Building Encounter Tables, continued

What to Include, and Not

The real meat of the encounter chart isn't probabilities, but content. Deciding what to place on en encounter chart is an exercise in world building, even if that world consists of nothing more than Level Three of the Dungeon of Doom.

Start by returning to your scope. What does the encounter chart cover? What's likely to be found there? What's most likely to be found there? Least, but still possible? Don't forget the larger scope, either. Even if the Black River Valley is a discrete location, it still exists in the context of a greater world.

Creatures and NPC types are the most obvious elements to include in en encounter chart. What predators prowl the wilderness? What nobles attend the Queen's Ball? What races convene at the Grand Bazaar? What sort of monstrosities appear on the Night of Many Eyes? But do not limit yourself to creatures and NPCs. Are there ruins in the wasteland? Are there traps in the deep dungeon levels? Are there strange magics afoot at the Guild Convention?

Every entry you include in the encounter chart says something about the scope, and therefore the overall campaign setting. They also speak to your preferences and should speak to the preferences of your players (assuming you are designing the encounter charts for a game with regular players well known to you). Try filling out an encounter chart quickly, off the cuff and on instinct, then examine what you included and what you did not include. Are your encounters cliched? based on media you enjoy? Are there too many of the same type, or are they too random? This little exercise allows you a peak inside your own DMing style and preferences, which in and of itself is a valuable tool.

Be sure to include both “positive” and “negative” encounters. If your encounter charts are stocked solely with enemies, you may find that your players refuse to travel off the beaten path (especially if the possibility of an encounter is relatively high). If your encounter charts include too many benevolent or helpful elements, the players may be lulled into a sense of security, false or otherwise, that leads to apathy – or worse, bad feelings when the hammer finally falls. Find a balance based on the tone of your campaign as well as the nature of the scope. Even the most horrid haunted forest might have a druid protector, and even the most benevolent temple of a good deity might have a corrupt priest.

Equally important as what to include, but often harder to determine, is what not to include. Obviously, you don't want to include elements that seem out of place or break verisimilitude (unless you have a reason for doing so). Depending on how you run the game, you also might want to avoid including elements that are either too weak or too powerful for the average PC likely to explore the scope. Here again the art trumps the science and experimentation and intuition are your best guides. However, there are two kinds of elements you never want to include on an encounter chart.

1)Never include an element the PCs absolutely must encounter: Even if you give that element a 99% chance of occurring, the fact is that dice are fickle and it is possible that the element will never come up on the die roll. if your adventure or meta-plot requires the PCs encounter a person, place or thing, make that Noun a certain encounter. The when and where might be random, but never leave it wholly to chance.
2)Never include an element you do not want the PCs to encounter: As above, probabilities are funny. The moment you give a “TPK” or “Monty Haul” encounter a 1% chance of occurring, you can bet that it is going to be the first one to come up on the dice. or, at least, you should assume so and excise the thing from your encounter chart. The kind of element that should “never” be encountered is so dependent on the particulars of a campaign and group that there's little advice to give aside from this: if you think it would be a bad idea, just don't do it.

Examples

Following are three examples of encounter charts, created based on the guidelines presented above. feel free to steal and modify them, or use them as inspiration. Even feel free to take them as examples of terrible encounter chart design, relative to your own preferences and play style. For reasons of time and space, I have not included all the subtables referenced in the following encounter charts.

The Wytchwood
The Wytchwood is a fairly straightforward terrain based encounter chart. The wood itself is an arm of a greater primeval forest inhabited by fey, elves and things darker still, but much younger. Centuries ago, the area of the Wytchwood was cleared and the rich and powerful of some lost civilization built their villas and private keeps in the area. After the civilization fell, the forest reclaimed the land, but the Wytchwood was never quite the same. Perhaps that elder civilization left behind something dark and forbidden that still infects the land?

