignment
- races
- Mechanic Series
- vision and light
- Ability Scores
- wizard spells
- Supplemental
- priest spells

My Blog List
-
The Game Is The Thing - I've been neglecting the blog - a combination of house refurbishment and lots of extra work, but also DMing a regular weekly game. I've remarked before t...11 hours ago
-
Now for something completely different - Greetings, in this missive I am going to discuss comics – mainly my on and off love affair with Superhero comics and the Big Two. I’ve been a comic from th...18 hours ago
-
D&D & RPGs: Timeless DM & Player Advice - In 1979, Gary Gygax listed some advice for DMs and Players in the famous The Keep on the Borderlands introductory module for Basic Dungeons & Dragons. Ho...1 day ago
-
9 Facts About the First D&D Module, Palace of the Vampire Queen - Before Curse of Strahd and Ravenloft came Palace of the Vampire Queen, a dungeon written by California gamers Pete and Judy Kerestan and distributed by TSR...6 days ago
-
Another exorcism of thoughts: Who are the Nibelungs, Part 3 (final word on culture? magic?) - *I should be doing something else, but I felt the urgency to at least make an attempt to put those ideas down before they are lost in the bliss of a Sund...1 week ago
-
Fifty Years of Fantasy Role Play Table-top games. - Today marks an interesting, possibly momentous, anniversary. It has been 50 years since the Boris Karloff movie *The Black Room* aired as part of a dou...1 week ago
-
How to restart? (Again) - Hard to believe it's been nearly 8 months since I last posted, but here we are. COVID year two and still hanging in there. Family is good, nobody has ...3 weeks ago
-
The Management Regrets To Announce... - The Management of this little confection deeply regrets to announce the passing of Captain Sir Thomas Moore, late of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment. Mo...3 weeks ago
-
An Artifact In My Campaign I Called "The Map" - One of the magic things IMC are paintings and tapestries (sometimes). Players have on occasions encountered a painting or a tapestry on a wall and been a...4 weeks ago
-
Be Wary of Wizards - So I'm still putzing around with *Tunnels & Trolls* solitaire adventures. There's a lot of them. At least 25 full-length solitaire modules were published ...4 weeks ago
-
Ind of the Year - The Colors of Magic - On December 1st, there will be a nice bundle of small, indie itch RPGs from around the world called the *Ind of the Year Bundle 2020* that includes *The Co...3 months ago
-
Quantum D&D - A funny thing happened to D&D in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s: it got popular. It went from a game everyone learned from someone whose knowledge of the...3 months ago
-
Be The DM, 1 - OK, I've run plenty of games and I've talked with and read the thoughts of many other DM's. One thing is certain; No two DM's are the same. I have seen ...4 months ago
-
The Crowning of King Harold - Here is a spooky story that comes from my latest novel, Lions Red and Gold, available now in digital and dead tree only on Amazon. I post it here in ho...4 months ago
-
Still Alive - It's been a crazy year since the last post. I got married last Halloween. Yay! My diabetes kicked my ass. Boo! I've been in physical decline since bef...6 months ago
-
Dungeon, exploration and the title: "Dungeons & Dragons" - This is the second post in a two-part series of posts on the title of Dungeons & Dragons as a means to empower hobbyists to start their own medieval fan...6 months ago
-
MIDLANDS CHARACTER GENERATION - Character development (of Player via imagined formative experiences) in my dog in DMing. Placyer character development is a huge part of my sandbox. I use ...7 months ago
-
Forbidden Lands - la modernità della Vecchia Scuola - Salve ragazzi, è veramente un sacco di tempo che manco da questi luoghi, ma come diceva qualcuno “non tutto quel ch’è oro brilla, né gli erranti son perdu...9 months ago
-
The Mauve Plague, Gravy Urns, and Batlace Frills: News from the Hill Cantons - And now the News... In a statement beamed from the Oracular Society today *Morafans the Rickmaster*, the Psychosocial Health Minister of the Overking, ha...11 months ago
-
Lake Geneva Original RPG Campaign: Merlynd the Magician: A Remembrance of Don Kaye, ... - Lake Geneva Original RPG Campaign: Merlynd the Magician: A Remembrance of Don Kaye, ...: LINK to Description and Ordering: https://www.tlbgames.com/colle...1 year ago
-
Blackmoor Week 2019 (9/24/19) - Blackmoor Week and Dave Arneson Game Day running from September 24th through October 1st. This year 2019 is the 45th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons and ...1 year ago
-
Dave Arneson Blackmoor Week and Game Day 2019 - Blackmoor Week begins today Sept 24, 2019. What are you doing this week to celebrate Dave Arneson's Birthday and his foundational game setting Blackmoor ak...1 year ago
-
Blackmoor Week Day I 2019 - *Blackmoor Week* kicks off today and concludes on October 1st with *Dave Arneson Game Day*. [image: Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor - B-Ware - Sphärenmeisters Spi...1 year ago
-
Character Concepts: Planescape pt 3 - Part 1 Part 2 Continuing my series on oddball Planescape Faction Personalities... Harmonium Sidby the Stick (LG/halfling/fighter) - Sidby's a good enough b...1 year ago
-
D&D Sling Damage vs. Large Targets - In many early editions of D&D, weapons were assigned two damage values: one for small/medium targets (i.e. man-sized) and one for large targets (giants and...1 year ago
-
Announcing the Contest Winner! (Plus Some Interesting US Coin Facts) - The third semi-annual Save Versus All Wands contest - What is the Value of this Coin Hoard - is over. $1,000 was the winning guess, only a bit below the ...2 years ago

