Hey guys, sorry about the gap between uploads. I was overloaded with holiday family, and then a monstrous flu kept me in bed for a week. But I’m back! Unlike the ads, rip revenue for the next two months. Supporting me is cool, I’ll treat you real nice: www.patreon.com/runesmith
@aeditrix_1
5 жыл бұрын
It be fine
@emmanuelacosta5371
5 жыл бұрын
How DARE you?! /s
@mgb360
5 жыл бұрын
Please don't say savant like that, it makes me sad
@calebthecondor
5 жыл бұрын
Just in case u see this, im Dming and your content has been super inspiring to me, so thanks!
@bobdole8830
5 жыл бұрын
HOW nice?
@rodrigoluzz7534
5 жыл бұрын
- One Fire Ant; Four Owlbears; A Green Dragon; = Boring... - A travelling bard who sells magic items; A strange little girl singing alone in the woods; A crying ogre who lost his beloved club = Fun!
@Kryptnyt
5 жыл бұрын
A travelling ogre who sells little girls who sing? Hmm...
@TheAssassin642
5 жыл бұрын
Story!
@safir2241
5 жыл бұрын
A strange girl singing alone in the woods? *grins*
@EradWir
5 жыл бұрын
A ork who lost his favorite axe
@samuelrodriguez9801
5 жыл бұрын
@@EradWir An Ork with a sword shoved up his ***
@SYSyphysDelta
5 жыл бұрын
Solutions 1. don't roll random encounters, plan them. Solves the wasted game time, the unrealistic portion, and can be planned to be less numerous. 2.tie them into the overall story so they AREN'T pointless 3. make sure you throw an ancient red dragon at a party of level 5s. It will really LIVEN up the place.
@RoastedToastedPoops
4 жыл бұрын
I actually did #3 but it wasn't a random. The fighter was acting like a dumbass and the bard rolled a nat 20 to convince the dragon not to kill all of them. So close to a party wipe lol.
@dddmemaybe
4 жыл бұрын
(3.5e) A "Very Young" Red Dragon is CR 5 lol. XD
@prestonjones1653
4 жыл бұрын
I have been thinking about adding a random encounter to find/fall into a dragon nest with about a dozen eggs for my players to do as they wish.
@bitingapotato3277
4 жыл бұрын
@@prestonjones1653 One of my group would insist on taking one to be a pet in the future, another one would take the rest to sell and the other would steal them all later and make a big-ass omelette.
@prestonjones1653
4 жыл бұрын
@@bitingapotato3277 about what I'm expecting.
@noxure
5 жыл бұрын
- the "my child fell down the well" - the "the mother who called for your help turns out to be ghost, you find skeleton in well" - the "our cart broke down" - the "you need to pay taxes to cross this bridge" - the "tree fell on the road" - the "strange person passes by" - the "hey boys you wanna check out our brothel" - the "we're burning a witch" - the "we think one of you is a witch" - the "have you seen this strange person?" - the "we're looking for bandits" - the "stranger(s) want to hitch a ride / tag along" - the "hitchhikers try to rob you", or - the "rowdy people are looking for hitchhikers who're hiding in your wagon right now" - the "please deliver letter/item to..." - the "caravan of traders," - the "clerics on pilgrimage" - the "people who just got mugged, claim to be a caravan of traders / clerics" - the "traveling circus" - the "refugees fleeing from plague" - the "naked man with amnesia" - the "UFO encounter" - the "someone hired not so competent assassins" - the "group of adventurers with shitty gear want to be like you" - the "group of adventurers with much better gear mock your little group" - the "pack of wolves with a feral child thinks she's also a wolf"
@ziril3972
4 жыл бұрын
These are great
@jaw322
4 жыл бұрын
One I'm really excited to try out is "Widower asks you to seek out his young daughter who'se gone missing. The weird catch is recently she's been talking about a friend she made in the woods"
@prestonjones1653
2 жыл бұрын
"Have you seen this missing man?!" shouts the Imperial soldier, holding a sketch that looks exactly like him
@OtsegoKid
5 жыл бұрын
Encounters can also be environmental. Crossing a river where a bridge has broken, or having to detour around a rock or mud slide. Perhaps they stumble across a shortcut, but it's through a mountain that has higher risk of encounters. Choices.
@ismirdochegal4804
5 жыл бұрын
As the Story progresses, some ideas are not used. Often my players just level past an adventure or did not bother to explore that part of the world at all. I let that other NPC adventuring parties done that and now my players have random encounters with others that speak of these events.
@ismirdochegal4804
5 жыл бұрын
Not all Ideas will be used. Often my players just level past an adventure, or do not explore that part of the world at all. Other adventures live in thi world too and that those were doing that thing. The players might then encounter NPCs who speak of these events that happened elsewhere.
@speedy01247
4 жыл бұрын
I would much prefer that then 12 fights to travel 30 days (with like 5 night time attacks as well)
@TaggedByTim
4 жыл бұрын
@@speedy01247 throw a random night time dragon appearance in there and that was basically the last campaign I was in
@dddmemaybe
4 жыл бұрын
Oh, thank you thank you boatswain xd
@blairbird8022
5 жыл бұрын
Now I want a Healing Pond that shouts obscenities at my players. It'd be like the gargoyles from Fable II.
@kylestanley7843
5 жыл бұрын
"Get that disgusting mitt away from me, you filthy maggot-ridden cretin!"
@jacobcollins7661
5 жыл бұрын
yeah definitely stealing this lol
@laneaugustson7714
5 жыл бұрын
I actually stole the door idea from fable as random quest gives in my campaigns! They look like gargoyles and act like the doors and they are a hoot!
@williamrogers9918
5 жыл бұрын
I have a tip for designing encounters: pull inspiration from movies and books. I was running a campaign a while ago that was filled with gags and many jokes, it was a very lax campaign. My answer for story elements and random encounters? Monty python and the quest for the holy grail. They're traveling through the molten crags and they've only had fights for a while? Bridge of doom. Passing through the mountains and nothing's happened in a while? Tim the sorcerer is here and he has warned you of the worlds deadliest rabbit. Can't think of something to keep the players from entering a city without starting a fight? The French are mocking them. I need something to liven up this trip through the forest? The undying black knight guards the path. Monty Python itself is really just a comedic session of DnD made into film.
@SkyNinja759
5 жыл бұрын
Monty Python's The Holy Grail is literally just a 1:1 DnD session. That alone should be inspiration for a few sessions of humorous encounters. The Knights that go Neep!, "Bring out your dead!", The Black Knight, The Holy Hand Grenade, The French mockery, "She's a Witch!", the lust of lancelot, etc. Even skit in any Python special can easily be extended into a 30min situation in the right hands.
