Encounter design and world building

Primitive Screwhead said:

Just wondering, if you have moved on from this method, what method have you settled on for wilderness adventuring?

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I have a couple hex maps set up already and I haven't had to create a new one for a while. I used the "single line" method for the first one, but it was a pretty big setting and took a long time to fill everything in (I still haven't!).

The method I used the second time is set up for a 10x10 5-mile hex map and uses regular playing cards. (Using cards means that placement is random but you know that you'll get at least a few of each type of feature.) You draw the map and then start drawing cards, one for each hex. 2-9 is empty, 10 is terrain features, Jacks are monster lairs, Queens are settlements, Kings are ruins, Aces are dungeons, and Jokers are special features (typically gates to other worlds). The suit colours the feature - Jack of Spades is an apex predator lair, so you roll on the Apex Predator Lair table based on the terrain. (Things like dragons.) For ruins the suit determines who made it.

From there you go to another table - which had really (too) big entries that were somewhat random themselves - and roll to see what's in the hex. When I created the second map I just made up the hexes and added them to the tables, to get an idea of how much content I was putting in. I made little keys to help me flesh out the entries, like this for "dangerous" ruins:

A The ruin, weird or interesting
B The reason for its abandonment or destruction
C Some kind of risk: monster, trap, trick
D Some kind of reward
E A link to another hex [all entries had one of these; it's important to keep things related, though sometimes I'd leave it empty]

In addition to the hex features I'd make a bunch of other rolls to see what else was in the hex - monsters, treasure, traps or tricks, etc.

Here's a sample hex that's been fully fleshed-out (it's 4E-ish):

[sblock]The remains of a city of steel and glass lie in crumbling ruin here. The skyscrapers and towers have collapsed and have been overgrown by earth and strange, mutated vegetation (a purple fungus), creating strange hills where rusting steel beams jut out at the sky.

There are no signs of any other vegetation or animals, a hint at the danger here. The area is still radioactive (400 - 2000 mSv) and can poison anyone who spends too much time here (once every four hours, save resists). Roll 1d6 for mutations: 1 - you can only see in the infrared spectrum; 2 - pain is turned into pleasure, +2 CON the first time, after this any pain causes you to be Dazed for a round; 3 - the disgusting purple fungus grows all over you, -4 to Reaction rolls if it's exposed; 4 - you grow a foot, +2 STR and CON, -2 DEX; 5 - you have a stroke, -2 INT, WIS, and CHA, but you can Read Omens as the ritual; 6 - haemophilia, one less healing surge, only affects males. Effects are permanent and can occur multiple times. The fungus (known as "Purple Haze") can be eaten; it protects against radiation for 6 hours, though it causes bad cramps.

Characters spending four hours searching through the rubble will find a piece of technology (1-4 TL 5, 5-6 TL 6; use the Gamma World Junkulator to determine kind).

What happened here? An ancient green dragon breathed radiation on the city, killing its inhabitants but leaving the city intact.

The hermit Carl Sleeg from 05.09 comes here, looking for junk to take home. He has an old rad suit he will lend PCs if paid with sex or drugs. 25% of wandering monsters are with Carl.

Monster: A displacer beast pack lord leads a small pack of two displacer beasts and a savage displacer beast. They live within the ruins, eating the fungus to protect themselves from the radiation. 25% of wandering monsters are with these beasts, hunting.

They have gathered the Bridle of Mating: This heavy leather bridle is adorned with iron studs in the shape of hobgoblin heads. Its shape changes to fit over any animal. When placed on a beast it never becomes fatigued from overland travel or work. The animal becomes full of lust, and it can mate with any other animal, strange creatures a result of the pairing. The animal feels an intense need to mate while the bridle is on, and must do so once a day or it will go mad and attack until its lust is sated.

Trap: A sinkhole may collapse and drop PCs into the city; this occurs 25% of the time on wandering monster checks. The drop is 1d8+3x10 feet.


In the game, when the PCs encountered this hex, they gathered some strange "junk", one PC was irradiated (they went in with some kind of magic anti-radiation potions they made), and the ranger PC tamed the displacer beast pack leader.[/sblock]

[MENTION=20805]Primitive Screwhead[/MENTION] Here are some more ideas, even split of combat-exploration-interaction, this time for a "spooky moors" themed environment...

