Structuring Encounter Tables, Amended & Restated – Papers & Pencils

Created: 2025-02-20

Each face of the Event Die corresponds to something, but the most complex and important result is an Encounter, which then calls for a roll on my Encounter Table.

See in context at Structuring Encounter Tables, Amended & Restated – Papers & Pencils

Created: 2025-02-20

All my encounter tables are 2d6 tables1. The bell curve allows me to vary the likelihood of different encounters.

See in context at Structuring Encounter Tables, Amended & Restated – Papers & Pencils

Created: 2025-02-20

The game is called “Dungeons & Dragons,” yet in my experience, the appearances of dragons end up being exceedingly rare when contrasted with how often dungeons show up.

See in context at Structuring Encounter Tables, Amended & Restated – Papers & Pencils

Created: 2025-02-20

A wizard doesn’t need a complete spell list and inventory of magic items. All they need is the ability to do something really weird and scary, and an escape plan.

See in context at Structuring Encounter Tables, Amended & Restated – Papers & Pencils

Created: 2025-02-20

Like all my encounters, they’ll be pursuing some specific activity when the party meets them—though because they’re wizards that activity may be completely inscrutable.

See in context at Structuring Encounter Tables, Amended & Restated – Papers & Pencils

Created: 2025-02-20

Wizards and Dragons are each factions of one. They’re individuals with enough personal power that they don’t have to worry about rules or territories.

See in context at Structuring Encounter Tables, Amended & Restated – Papers & Pencils

Created: 2025-02-20

7 is usually Recurring Characters.

I maintain a separate list of these, populated with NPCs the party has had some fun dealings with but who would not otherwise have any reason to recur.

See in context at Structuring Encounter Tables, Amended & Restated – Papers & Pencils

Created: 2025-02-20

First I ought to specify that for my purposes, an encounter is (almost) always an agent of some sort. An NPC, animal, or monster. I’ve got other tools for managing random locations or environmental hazards.

See in context at Structuring Encounter Tables, Amended & Restated – Papers & Pencils

Created: 2025-02-20

The first step is just to come up with something that feels cool to me. It’s easier to turn a weak encounter into a strong encounter than it is to conjure a strong encounter fully formed in my imagination

See in context at Structuring Encounter Tables, Amended & Restated – Papers & Pencils

Created: 2025-02-20

I’ve noticed a bad tendency in myself towards encounters that don’t demand the party’s attention. I construct something that I’d be interested in engaging with for its own sake, but when I describe it to my players they just say “Alright, we keep going.”

See in context at Structuring Encounter Tables, Amended & Restated – Papers & Pencils

Created: 2025-02-20

Ignoring them is possible, but doing so ought to be an interesting choice with interesting consequences.

See in context at Structuring Encounter Tables, Amended & Restated – Papers & Pencils

Created: 2025-02-20

I ensure that the majority of them will make some undesirable demand on the player’s attention. This can mean defending themselves from violence, or slander; figuring out how to soothe an aggrieved person, how to cope with a stolen item, or even just deciding whether or not they want to stand by while those things are happening to a sympathetic victim right in front of them.

See in context at Structuring Encounter Tables, Amended & Restated – Papers & Pencils

Created: 2025-02-20

Recurring characters are meant to give the world a sense of history and interconnectivity. When you meet someone interesting, you might bump into them again. Usually these are friendly characters, since antagonistic character recur in other ways that will present themselves more forcefully.

See in context at Structuring Encounter Tables, Amended & Restated – Papers & Pencils

Created: 2025-02-20

The way I run the game, the encounter die is the primary driver of play. It’s how I introduce adventure hooks to the players. It’s how I communicate the details of the world, big and small. It’s how I give weight to the passage of time, which in turn enables me to run a game where the players really can go anywhere and do anything, because rolling encounters gives me a chance to gather my notes and prepare details.

See in context at Structuring Encounter Tables, Amended & Restated – Papers & Pencils