@randomdude-4353
4 жыл бұрын
Just crossed the bridge of doom? Throw in a police officer who arrests you for murdering a historian
@anblueboot5364
4 жыл бұрын
I think my only problem with this is : copying it 1:1 makes it kinda boring/bad, reminds me of all those bad implemanted pop culture movies. But I guess this isn't what you had in mind that one should straight out copy the encounter of the movies but referencing them in a a funny and clever/dumb way.
@blakeslater2064
3 жыл бұрын
A man of culture, I see
@prestonjones1653
2 жыл бұрын
@@anblueboot5364 Reskin the rabbit into an artificer terrified of a platypus in his workshop, who rewards you for killing/relocating it with some item or another.
@fakechemicals
5 жыл бұрын
Party's traveling from one town to the next so to fill the gap I pick a forest random encounter table in the DMG around the parties level and make my roll. I roll a vampire...it's about midday. Vampire's a bit over level for this group right now so I go for it; "you hear rustling in a nearby hedge as you walk down the road. Erupting from hedge comes a bloodthirsty vampire! Who promptly vaporizes into ash." Party laughs and we're on our way. On the way back from that town I roll off the same table and low and behold I get it again. We were in a lazy mood so I throw another vampire at them in broad daylight to the same effect. Someone asks why there's so many stupid vampires in the area, we laugh. A few games later they're headed down that same road, I roll the same table, comedy's rule of threes is in effect so I set the scene; "down the road you see a loan pale figure standing in the shade of the nearby trees." The party knows it's a vampire, "he takes a step towards you into the light, his skin sparkling like diamonds in the suns rays. He attacks!" They roll initiative to fight the Twilight vampire, he begins to passive-aggressively attack the women in the party. Thing is, he's kicking their asses, the fight drags on and he is really taking it out of them they need to do something or someone is gonna die. The new girl in the party, it's her first game has spent the last two rounds frantically pouring Player's Handbook looking up her sorcerers spells, it comes to her turn and she looks directly into my eyes, a stern look on her face she says "I cast Erase!" "I don't think that spell works against..." She cuts me off; "erases mundane writing..." and turns the book to me pointing at the spell description. "Okay...he vanishes in a puff of literature." I was too impressed to say no.
@nicholaswallen8147
5 жыл бұрын
That is pure awesome.
@TheXBladeist
5 жыл бұрын
I am using that gag.
@Thememester439
5 жыл бұрын
It took me a minute to get it but I love the joke.
@jackielinde7568
5 жыл бұрын
Did you give the player Inspiration? That's when you give her Inspiration.
@williamhoover6902
5 жыл бұрын
I hope she said it with her best RBF......
@Thememester439
5 жыл бұрын
Favorite random encounters: Critcal Role. More specifically, the bandits that keep showing up in campaign 2 and instantly regretting it.
@tatersalad76
4 жыл бұрын
"The No-Pants Bandits" are my favorite random encounter I've seen
@alexforrester8090
4 жыл бұрын
TheMemester439 EXTREME SYPHILIS
@OtsegoKid
5 жыл бұрын
The pool of secrets. It heals you, but you have to tell it secret about yourself.
@bakefire9138
5 жыл бұрын
The CN rogue: "I actually planned to burn down that orphanage from the start."
@OtsegoKid
5 жыл бұрын
@@bakefire9138 *Paladin overhears and backstabs rogue*
@Adam-cq2yo
5 жыл бұрын
Nah. The pool isn't a healing pool. It just trades secrets. You give it a secret. Then it gives you a secret. No one else can get the secret you got. It is gone from the pool. But someone else can come and get the secret you left, or perhaps some other secret. The pool eats up a secret once every month. That secret is removed from the pool. The pool dies if it has no more secrets. You can donate it a secret without getting a secret in return. This gives you a random small, single-use effect. It also puts you in better favour with the pool, increasing the chances that the pool's not gonna give you a secret that leads you to some trap or whatever. It's also known as the pool of blood because your wife fucked your neighbour and you're chaotic evil. That wife never donated secrets. Don't be like Bob's wife.
@OtsegoKid
5 жыл бұрын
Damn. I didn't expect this many likes for the idea. 😝
@Catlord98765
5 жыл бұрын
Or what if the pool is gaurded by a Nothic?
@GregTom2
5 жыл бұрын
One idea, ask your party if they are "looking for trouble". Would they rather pay a nominal fee and carry sufficient rations so that they use reputable roads, follow a map, don't have to get off the beaten path to hunt, etc. or would they rather investigate every abandoned cart in the ditch or potentially distressed shouts in the woods etc. For an interesting twist, say that it only takes one "trouble-seeker" for the entire group to roll the "looking for trouble" table. For a more nuanced approach, use an encounter table (a mix of good neutral and bad, social, puzzle and combat) and every time you roll, ask yourself if you can reasonably justify the encounter within the setting and the "looking for trouble" of your party. If you cannot justify that this is likely to happen in the scenario, say they had a peaceful journey. Example: you roll an encounter about guards doing stop-and-frisk because [insert existing side quest e.g. poisoned food traffic or slave trade]. If the party isn't looking for trouble, they won't even ask the guards what they are looking for and you will only mention in passing "after a few hours you encounter a few guards that ask to check the content of your cart but they barely give a glance and let you on your way; the sun is beaming hard and you need to stop every few hours for your horses to rest". If the party is "looking for trouble" or if one of the characters has a bounty, then you actually role play the encounter knowing that the players might get themselves in trouble or gather some quest information.
@KilRBass
5 жыл бұрын
A nice random encounter which might even serve the story line in a way is the “crying girl”: The heros are traveling from own town to another, they arrive at a small river. One of them starts noticing some weird crying sounds which seem to come from a couple feet away behind a tree. When the look they find a young girl in a dirtied white dress standing at the river crying. (This alone could be funny when the players thing it is a trap) when they talk to her she is so surprised that she falls into the water, the heros will probably save her (the water is only three feet deep but the girl can’t swim like it seems). After they saved her she tells them that her doll fell into the water and she ran Stream downwards to get it back but she lost sight and don’t know how long she ran and felt lost. Now the players are either getting the doll back, Which might hang on a twinge a bit down the stream or someone fished it out (good way to introduce an important NPC) Or the players bring her home. She is the daughter of a wealthy man who is incredibly lucky that the players brought her home (it might got dark while bringing her back). The father gives them a small reward and he might give them the next quest!
@aidancollis33
5 жыл бұрын
When I run sessions that involve a lot of travel, I try to stay light on the encounters. However, when I do give encounters, most of the time they are non-combat, and often involve RP with an NPC. I find that this kind of encounter helps describe and immerse the players in the world, much more effectively than a fight with the odd owlbear or wolf pack.