Combat
A wicked treat or twig blight made of moor-petrified wood in foul hues of ochre, copper, red, and blue attacks the party savagely, possibly lunging from murky waters.
A will-o'-wisp imitates the sound of a child crying for help, luring the foolish into a trap with more will-o'-wisps and their master, the ghost of a witch executed in the moors.
A band of trolls searches for particularly gifted and charismatic men and women for their hag masters, and the leader of the trolls wears a hag's eye charm around its neck letting its masters see thru the charm.
A pack of dire wolves feast on halfling corpses among whom a torn third of a treasure map can be found; the wolves will attack anyone getting within 50 feet but won't pursue fleeing creatures.
A gnarled ironwood tree filled with ravens and hanging nooses looms on a hill, and any approaching are attacked by an unending stream of beasts: swarms of ravens, packs of wolves, flocks of stirges, and eventually a green hag whose first action is to awaken the hangman's tree. The hag's treasure is buried under the tree.
A group of aquatic ghouls (lacedon) wearing robes and accoutrements of witches attack in a hungering horde.

Exploration
Two unusually intelligent mares, one roan the other dappled grey, with tack, girdle, and a carriage hitching post connecting them browse on blackberries.
A peat fire smolders in the distance, doused by rain which casts a blanket of smoke over the moors.
Sighing winds shake the trees, causing the peaty ground of the moors beneath the party's feet to sway in a disconcerting manner.
An old boathouse sinking in the mud has one old but still functioning canoe in which a curse bundle can be found under the seats; spellcaster PCs recognize the curse bundle as used for a curse to polymorph the target into one of the "Devil's Mares" who must carry the Devil's carriage wherever he wills.
A mass of unmarked graves with a sole placard nailed to a tree reading: "Here lie the witches of the Ravencurse Coven, buried feetup so they cannot haunt this land again."
A crusader's helmet overgrown with brambles lies at the edge of barely perceptible quicksand; nature-oriented PCs will recognize the berries as highly poisonous.

Interaction
A handsome mustached man in a daper cloak tends a horse-less carriage at a crossroads, and he asks if the party has seen his runaway horses; observant PCs notice he has one foot that is a cloven hoof.
An annis hag flying on a mortar and pestle has crashed near the party and offers to trade nasty spells in exchange for help retrieving a rare glue found in the moors which can repair her mortar and pestle.
A human rogue sinking in the mire pleads with the party to rescue him, promising to evenly split the hag's treasure with them; he knows it is buried under an ironwood tree thanks to a third of a torn treasure map in his possession.
A statue of an elven maiden half-sunken in the muck communicates telepathically in Elvish pleading to be restored to her people's homeland or for a stone to flesh spell to be cast.
A band of halfling river smugglers feigns guest hospitality, offering false help and drugged wine in exchange for help interpreting a third of a torn treasure map; the halfling plans to murder the party while they sleep and steal their belongings.
A company of wounded men-at-arms led by a sullen knight retreat from the moors, having been repelled in their efforts to locate the daughter of a local lord abducted by witches.
A doppelgänger (disguised to appear as a local jester or a bard PC) entertains a golden-haired girl dressed in muddy noble garments; the girl's tear-streaked eyes have been replaced by giddy laughter.

As I understand it every creature is a Monster in D&D.

And in 5e parlance every Encounter is with a creature, so these will always include 5e's Combat / Interaction / Exploration.

For example, your Wild Dogs.
1. Combat = Combat abilities and actions individually and as a group. Barking, biting, surrounding, chasing, etc.
2. Interaction = Communicating, so gestures, movements, magical communication, training, weaning, etc.
(dogs actually can be very communicative)
3. Exploration = Physiology, Anatomy, Lair acquisition (building?), Territory and territorial marking, etc.


So if you have creature movement and locations squared away already when you roll up Encounters for the game make sure to include the above 3 elements for every creature too. The easy way is to stick it in the Monster Manual, but I've found each group and individual are unique as well. So go full hog and include particulars as well.

I haven't been following the development of 5E, regretfully my last gaming group went 'kablooey' at the far end of a 3+ year WoBS campaign that spanned 3.5 and 4E.