Chance of Encounter: 1 in 6 every 4 hours.
Roll 3d6:
3: Green Dragon (roll on age subtable)
4: Druid, evil (level 4d4) and animal companion
5: Dark Fey/faeries (roll on Dark Fey/faeries subtable)
6: Carnivorous Plant (roll on Carnivorous Plant subtable)
7: NPC adventuring party (roll on NPC adventure party subtable)
8: Vermin (roll on Vermin subtable)
9: Ruins (roll on Ruins subtable)
10: Suitable campsite
11: Ruins (roll on Ruins subtable)
12: Animal (roll on Animal subtable)
13: Dire Animal (roll on dire animal subtable)
14: 2d4 Elf Rangers (level 2d4; leader level +2)
15: Centaurs (3d4 in number; leader is ranger level 2d4+3)
16: Fey/faeries (roll on Fey/Faeries subtable)
17: Druid, good (level 4d4) and animal companion
18: Natures guardian (roll on Nature's Guardian Subtable)

The Evermines
The Evermines is a massive underground dungeon comlex on the scale of Moria from the Lord of the Rings: too big to be mapped and stocked like a traditional dungeon. The assumption is that certain areas would be prepared normally, but areas between would be more akin to wilderness travel and therefore encounter charts would make more sense. Note that in such an environment, encounters are based on time of travel, not just the passage of hours.

Chance of Encounter: 1 in 6 per 1 hour of travel. No encounter indicates empty and/or typical chambers and passages.

Roll 1d6 for location:
1: Straight hall
2: Hall with 90 degree angle
3: Hall with intersection (roll 1d4 for number of directions and 1d8 for each to determine direction)
4: Chamber, Small (2d4 units by 2d4 units; 1d3 exits – roll for direction; roll on Use subtable)
5: Chamber, Medium (4d4 units by 4d4 units; 1d6 exits – roll for direction; roll on Use subtable)
6: Chamber, Large (5d10 units by 5d10 units; 2d8 exits – roll for direction; roll on Use subtable)

Roll 1d6 for Encounter Type:
1: Monsters, Humanoid (roll on Monsters, Humanoid subtable)
2: Monsters, Other (roll on Monsters, Other subtable)
3: NPC party (roll on NPC party composition and motivation subtables)
4: Trap (roll on Trap subtable)
5: Feature (roll on Feature subtable)
6: Roll Twice; if another result is a 6, roll 3 times, etc...

The Dread Days
This encounter chart is based on a celestial event. Every year as the winter solstice approaches, the barrier between the world of the living and the world of the dead weakens. During the last 5 days of the year, when there are only a few hours of sunlight a day, the barriers falls completely and the underworld spills its denizens and energies into the living world. Use this encounter chart for night encounters only, no matter the environment the PCs are in at the time.

Chance of encounter: based on “normal environment”

Roll 2d6:
2: The Lord of the Dead – the PCs encounter Death himself walking the earth. There is a 10% chance +1% per character level the god takes interest in the PCs, otherwise, he ignores them unless attacked.
3: Dread Hunters: A group of 2d4+2 wraiths hunt those who have died but been returned to life. If any PC has been resurrected or otherwise raised, the wraiths attack.
4: Skeleton Army: 1d6x100 skeletons, raised from a nearby battlefield, killing all living things in their path.
5: Zombie Horde: 10d10 zombies, arisen from a local cemetary seek the flesh of the living.
6-8: Use usual encounter tables for area.
9: Unquiet Spirits: 5d4 ghosts of those killed unjustly wander the area, seeking retribution.
10: Champions in Death: 1d4 spirits of great heroes from the past seek to give their secrets and wisdom to the living heroes of the day. Roll 1d10 for alignment, from lawful good (1) to chatoic evil (9), with 10 meaning they have lost any sembelnce of alignment in their time in the underworld.
11: Requiem: randomly pick a PC. Roll 1d6: 1-3= an ancestor seeks out the PC to impart wisdom, 4-5=a more recently deceased loved one wishes to say goodbye, 6=an enemy seeks revenge from beyond the grave (treat as a ghost).
12: The Weigher of Scale: the god(ess) of justice in death appears. there is a 10% chance +1% per level he/she will take interest in the PCs and tell them “how they are doing” as it pertains to their inevitable time in the afterlife.