@OtsegoKid
5 жыл бұрын
Perhaps the party hears of a time where the roads are particularly clear from local tribal bandits and such. However, that's because these tribes have a legend or superstition associated with the road at that time of the month or year. The players risk encountering the objects of these superstitions, and their CR is higher, but the possibility of running into them is much smaller because it's only one or two things as opposed to droves of bandits.
@altromonte15
5 жыл бұрын
here is an encounter: you find a burned down caravan that was carrying bread. If the players examine it, they realize wolves burned it down.
@zrspangle
5 жыл бұрын
How‽‽‽ Did they knock over an oil lamp???
@altromonte15
5 жыл бұрын
@@zrspangle They brought Kerosene. After decades of being slaughtered by low level adventurers, wolves have become ruthless and smart to survive.
@maggintons
5 жыл бұрын
I thought you were gonna say you find toast..
@jacobfreeman5444
5 жыл бұрын
Nonsense like this requires an actual reason, not tales from the far side. If that were possible then humanity's millennia long war against wolves would have produced some smart wolves in real life. As is this would break my immersion and make the whole thing rather unenjoyable. But to give contructive criticism...isn't there rats that are smart because of mages or something. Cranium rats? Why not use them as a template and have this be a side quest. Thrash the evil wizard or what not that is making the mutant wolves!
@silverdeathgamer2907
5 жыл бұрын
@@jacobfreeman5444 Honestly some groups are more into the comedy but you could pretty easily adapt wolves to be smarter. Have them be corrupted by dark magic which increases their intelligence and links them telepathically so that they work more effectively as a pack and can more easily ambush prey.
@xanders8100
3 жыл бұрын
I've found some solid success rolling on Xanathar's tables and then figuring out what that creature's presence would entail using improv. Most of the time the encounters don't necessarily need to be solved through combat and solid roleplaying can overcome them. I've had a random mage offer to cast a spell for the party in exchange for coin, a swarm of bats that, at the end of an initial attack, were adopted by the party, a vampire spawn hiding in a dark alley protected by swarms of rats that the party gathered the local guard and used the pipes of the sewers to overcome, etc. I've found that encounter tables are great for involving your players in the world and giving them exp through roleplay as long as you can keep up on the improv and take the time to figure out potential consequences. Some great quests happen that I never even have to write.
@pawthorne7089
5 жыл бұрын
Keep in mind it's only "leveling Up" if you don't go by milestone leveling.
@dizzydial8081
4 жыл бұрын
This is how I have the leveling for my group I DM with. We're all first timers so keeping track of experience can get messy. They'll be level 3 soon.
@magical_mage0
4 жыл бұрын
@@dizzydial8081 So you are giving them XP to Level 3?
@gamingpandaboy
4 жыл бұрын
@@magical_mage0 are you proud of yourself?
@bigmansmallboy
4 жыл бұрын
Milestone stinky though. Never get levels fast enough.
@noodlesgamebox5903
4 жыл бұрын
Okay, but "XP to level 3" is great. Go check how channel out.
@concernedstevey5001
5 жыл бұрын
Pop-up markets, sometimes with a pickpocket or two, are my favourite random encounters. Telling my players that they see smoke in the distance, only for them to find out its just some guy living off from the road with a fireplace lit are pretty good as well, they make a good way of relaxing tension players may have built up from previous battles, give them an opportunity to buy some handmade goods, or simply make a friend. Random encounters can sometimes be the bane of a campaign or sometimes they can be one of the minor things that makes the world feel truly alive. edit: Completely forgot about the fun you can have with Bandits. Should your players spare some bandits they encounter on their travels, its always fun to maybe have them meet one of their 'friends' in a later bandit encounter. It's usually best to have the returning bandit npc not be a big evil 'i have no feelings' bandit boss, but rather an ex-farmhand struggling to make ends meet. Most players will show at least a bit of sympathy and send the surrendering bandits on their way, perhaps minus a few items of clothing and weapons.
@thegamerserpent4271
5 жыл бұрын
I typically use the excuse of “the BBEG told us to attack you”, I also make sure the enemies follow the same theme as the BBEG. And all my encounters can potentially have information.
@casino6498
5 жыл бұрын
I like random encounters, because I'll typically spin them into a detour plot line that the players can engage with. Say for example, they are in a forest, and they come across a giant elk and kill it. That Elk will be mentioned again, and differently depending on what cultures they are near. The druid tribes may pray and protect the elk, seeing it as a divine gift, and the revelation that it has died angers them. Or, if they bring the dead elk to a Local city to be traded, they might have angered a king appointed and egotistical hunter who believes the party have stolen his kill. Even a passing reference to a random encounter and the creatures/settings/objects involved helps to make them feel more connected to the game world.
@andrewpenn1145
4 жыл бұрын
My group's monk 1/warlock 2 has a giant elk for a patron. They fought him in the first session, then he multiclassed into warlock and declared that "The Moose" was his patron. I now have a quest giver NPC to move things along with, and I'm developing a backstory and personality for his patron. All hail the Moose King!
@TheHornedKing_27
3 жыл бұрын
Suddenly a dragon attacks you on the road Players: stop taking notes from Skyrim
@gopro_audio
Жыл бұрын
If I am on the plains of Africa, I am food. Ya see the danger is the adventure party is actually FOOD for 100's of other creatures. Kids now days are scared of danger in RPGs. Even your tiny villages are simply FOOD sources.
@hawksafe
4 жыл бұрын
when you roll 2 dragons the DM should interpret that sensibly. The two dragons aren't attacking the party, they're attack each other and the party may have to deal with the fallout or be perfectly fine and see a wonderful "encounter"
@kid14346
4 жыл бұрын
"I'm sure there is no such thing as Frequent Overworld Mindflayer Attacks" *cries in mindflayer apocolyps game im in.
@ChrissieBear
4 жыл бұрын
Fun fact, in the early editions of D&D random encounters also had randomly determined dispositions, so you were equally likely to have monsters you encounter be friendly or neutral rather than hostile, just fellow travelers on the road.
@luis_pinto
5 жыл бұрын
Hell yeah, Big Hat Logan's back!
@tophat665
4 жыл бұрын
Couple of thoughts: Remember in 1st Ed., you got experience at 1 per gp earned, so your best bet was almost always to avoid combat. Wandering monsters made this difficult. It's right there on the cover of the Player's Manual: guys prying the jewels from a statues eyes. It subverted the whole murder hobo thing.
@Shatterverse
5 жыл бұрын
How to speed up fights; use 4e minion rules (minions have 1hp), split the monsters into small groups (maybe by type) that share initiative, have Monsters flee when low on health or numbers, and/or use monster pool or unit hp (instead of tracking all the monsters' hp separately, add it into a pool and every time enough damage is done to the pool to account for 1 monster, remove the one most recently hit.
@codypatton2859
5 жыл бұрын
I only use minion rules for massive combat, essentially military battles.