Contact me at Ripx187@gmail.com
Blog Archive
-
►
2018
(5)
- ► October 2018 (1)
- ► September 2018 (1)
- ► April 2018 (1)
- ► February 2018 (1)
- ► January 2018 (1)
-
►
2017
(39)
- ► November 2017 (1)
- ► September 2017 (3)
- ► August 2017 (2)
- ► April 2017 (6)
- ► March 2017 (5)
- ► February 2017 (5)
- ► January 2017 (4)
-
►
2016
(58)
- ► December 2016 (4)
- ► November 2016 (6)
- ► October 2016 (5)
- ► September 2016 (4)
- ► August 2016 (4)
- ► April 2016 (4)
- ► March 2016 (4)
- ► February 2016 (4)
- ► January 2016 (7)
-
►
2015
(24)
- ► December 2015 (6)
- ► November 2015 (7)
- ► October 2015 (7)
- ► September 2015 (4)
-
►
2010
(14)
- ► March 2010 (5)
- ► February 2010 (5)
- ► January 2010 (4)
-
►
2009
(123)
- ► December 2009 (3)
- ► November 2009 (4)
- ► October 2009 (6)
- ► September 2009 (4)
- ► August 2009 (13)
- ► April 2009 (15)
- ► March 2009 (14)
- ► February 2009 (5)
- ► January 2009 (10)
-
▼
2008
(73)
- ► December 2008 (3)
- ► November 2008 (4)
- ► October 2008 (5)
- ► September 2008 (4)
- ► August 2008 (4)
-
▼
April 2008
(18)
- Mastering Epic Levels Part 1
- Adventure: 3-4 Quick revision of Orient Express, a...
- Building a Fantasy Calander
- Infravision nightmares
- Handling Death and Injury
- Prep and Game: Weathermay Estate pt. 2
- Critical Hits & Failures
- Tricks of the Descriptive DM
- Insane Ramblings of a TSR Huffing Dungeon Master
- Random Encounters Tweaked to Perfection
- Making the most of Modules
- Prep & Play Journal: Weathermay Estate part 1
- Mining the Unearth Arcana
- Creating Mysteries part 2
- Creating Mysteries part 1
- Exposition & Advanced Character Developement
- Trade in the game world
- I cast hearing aid on the DM cause he ain't listen'n
- ► March 2008 (5)

2 comments:
(Actually, d20 is sufficient for that particular table.)
I think random encounters are useful if travelling is supposed to be dangerous. A large table might also be useful if lots of encounters are needed; otherwise, one is likely to start repeating oneself, which is not particularly fun.
Also, one use I like: Failed your tracking check? Random encounter. Failed the roll to find a safe hiding place in hostile territory: Random encounter, but at night, not quite immediately.
Also, one use I like: Failed your tracking check? Random encounter. Failed the roll to find a safe hiding place in hostile territory: Random encounter, but at night, not quite immediately.
That is absolutely ingenious! I had never thought about doing that before. It is definitely something to consider, things that would set up a Random Encounter.
I also agree with your point that you don't want to repeat yourself, this is my personal list, so everything on here is a variable to me. I have an idea about what other similar wild beasts are living off the land as well, and can quickly adapt. Thank you for pointing this out, I KNEW that I was forgetting something.
Thank you for commenting thanuir, I really appreciate it. BTW, I hope that you don't mind that I added your site to my links page. I noticed a couple of hits coming from your site (THANKS FOR THE LINK!) and thought that I'd return the favor. I was going to email you, but . . . well, I didn't.
Post a Comment