Encounter design: What are the best practices with BECMI?

AdmundfortGeographer · Jan 9, 2011

(Wishing there was a prefix for BECMI/Cyclopedia . . .

)

3e had CR/EL for encounter design, nearly made into a statistical science with Grim Tales' analysis.

4e has explicit levels assigned to monsters and challenges.

Playing BECMI and AD&D I grasped a nearly intuitive understanding about which monsters were appropriate for parties simply through the many years of active play. Plus, it seemed more likely that lower-level PCs could overcome a challenge that was designed for far higher-level PCs in AD&D than in 3e and later editions. More leeway in encounter design, in other words. At least that's how I remember things.

Looking back now through a filter of many years, staring at those monster books, I've lost that intuitive understanding about which monsters were appropriate for PCs of whatever levels.

So, has anyone come up with something they'd like to share for how they design(ed) encounters for PCs in BECMI games? How they "know" which monsters are best for which PC levels?

[Might just cross-post this over on The Piazza as well . . .]

shadzar · Jan 9, 2011

Average Hit Dice / 8... 4+4 hit dice would be 8~36 averages to 22 hit points / 8 = level 3 monster?

Something like that? I recall Hit Dice playing a factor in it at least.

GreyLord · Jan 11, 2011

Depends. I did it with straight HD. 1HD per level of character typically, with special ablities adding an HD worth of monster depending on the special ability.

So for a group of 5 1st level adventurers...for what would be a challenging encounter

5 Orcs,
5 goblins
10 kobolds
an Ogre
an Ogre and a Kobold
A dire wolf and a goblin

two Ghouls (pretty strong encounter though on that one, could be extremely tough and be a TPK depending on luck)

That's close to how I did it anyways.

edit: For easier encounters simply lower the HD. So 3 Orcs instead of 5, or One Ghoul instead of two.

You probably want to stay away from pitting them against anything with 3+ HD more then they have levels per character...so an Ogre is actually probably pushing that limit for a 1st level group...doable but can turn deadly in an instant for the entire party).

For tougher encounters (like encounter level +2 in 4e or higher) add more creatures. So 8 Orcs instead of 5, or 10 goblins...etc. Of course these could end up as TPK's a lot more easily in BECMI.

Diabolicdonut · May 18, 2022

AdmundfortGeographer said:
(Wishing there was a prefix for BECMI/Cyclopedia . . . )

3e had CR/EL for encounter design, nearly made into a statistical science with Grim Tales' analysis.

4e has explicit levels assigned to monsters and challenges.

Playing BECMI and AD&D I grasped a nearly intuitive understanding about which monsters were appropriate for parties simply through the many years of active play. Plus, it seemed more likely that lower-level PCs could overcome a challenge that was designed for far higher-level PCs in AD&D than in 3e and later editions. More leeway in encounter design, in other words. At least that's how I remember things.

Looking back now through a filter of many years, staring at those monster books, I've lost that intuitive understanding about which monsters were appropriate for PCs of whatever levels.

So, has anyone come up with something they'd like to share for how they design(ed) encounters for PCs in BECMI games? How they "know" which monsters are best for which PC levels?

[Might just cross-post this over on The Piazza as well . . .]

I'm a little late to this party, but Dungeon Magazine Issue 101 on page 16 has an article by Frank Mentzer called "Plan it by the Numbers" and it details the specifics of encounter design based on party level and the difficulty that you're looking for.

A link to the issue is listed below:

https://annarchive.com/files/Drmg101.pdf