@epicbrony27
5 жыл бұрын
In a campaign Im in we fished up a gold dragon statue as a random encounter. After we fished up a sea hag
@eggguy20
5 жыл бұрын
If I can remember one random encounter, I would say that it was the time me and my friends were doing a Homebrew campaign as a group of peasants who accidentally killed the hero and had to take their place only to have the adventure almost end with a tpk. We were level 2 and carrying the hero's body to a secluded monk that lived deep in the woods who was said to have the power to bring the souls of lost heroes back to life if their body was intact. Before any of us knew it, the DM rolled the dice and what he said next made me realize that time was not on our side: " As you're walking through the woods, you start to hear strange noises coming from bushes and strange ravenous grunting ahead of you. You then see a figure in the distance shrouded in fog. But as the figure gets closer, you start to see blood on them and that's when you realize in horror that you encountered a cannibal but not just any cannibal: you made the mistake of running into Shia LaBeouf! Roll initiative." By the time the battle was over we ended with as follows: my pitchfork wielding farmer had lost a left hand, a right leg and his family-owned hat that hid his bald spot, the cook lost all of his cooking supplies in the battle due to making a bomb out of his sharp knife collection, the Scribe was dead after Shia LaBeouf broke both of his arms and ripped them out after the Scribe failed to get a sneak attack with his sharp quill, the blacksmith lost both of his legs from a bear trap and was able to stitch one leg back in place before Shia LaBeouf grabbed the other one and knocked him unconscious, and the messenger sacrificed himself using the knife bomb to kill off Shia LaBeouf. Despite losing two of our best planners, it was a great random encounter despite the weirder stuff we encountered later on.
@kylestanley7843
5 жыл бұрын
Shia LeBeouf. Because why the fuck not? 😂
@23DEATHNUMBER
5 жыл бұрын
Had my party encounter Shia they killed him I said congrats you killed Shia Leboufe then one player burned the body kept his skull and had it made into a cup lol
@grapefruittango4707
5 жыл бұрын
as soon as i read the "as you're walking through the woods" my mind immediately went to the shia labeouf song...
@hallowedfool
5 жыл бұрын
Random encounters are great. They add to the world and make it feel more alive. They don't have to be fights either. You can bring NPCs that survive back later and that gives the players some attachment and may even be an opportunity for a new quest or hook that you want to use later (i.e. oh I want an NPC to give this quest wouldn't it be cool if it was a bandit they let go ten sessions ago who is getting his act together in a tavern and needs help with something?). You can also have large scale in game events, perhaps even that your players were responsible for if it's that kind of game, directly cause some of these random encounters. Even though it isn't relevant overall, it adds to the fun, the world, and the characters. You're basically just describing bad random encounters. I keep a list of relevant self-written random encounters for each region that could happen and only use them if context allows. I also try vary them and ensure they can be solved in some way other than combat. All the cons you give are things that just mean you're doing random encounters badly rather than things that mean random encounters are bad.
@metalblizzard6024
5 жыл бұрын
I've been doing the "Unspoken Stories" thing for years, and they add depth to the world and new plot points. I've never heard of them be called that and I love it
@zenitram514
5 жыл бұрын
Them damn bats and cats and banditoes and mosquitoes
@weezact7
5 жыл бұрын
This is pretty good advice! I'd like to add in one more tip that has always helped me. I generally like to throw in one or two random encounters on lengthy travelling segments to give the players an idea of the types of creatures in the area, some of the dangers the locals may face, and to have a visual representation (via the battle map) of the surrounding area. Plus, as mentioned, it gives the players a chance to use their abilities and can also help to wear the party down as part of a dungeon crawl before they ever even reach the dungeon. However, my tip is, if you're planning on including random encounters in a segment of your game: roll/determine them in advance. That way you can take a little time to make the encounter more interesting than "four bears in some randomly placed trees that all rush you at once the end". There is a segment in a book by Rich Burlew, "Dungeonscape", that has some pretty good advice on creating interesting encounters which is applicable to any edition of the game.
@whensomethingcriesagain
5 жыл бұрын
My favorites are noncombat encounters that add flavor to a region, like a late night dance with Fey or the ghosts of an ancient battle still marching to their positions
@MikeKojoteStone
5 жыл бұрын
As an old-timey roleplayer from the early days I see another element to this. I know and understand that back then, random encounters were meant to add to the feeling of being part of a living, breathing world. The whole gaming experience wasn't nearly as well developed and thought through. We were often making shit up and adjusting official material as we went out of pure necessity. There were pretty much 'holes' between adventures to be filled with something other than shopping and having a night out at the local tavern. What I'm taking from decades of experience with it is that not everything has to be pre-planned. Nor should it be. I'm not arguing for random encounters themselves, but for an element of randomness, because that's part of a plausible world and thus a more authentic experience. It CAN be completely unnecessary, if you have one or more players who create wantom randomness at a reasonable pace. I've met many of those and learned to make use of their 'gifts' extensively. But sometimes it's just important to actually have something remarkable happen that has nothing to do with the main story. Otherwise you might as well write a book instead of playing a game.
@Mad_Oph
5 жыл бұрын
Nice work man, I'm digging your content. For my games, I try to foreshadow my encounters, even the random ones. I also try to make them as organic to the environment as I can. If my party is travelling through a forest, they often hear at a local outpost about the dangerous wildlife that lives there. If they decide to make camp for the night in a swamp, they might be attacked by a gator or large snake that thinks the sleeping folks would be an easy meal. It's just the little things that make them seem less boring, less contrived, and more engaging for the party; we all enjoy it more when they hear an area is dangerous or treacherous, and then they see or experience it firsthand. Anything to make the world that much more immersive.
@kramerfortuna7228
5 жыл бұрын
I usually take the "unspoken stories" approach. One time, my players were traveling across a wasteland that had been scorched by a great dragon hundreds of years ago. I had them come across a small, ruined hut with a couple charred corpses outside. I THOUGHT they would like the little bit of mystery, and I was planning on showing that there WAS at least one child who lived here, but they vanished. The intense and dark scene was shattered when one of my friends jumped up and shouted, "Holy shit! Luke Skywalker!" They still make jokes and Star Wars quotes most of the time whenever I throw in a random encounter.
@StrangeGamer859
5 жыл бұрын
Random encounter are also necessary for game balance in D&D, since combat encounters are balanced around players having to manage their resources. Without them it's easy to end up with days with only one combat and make magic users too powerful
@TheSubso
5 жыл бұрын
@Manek Iridius powerful until you can't long or even short rest and suddenly have the usefulness of a level 2 character in a level 16 dungeon, alone, as a second edition bard
@littlecmb1874
5 жыл бұрын
If you want to make magic users less powerful in random encounters use the gritty realism variant rule during travel (short rest takes 8 hours, long rest is a week), that makes wizard arcane ability more useful and warlocks better. It then also keeps resource management while not having a stupid amount of encounters a day
@andrewpenn1145
4 жыл бұрын
@Manek Iridius Powerful until you run out of meat shields and a barbarian grapples you.