Perhaps I need to re-frame 'Interaction' as an adjunct to combat and exploration, providing more details that enhance the primary pillar by adding the details mentioned by Lost Soul:

A What is it and is it normal, unique, weird?
B Why is it here and why is it in the state it is {weakened, ruined, angry, etc}
C Some kind of risk: monster, trap, trick
D Some kind of reward
E A link to another hex [all entries had one of these; it's important to keep things related, though sometimes I'd leave it empty]


In other words, instead of the encounter = wild dogs (pack) you would get something like
Combat Encounter: Pack of {A} unfreindly wild dogs that are {B} hunting for food.{D} There den is hidden in the area and has a treasure map in the pile of scrap they scavanged for bedding. {D} If freindly, the pack would show the group the location of a hidden spring and avoid the Ogres in the neighboring hex. {E} The pack has grown from domesticated dogs left behind when the village over yonder was razed by said Ogres.

Exploration Encounter: {B} Burned out and gutted {A} village. Nothing here but crickets. Everything was burnt to the ground and the meadowland has reclaimed the soil with tall grasses, leaving patches open where the houses once stood like flat boats in a sea of green. {C} One of the houses has a floor that is brittle and precarious, if two or more PCs stand on the floor it might collapse, dropping them into the darkness of the basement below where a very hungry ghoul is trapped, gnawing on the remains of its family. Diligent searching through the village may uncover {D}: a sealed root cellar that has some edible provisions, a weapons cache in what used to be a rangers hovel, a small chest of silver hidden in the base of a burned out wall of the tax collectors house.{E} Tracks of Ogres that come from and lead back to the north.

Primitive Screwhead said:

In other words, instead of the encounter = wild dogs (pack) you would get something like
Combat Encounter: Pack of {A} unfreindly wild dogs that are {B} hunting for food.{D} There den is hidden in the area and has a treasure map in the pile of scrap they scavanged for bedding. {D} If freindly, the pack would show the group the location of a hidden spring and avoid the Ogres in the neighboring hex. {E} The pack has grown from domesticated dogs left behind when the village over yonder was razed by said Ogres.

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That looks great. I'm assuming that {A} would be a list of descriptors for wild dogs? (Or maybe animals/beasts in general - that would cut down on the work.) Something like 'unfriendly, friendly, starving, terrified, cursed, intelligent'? This value might influence {B}, but that seriously inflates the amount of work you'd need to do (6 or so {B}s for every {A}).

If you fill in other parts of the map - the settlements and (intelligent) monster lairs - then you can drop those values into {D} and {E}. 'The pack has ' + 'grown from domesticated dogs left behind when the village over yonder was razed by, returned to savagery when they escaped from, blah, blah, blah...' + [pointer to the monster mentioned in {D}]. If so, when you run your script everything will be linked up for you, and all you have to do is tweak it some.

One other note: I use different sets of "hints" for different hex types. "Tranquil Ruins" uses these:

A The ruin, weird or interesting
B A bolt hole, cunningly hidden
C A sign of better days long since past
D A link to another hex

There may be monsters, traps, and/or tricks here, but not as a default in the way that "Dangerous Ruins" has them.

How many types of ruins do you have?

And couldn't Tranquil Ruins fit into:

A What is it and is it normal, unique, weird?: Ruined settlement
B Why is it here and why is it in the state it is: world building backstory or adventure hook
C Some kind of risk: Nothing here, you got lucky
D Some kind of reward: Bolt Hole, Sign of better days in the past
E A link to another hex

Primitive Screwhead said:

How many types of ruins do you have?

And couldn't Tranquil Ruins fit into:

A What is it and is it normal, unique, weird?: Ruined settlement
B Why is it here and why is it in the state it is: world building backstory or adventure hook
C Some kind of risk: Nothing here, you got lucky
D Some kind of reward: Bolt Hole, Sign of better days in the past
E A link to another hex

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4 different "types" of ruins - one for each suit, since I use cards to seed the world. (dangerous, tranquil, treasure trove, military - spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs)

You're right: tranquil ruins could fit under the same set of hints, but I find it helpful to have a different set to get my imagination on different paths.

Cool, since I am looking at building a Inspiration Pad Pro generator, its cleaner to use the same types of 'hints' for each iteration. Then as the generator cascades the actual set of hints vary based on the preceding selection.


By the way, I ran the Village encounter last friday night and it went very well. Next game session the group gets to decide whether to investigate the Ogres in the neighboring hex or continue on their planned course into the hills {and into another regional hex}