@harperthegoblin
4 жыл бұрын
@@andrewpenn1145 We would just banish the barbarian
@andrewpenn1145
4 жыл бұрын
@@harperthegoblin Then the barbarian's paladin buddy smites you and snaps your concentration in half, and then steals your left hand.
@aiden-sy3ex
4 жыл бұрын
i like how random encounters are handled in elder scrolls games, they're various travelers on the road that usually don't even bother you
@Aredel
Жыл бұрын
And a lot of times they have relevance to your previous actions. It’s really awesome.
@maxaltenkirch1022
Жыл бұрын
Maybe instead of having a wolf encounter in broad daylight, you could start it by saying that the players hear some snuffling noises outside their tent at night, close to the tree they stashed their food and supplies in.
@kristiannicholson5893
4 жыл бұрын
Been DMing for about 20 years and these videos still help me. Much of this stuff one will figure out with trial and error but never put into words, it feels good to be validated that I'm a decent DM.
@laserclowns8402
4 жыл бұрын
A random encounter always has a possibility of being more interesting beyond combat and could even have potential for future subplot, side quests, and/or even add a twist to the main plot. eg: A highwayman who begs for their life and is spared could later provide valuable information or service.
@knaveHearted
5 жыл бұрын
One of my favorite random encounter ideas is a mimic tavern. Just a tavern or in the middle of nowhere, have an npc join the party for a bit only to have him go into the tavern ahead of the players only to have him eaten, and the tavern get up and walk off. No real point, just entertaining, and players are guaranteed to recount the story of "that one time a tavern ate someone. "
@km1dash6
5 жыл бұрын
I really like the idea of people being able to choose which random encounters to follow. One idea I have is the an adventure in the Grey Waste, there's the city called "The Death of Innocence." Your party can come across a crying child and try to help only to find she's an insane hag who tries to kill them. After her defeat, you get some needed supplies and a map. Or (at random) she can be an actual little girl who needs help, and after helping her she gives you the supplies and a map.
@WanderingWallflower97
5 жыл бұрын
Your videos have been super helpful to me as a DM and my friends who get to enjoy a much more in depth and thoughtful game. We've been playing the same campaign for just over a year and a half now but when we started, we were all newbs lol. Thankfully, with help of your videos and others like them and of course our lord and saviors at Critical Role, we have all become much more seasoned players. Keep doing what you do man 👍I genuinely appreciate it.
@andrewwahba5006
5 жыл бұрын
I play in a group of rotating GMs and there are two schools of thought: 1) tons of random encounters 2) no ransom encounters I think you provide a good middle ground and i love the idea of having the players decide a good encounter to your two bad ones and I'll definitely incorporate that in my campaign when i DM
@TheAurgelmir
4 жыл бұрын
I generally only have random encounters as part of an adventure, to be something that either creates tension, or a way to make areas that has been clear never feel safe. I don't use the premade rules for this, but another system. Really for me, an encounter is there to take away resources, to create a sense of danger. The more time you spend not moving towards your goal, the more chances of having your resources taken away you have. But usually it ends up as maybe one random encounter per session. In one adventure I gave the players a haunted helmet, it was a great item so the player wanted to use it, but it also meant that a ghost started talking to the party. This gave them a sense of unease and a great way to help give the dungeon character. (This ghost voice would also tell them when monsters were coming to attack them, promting the random encounter)
@CharlesBalester
5 жыл бұрын
I agree with this wholeheartedly! When I DM I don't like using random encounters, I have the time to make fully fleshed tactics and encounters. I try to keep it to one or less a session, for the next session I have a new one I made this week, a group of 5 blindfolded bandits. They hole up in an alcove by the road, the alcove is 10 feet off the path at the end of an ingrown path, they listen for footsteps inside their alcove, when they hear something, the single wizard in their group casts a spell that takes all exterior (the sun, moon, or stars. This makes it so light items the party has are actually useful as heck for once) light from the area (a 200-foot radius around the caster) that is a concentration level 2 spell and the bandits slip off their blindfolds, their eyes already adjusted to pitch black. The bandits have a monk (with level 3 abilities) three fighters, one with a shortsword and shortbow with 20 arrows, the other two with longswords and hand crossbows with 8 bolts each. Then the wizard whose only real purpose is for that spell, but can also cast some basic cantrips. Upon killing the bandits they can choose to search the area, and if they find the alcove they will stumble upon a cart full of combustibles and a note on a small table that talks about a plan to use the cover of the darkness spell to roll the cart up to a nearby city's watchtower at night and blow the tower up, allowing for a secondary raid during the confusion from the east. I added that little bit of story so the party will feel like they actually did something good for the world, even if it doesn't pertain to the story. I created this encounter because I felt that this fight fully plays into the theme of bandits, looking for absolutely any advantage they can for raids and looting travellers and exploiting it for unfair fighting grounds.
@MegaMawileTheNommer
4 жыл бұрын
One random encounter I had was a roadside table that had fruits and veggies on it for a copper each, and an unlocked box with "Honor is a Virtue" written on it. The players panicked, thinking it was a trap at first, but then after some detect magic and poison checks, they realized it must be from a nearby monastery. So they loaded up all of them into a bag of holding, paid 3GP more than the lot was worth, and headed on their way. And I rolled up what was among it so the cook of the party had fun coming up with recipes using them.
@Enigmaessence
5 жыл бұрын
Most successful Random Encounter I ever ran, was a wrecked cart on the side of the road that had obviously been ransacked by bandits. The players managed to find the hidden compartment that the bandits missed and were greeted with the mans most valuable possessions. The deed to his home, a map with several areas marked off in different colored inks, and a series of love letters. The party immediately latched on to whoever this guy was and felt responsible to return what was left to any surviving family members (even though they were only Chaotic Good-ish) and it spun into this whole sidequest they took on and met this family and passed on some bad news (and also left them a ton of money). And every time they passed through that area from then on they’d stop by this house and check on these people. And all from one relatively easy to run, boring random encounter.
@ImmortalLemon
4 жыл бұрын
My random encounters are based off a survival campaign I made, where when the party goes out to harvest resources. It’s for extra loot they can find with a few extra dangers they can find, but there is always a chance to find loot with it, and they can choose to not fight and forego the random encounter. I also put in random encounters with just new NPC’s they can meet
@andrewjohnson6716
3 жыл бұрын
This is definitely one I will replay over and over whenever I have free time to prep encounters. The game Pathfinder-Kingmaker has lots of these “don’t change the game, but have deep meaning to the environment” type encounters and I want to have a deck of those to choose from.
@trickjoker9411
3 жыл бұрын
One random encounter I ran that stuck out came out on a table as a giant and a hippogriff in a forest. So I flavored it for interest instead of "hey fight these lul." I pit the creatures against each other, the giant trying to score a nice meal, and let the players approach it how they wanted. This resulted in them polymorphing the giant into a squirrel, which was a great lesson for them to how polymorph actually works, after the hippogriff ate the squirrel whole, causing the poly to wear off during the gullet crunch. They shared a nice, if slightly exploded, roasted hippogriff with the giant afterwards.
@Talarue
5 жыл бұрын
I Roll encounters for ideas then re-calibrate and adjust the encounters as necessary, and let the logical repercussions of that encounter be followed as far as is reasonable. Works decently well when I am low on ideas and can even lead to semi-organic side quests.
@theangrypacifist1568
5 жыл бұрын
I like the way Savage Worlds handles random encounters. You draw from a deck of cards and if you get a face card something happens depending on the suit of the card. Spades are enemies, hearts are strangers, diamonds are treasure, and clubs are obstacles. It makes travel interesting without having players get attacked every time they move. You might get attacked if you're unlucky, but more often than not you're going to find treasure or some random people traveling the same path.
@keatonwoods5972
Жыл бұрын
i’m running an aquatic/pirate themed campaign and have mostly left random encounters out of it, but my players just recently did something that will affect a protection spell being amplified across the ocean. so i’m gonna be introducing more random encounters as a way to sort of motivate them to restore the spells.
@lalobenimadho7301
4 жыл бұрын
A good puzzle encounter on the road could be "a tree has fallen in the road and the forest around it is too dense for the wagon to navigate. The tree could potentially be lifted, but a real beefcake needs to make a DC 25 str check." The problem is simple but the solution(s) encourage players to think outside the box. A berserker could just move it, a wizard could fly everyone over it, or maybe a clever feller could do a controlled burn. Maybe there's another path but it's known to be in a bandit camps' general vicinity, so the party can even choose to have a combat encounter if they want, which puts it to a vote without even breaking the 4th wall!
@noxure
4 жыл бұрын
Revisiting this question. I think that the trick to 'design' a great random encounter tables is to view it as an inspirational tool instead of filler - the randomness and unpreparedness throws a wrench in your normal DM routine and it can lead to intersting situations and plot devices that you can use. Players don't need to know that the encounter was "random" - they will assume that it's planned and act accordingly.
@clairetellkamp6253
5 жыл бұрын
Most of my random encounters are unspoken stories. Some with puzzles, some with lore, some with combat, etc. Just recently, actually, the party was traveling along a roadway. There was a small stretch of non-forested land to the right of the road, then some forest. The party saw a 20 foot diameter pit in the clear area, and decided to investigate. The pit was about ten feet deep, but full of bodies. So many bodies that the pit ended up only three feet deep, should a player jump in. They then heard approaching footsteps, loud, from the forest. The party jumped into the pit and played dead. Everyone rolled well... except for the bard of all people, with a terrible performance roll. Narratively, he was shifting in discomfort from the smell of rot. (Oh, and the bodies on top were generally fresh, but the deeper in the pit you go, the more rotted and skeletal they become.) In comes the hill giant, peering around the pit and grumbling something in giant about "Damn Helianna." He throws in the corpse of a tiefling girl, very much dead, then turns to go. He notices the bard, and grumbles some more about "Damn Helianna not finishing off that one." And stabs the bard in the back, dealing a considerable amount of damage for a level 4 party. The bard takes the opportunity to reroll his performance check and manages to fool the giant into thinking he's dead. The giant rumbles off, waving his hand, and a shimmering dome appears around the pit. Out climbs the party and they check out the dome. It's an illusion. From the outside, it appears as though the pit isn't there. The party investigates the pit, digging around, and manages to find two halves to a broken tablet of stone with writing, though nobody could read abyssal, so they took it with them and are going to be looking for someone to translate it for them.
@dolphinboi-playmonsterranc9668
5 жыл бұрын
It's funny that you mention the timeframe. I actually like going to Westport, Washington in the summer, but it's exactly a 3 hour drive there and then 3 hours back. I pick up a bag of sea salt candy, eat some ice cream, walk around the pier, and go home. I mostly just like to watch the ocean and see the dock cats roam around.
@MagickGOATee
5 жыл бұрын
The way I see it, encounters are like gas stations and those family-golf course/bowling alley/attraction pit stops. They happen on road trips, regardless
@Scaramanga7
5 жыл бұрын
All combat to the death and all encounters turning into combat are two pet peeves of mine. Thanks for addressing it.
@denniss8443
5 жыл бұрын
One thing I like that our DM does, is ask us for an idea of encounter, as well a boon or magical or etc that we can get. We send it to him secretly, so none of us know what's gonna come up. That way we're helping him create fun encounters, as well as us contributing to the world.
@42grath
5 жыл бұрын
The way I work random encounters, is make them not all be fights. Prep your understanding of all of them so when you roll it, know what you’re going to do or have notes to use when you roll it, and keep your random combats keep within story. Which you basically said and I’m happy to hear
@SwordDoveGamingProductions
4 жыл бұрын
one thing i did with a sandbox style camping was use random encounters as ways to start a storyline that the pcs could follow that may link to one pc's backstory.
@marek011011
5 жыл бұрын
i like to put in encounters that my players can't directly interact with, that might come into play in the future. e.g. during a rest or travel they first hear low thuds and on the horizon they can spot a tribe of giants walking in a line/group. just doing their giant stuff, maybe going for a hunt, maybe coming back from one, etc. it gives a feel (i hope) that the world lives
@notoriousgoblin83
3 жыл бұрын
Make a sensible table. Make interesting setpieces. Brigands trying to set up traps. A merchant with a broken cart. A camp with a weird kobold sitting by a fire, surrounded by corpses(that last one is specific to my current campaign but could work). Remember, wild animals like wolves rarely attack humans unless provoked or desperate
@cdgonepotatoes4219
5 жыл бұрын
Hint to improve random encounters: try to give a means to an end to the random encounter, maybe the monster you met and slew were giving trouble to the nearby town and you're offered a free stay there and have a good time, maybe the local huntmaster isn't happy about you killing half the local bear population (even though they attacked you first) and puts you on a quest to repay the damage you've done, or maybe the boss of those thugs you met is now after you and the major either decides to help you out or he's corrupted putting you in prison for seemingly no reason. Random encounters are potential hooks to a side quest later, if you keep them as filler they'll bore everyone to death.
@craiginzana
2 жыл бұрын
For every campaign I have some backup random encounters setup. They always have to do with the story and theme of the campaign. Usually there’s are ways the players could interact with them without just killing them too. (But let’s be honest, they usually just try to kill them.)
@jajsem1109
4 жыл бұрын
I usually roll dice to see, if they: 1) encounter something at all and 2) if the encounter is good (some interesting NPC to give them advice/directions/some fun story) or bad (usually combat, but might just be something that impact them differently, like that burned down house mentioned in the video. After those two rolls, I just improvise with the area in mind. Sometimes it leads to very interesting situations (Like when beaten down group encountered some orcs and just greeted them. Orcs took it cool and let the group go (after the group paid for free passage). After some time they met again on more equal terms and formed uneasy alliance against common enemy). But my favourite by far was stormy night, when they were looking for a shelter and arrived to the hut of a witch. She was no evil hag, even tho she liked to be left alone. They suspected foul play, but were polite to the old lady living on her own and even helped her with cooking. They traded stories, she told them about a curse in the forest and in the morning they parted ways. Even after some years they still remember the weird, but nice old lady in the woods.
@miszajansen
5 жыл бұрын
By far this has been the most usefull video for me. And extremely relevant. I'm still a new DM and what I did so far was create a list of random encounters for my worlds various locations and some Dungeons quest etc for each session that tied in with what the players wanted and could do. The way this would play out is that if they would be unsure what to do or travel a bunch i would throw out 1 2 or sometimes more random encounters (some where really short ones like a burnt down village) until they eventually (mostly after just 2 encounters) entered my dungeons where all the fun crazy but a bit more planned stuff happened. This system has worked well for me up until the final session where the party accidentally ignored every single hook to planned story things or dungeon and just proceeded to do their own thing and travel ridiculous amounts. Since I did not want to break immersion by telling the players that this was not the way so instead my only option was (atleast i thought at the time) to keep throwing random encounters at them. This lead to some crazy stuff but eventually got boring and the players aswell as I got really unsure what to do. Thanks to this video I now know that it was the large amount of encounters that did this. I think I will still keep my system but leave out the set number of encounters per distance which i came up with because I feel like that spawned the copious amounts of forced encounters. If you read this entire thing thanks for reading my rambling! XD and thank you Logan for these great videos :D keep it up
@zyxaqc
4 жыл бұрын
In my group, the DM usually just asks us if we want to do something while traveling and then rolls for encounters if no one is interested in roleplaying. If the roll comes up with no encounter, we instantly arrive at our destination. Best case scenario, travel takes like two minutes and everyone is happy.
@thenatural1sttrpg
2 жыл бұрын
I like to tie in random encounters to my players back stories. Giving hints of things the player doesn't know about their characters past or a piece of info they're looking for really gets them invested.
@TheGenericavatar
4 жыл бұрын
@Runesmith RL frequent bandit encounters. I forget where in South America this happened, but I read in a news article about an inter-city bus that was robbed by bandits 4 times en route. By the time the 4th group showed up just outside of the destination city, the bus passengers were down to just their under garments with no other property. Leaving the last bandit group SOL.
@silverthedruid4754
3 жыл бұрын
I'm late as all hell, but I want to say my opinion. I usually don't do random encounters. I do random events, like rocks falling while the party traverses the mountain, and then have them deal with the situation, e.g. look for cover, dodge out of the way or run for their lives. Combat encounters are usually tied to the story. In my game, the party is hunted by a murder (a flock of crows is called a murder, and I think it fits for harpies) of harpies, and are investigating a blight infestation. So when I think they want a fight, or when their guard is down, I'll send either harpies or blights to keep the story going. Right now, they ditched the blight quest, and are looking for a hag in the mountains. There is a Chimera as a kind of an "optional boss" that they encounter every now and then, that they have been tasked by the local red dragon to kill. My point is, the encounters should be an extension of the story, rather than something they'll forget
@freddykingofturtles
4 жыл бұрын
I run random encounters like when you encounter a wild animal, violence can often be avoided, some are friendly, and sometimes you fail a test and are attacked by the blood drinking elk servants of werewolf cthulhu. The fact that was story related still blows my mind.
@QuintonCenter
5 жыл бұрын
This was awesome! I've always picked encounters that suit the situation best, like if the players are feeling like there's not enough combat I'll throw in a combat encounter during travel, and if the players are bored of combat I'll write up a roleplaying or problem-solving one. I'll also scale the difficulty depending on my players' liking.
@ventusvindictus
5 жыл бұрын
My players more often encounter other travelers of the occasional adventuring party on well-traveled roads than bandits or animals. I've made my own charts the the regions and roads (by size) of my campaign's world, too, so they know what to expect in different areas if they ask the locals. I'll also spice things up by having travelers or other NPCs warn them of a particularly dangerous creature or other active threat in the area. If they're alert, the party may even see other adventurers heading out to take care of that threat.
@AIWARAS619
4 жыл бұрын
I find it best when there is pre-prepared encounters that make sense used as needed, and not every encounter that could end up in a fight needs to. There is fun in bandits think they are hot shit and then run away the second a party full of casters and half-casters ignite their hands and weapons in arcane power, or start panicking after they put three crossbow bolts into the barbarian and he is still coming after them like nothing, because they are used with dealing with people that have 4 hit points on average.
@Waffle_N1nja
5 жыл бұрын
Really glad you decided to make your own channel, the info is clear and undilluted. You also have a good voice for these kind of videos.
@GreenStuffConsumer
5 жыл бұрын
Awesome vid. Something I started using a while ago was a "designated leader". They might not actually lead the party but when ever I feel like it (at the time I am the dm) I will force them to roll a d20. Different groups of numbers will either be good (to a degree), bad (to a degree) or nothing at all
@eryvac0074
5 жыл бұрын
I do like random encounters, so I've learned what ones work and don't. My favourite random encounter I put in is 'if the BBEG has an army, the group can encounter deployments of the bbegs army being dispatched. This can either be a small group of soldiers, or a full scale battalion, with tanks and shit, so the players can dismantle them and be rewarded with fun methods of dealing with them, or a town they go to can be destroyed
@danielgriff2659
2 жыл бұрын
DM's should run "escort quests" where you have to safely escort a person/people to a destination. Random encounters would be a MAJOR aspect of such a campaign... builds the story, too.
@romanwagner8709
2 жыл бұрын
I personally love the simple way the Wilderness Kit made them work. I also love the deep and complex methods of provided in Adventures in Middle Earth.
@darklordofsword
4 жыл бұрын
Honestly, best way to do random non-combat encounters is to have players do a perception check to notice something; the smell of smoke, a noise, signs of a recent struggle on the road.... all things that could be points of contact for anything from side quests to a bit of loot.
@OsvaldoChannel1
4 жыл бұрын
Fun fact: in one campaign I was the Ranger of the group, and we went looking for clues in the forest. The DM had me roll to find the way back. I rolled a nat.1, so the DM had me lose us in the forest for the night. We made a camp, and were attacked by bandits. We won, and came back to the town the next morning. Later the DM told me that he wrote the encounter before the session at the last second: he didn't think it would happen, but he made it just in case. Lucky him, and unlucky me, it was useful
@otbaht
4 жыл бұрын
I once had orcs at a bridge demand a toll. they demanded 4 copper a person, 5 for mounts, 6 for carts etc. they players just paid for it and found out that town knew but didn't care because they basically asked for pennies and actually killed off some dangerous wild life.
@kori228
5 жыл бұрын
We just started a campaign the week before last (4 players, all of us don't have much experience playing). One guy kept trying to kill everyone and steal everything so the DM rolled a random encounter where there was a portal that just randomly appeared as we were traveling. This guy rushed in, got a cursed ring that prevented him from initiating combat unless he sees one already in progress. lit.
@jukesdtj656
4 жыл бұрын
Random Encounters make the world feel less barren and keep the party alert. It kinda takes the party out of it if they just teleport from town to town without anything happening. Random Encounters also don't have to be combat based, you can make interesting structures, cool scenery to describe to them, and maybe give them a chance to befriend an animal while on their journey. Random Encounters are only bad if they are constantly happening, constantly a challenge, constantly make the party take short rests, and constantly stall the adventure rather than make it feel more adventurous. A good example of random encounters would be having a set of encounters that they only encounter very rarely, that lead them to plot hooks or side quests, like if they find a small bandit camp that's part of a pincer movement to trap caravans coming through the area, leading to a side quest to either warn the caravan or take out the other bandit camp. A bad example of random encounters is the party running into a pack of wolves every single day and every single night.
@mr.peanutwaffles2527
5 жыл бұрын
This video makes me feel a bit better about how I've run "random encounters" as a DM. I wrote/am writing my own campaign and haven't had many chances to play (most of the same players are in another group, our "main" campaign) and so far they've had the intro (a big siege of highly valuable fort in the war effort by either side they were all tossed into for different reasons) before traveling to the nearest big city for their first main quest. To get from the fort in the north to the city in the mid-west, however, they had to ride a flatboat down the river a couple hundred miles. I divided the river journey into four sections (mainly based on biome: plains, swamp, forest, plains) and wrote up around three encounters for each section. For the plains, there was a bulette or some elephants (the latter they could avoid fighting if they managed to see and avoid the baby swimming across the river after it's herd), the swamp had an ambushing troll, some giant frogs, a giant crocodile, and maybe a hag or two (it was supposed to be the hardest section and they were to be given chances to avoid fighting by strategically planning their route (the river split around the swamp a bit), etc. Each fight added a new unique feature to the previous; the bulette would leap onto the boat and cause it to shake, which could cause disadvantage on dexterity checks and ranged attacks if left unattended; the swamp would have vines hanging over the boat they'd have to move around every couple rounds, that kind of thing. In each section, they'd do their group Perception check and I'd roll a D6, with 1 being the hardest, 2-3 being second hardest, 4-5 being easiest, and 6 being no encounter (something like that, anyways). There were plenty of ways around the fights and many could be resolved easily (animal handling checks, scaring away certain creatures, giving them what they really wanted). . . . Then we missed so many sessions that we only ended up doing one half-session with the one bulette encounter (which did go very well) before I said "You look at the captain's station at the back of the boat and find detailed logs, maps, and journals about previous trips up and down the river, where certain types of monsters live, and what the easiest paths are. With these, you make it the rest of the way to the city with ease." TL;DR: Preparation is great and fun and good but is easily wasted ;-;
@deifiedtitan
5 жыл бұрын
Random encounters are what you make of them. We were attacked by an Wight in the dead of night and my character was on watch but failed his perception, getting caught by surprised and pretty badly wounded before he could alert the sleeping party. Our level up was shortly afterwards, immediately took the Alert feat; our PTSD-riddled wight-touched Bard isn't taking any chances ever again.
@charleshird5243
4 жыл бұрын
In the game I’m running I’ve given a reason for some encounters being that the bbeg is calling all the monsters to one point in the map so the players have the goal of weakening the army before whatever happens, happens, but I’ve also had it that the encounters are becoming more sparse and some stronger enemies are showing up so I can I still some curiosity in them
@yungo1rst
3 жыл бұрын
with Curiosity it could be the quick 10-20 minute lore drop that they were interested in.This could be a little Gishvit that would see what objects they have on person and give a little presentation for them on its back history. it was summoned for such a purpose in a ritual, but the summoner only had it around for such one lore drop.
@kdolo1887
5 жыл бұрын
"I don't know how to integrate random encounters in a narrative sense with a story, because I assume that only the players are supposed to improvise with the randomness of dice rolling, not the DM." You right now.
@jeremypiles1787
5 жыл бұрын
This is great advice, congratulations I screenshotted your d6 random encounter generator so that I could run them more often.
@darkeather2
4 жыл бұрын
Try and discretely find out what magic items your players might want. Create a handful of scenarios that revolve around those items. A bandit warlord thats a bit power drunk with a weapon he found. A bbeg scout that is following the players, always evading detection in a specific way due to an item bbeg gave him. A magic item on a corpse of its late weilder, stuck in a situation where either that item would be particularly useful to get to it, or that you know one of your players will be particularly useful getting to it. The encounters have story behind them, and have neat rewards at the end of them, but arent mandatory. If the players skip it, you can reflavor it to give them another shot at the reward.
@KheptlaxaXonu
5 жыл бұрын
So in my Dnd world I created, the world is divided into hex tiles. Each hex has a basic terrain and some terrain modifiers, each tile has a statistically chance for an encounter to occur. The lowest base terrain is plains at 10% chance, highest is mountains at 30%. Another thing I added is Ancient Dragon lairs and territory (you can probably see where this is going). Being on a hex with a layer adds a 2% per character level that you'll run into the ancient dragon, being in the territory adds a 1% per character level. So I had each of the party of 5 (4 pcs and an npc) 6th level characters roll percentile once for each of the 12 days they were traveling on the road (each hex is a days travel by road). On the second day they rolled 00 0, so they got to meet Zitayr, the local ancient black dragon.
@brianpatrickdaly
4 жыл бұрын
I feel like littering the world with monsters attacking otherwise quiet trails gives a reason there are so many adventurers out and about. when everywhere is so dangerous, it pays to deal with the problems
@chaddickerson1887
5 жыл бұрын
You are the only content provider that I thumbs up before you even say, "wuzzup y'all." Watching your videos is like buying a Toyota. The model doesn't even matter. It's gonna be quality. Thank you. And I think your videos have me the the fucking flu. Thanks for that too.
@boredfangerrude
5 жыл бұрын
A few other ideas. 1: Roll with advantage to the players meaning you still roll the same amount but the chances of getting a random encounter is lower. This is negated if one of your part of all of them have a bad luck curse. 2: Take the above and apply it only to combat encounter#.
Пікірлер: 851