Interesting encounters - what is the secret sauce?

I'm a list guy so here's a list of ways to spice up encounters both violent and boring (I mean social).

As far as dungeon design mixing the familiar and fantastical for flavorful or mechanical effects keeps player engaged and excited about what basically amounts to a series of boxes full of blood, treasure, and XP. As with all things RP Immersion is key.

-In a natural/cave dungeon spice things up with a peppering (double food metaphor?! I must be hungry) of interesting area features. Such as an underground stream in a natural cave that goes to additional rooms (maybe a monster flees into it luring the players into a trap) or humming stagtmites/stagtites that mask the sound of the party (or monsters) and become louder when struck. Google some weird world or crazy nature facts for inspiration.

-In an abandoned/ancient type dungeon play up the age. If a trap fails to trigger after the PC's fail to disarm it they'll really feel the age of the place. Make them concerned about ceiling collapses or rickety stair cases. Use molds, oozes and slimes. They should feel as uncomfortable every step as you would walking through an abandoned building that's gone to pot.

-In an "evil fortress" active defense should be more than a box full of orcs. Favorites I've used are an Enter the Dragon mirror maze and a hidden machine that constantly rearranges the walls of the dungeon. Consider crawl spaces and murder holes. A person is unlikely to have a bunch of traps in his/her own home but plenty of ways to defend it. Make the players feel like they're fighting the building less than it's residents.

For social stuff always remember that NPCs are people and most of them have more in common with the players than the players have in common with their murder hobo alter egos.

-If the PC's interact with an NPC have them meet someone who knows him/her in the next town. Keep this up and they'll start to feel an investment in the world.

-If a social encounter turns violent try to remember how normal people react to super powered kill gods (I mean adventurers). Even a Lvl 1 mage casting burning hands would strike awe and terror into a drunk bully or mugger. Flight and begging make a lot more sense than good ole boys from town fighting to the death against impossible odds. Keep them feeling like people and the PCs are more likely to treat them like that and therefore become more immersed.

-PCs are RICH. Everything should feel like a scam or a too good to be true party while the PCs are camped out in town. The Mongoose Conan even had a mechanic for the PCs loosing half their wealth every week they were just hanging out in town due to poor decision making. This should prod them into investing meaningfully in the world.

Besides that listen to your players and try to give them what they want in your encounters. If one player walks away remembering an encounter forever every time you run you're doing your job perfectly.

One more thing, for random monsters the old 2nd ed Monster Manual ecology section can spice up/explain why you met monsters and even lead to whole adventures.

jimmytheccomic said:

The third edition book "Dungeonscape" really walked me through how to make a dungeon cool, for my money it's the best splatbook ever written.

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Which part(s), specifically? I don't have the time to read the whole book.

TarionzCousin said:

Which part(s), specifically? I don't have the time to read the whole book.

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Every monster entry had an "ecology" section. It had social/mating/feeding habits for every entry in the game. A quick Google search can get you either the originals or synopses of them.

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In my opinion, the battlefield is amongst the most important aspects. It should be something that both the PCs and monsters can interact with, and not just a basic flat field. And the fight should have narrative impact: player (and monster) actions during combat should have repercussions during and after the battle.

For example, let’s take a battle against goblins, the lowliest of monsters. Set it in a tavern, and now the PCs can use bottles of liquor as Molotov cocktails, duck behind tables. The goblins can leap in and out windows – in turn, the PCs could try to block their access. And if one two many fire-based spells get used, well then we now have an inn on fire. And once the day is won, what are they going to do about that angry innkeeper complaining about his tavern burning to the ground?

There's lots of great advice here; allow me to add an additional piece:

One important aspect to every encounter is to understand the motivations of the actors involved. What are the PCs trying to accomplish, what are the NPCs/monsters trying to accomplish, etc. In a typical dungeon-crawl the PC's main motivation is going to be getting from Point A to Point B. Killing isn't usually the actual point. There are exceptions of course (clear out the mines; eradicate that hobgoblin keep; or if killing a specific creature is the goal of the adventure), but generally speaking, when PCs kill monsters in a dungeon it's a means to an end, not an end in and of itself.

The key then, is to know your NPCs/monsters well. What are their motivations for getting in the PCs' way? Are they hungry for halflings? Are they beings of pure hatred and chaos? Or are they just trying to protect what's theirs, be it their lair, their treasure, their young, etc. Do PCs have options to end the fight without murder? Do the creatures? Understanding each side's "win conditions" and helping to clarify those for the players increases their range of meaningful choices. This, I think, is key to building variety into your encounters, which helps make them more memorable and interesting for the players.

When you are running a combat heavy adventure, combat needs to be about more than hack and slash. You need to introduce goals, motivations and personalities.

Just because this room has 5 orcs in it and the last room had 5 orcs in it, doesn't mean they should act the same. Maybe this group retreats or parlays. Maybe they have some bizarre tactic where they all try to tumble into combat at the same time.

If if it doesn't affect the mechanics, it affects the mood, the perception and makes the same thing different, and hopefully interesting.

M.T. Black said:

Hi folks,

I heard Mike Mearls on DragonTalk recently, talking about Forge of Fury. He noted the need to make the dungeon very dynamic, because if you just played it as a room by room monster bash, it would become quite "boring". I've heard similar comments recently about other combat heavy adventures as well.

My question is simple - how do we keep combat interesting in a dungeon? What makes for a compelling experience when there is a whole heap of fighting in front of you?

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It's a simple question (in three parts), but there is a lot of nuance in the answer

I have a 3x3 guideline I use to pose questions to myself that ensure my combats aren't static...

1) Before the combat

1. Why do the PCs care? How does the combat speak to their characters?
2. What are the stakes of the combat? What do the PCs have to gain or lose?
3. How many approaches to the combat exist? Including avoiding it?

2) During the combat

1. What changes during the combat? What unexpected twists open up new options/tactics?
2. How does the environment (especially thinking 3-dimensionally) play into the combat?
3. What are the victory conditions besides "kill all monsters"?

3) Ending/Between combats

1. How do monster strategies, adaptation, intelligence, and morale play into ongoing skirmishes?
2. How can other monsters be alerted to the combat and possibly join in the fray?
3. Where can the PCs rest between combats? And what might threaten their rest opportunities?

ccs said:

Knowing your players/audience.

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This is worth repeating. Because I could waste countless keystrokes explaining how you need character development, significant consequences, forks in the story, etc. . .

And then find out that your players love Gauntlet or World of Warcraft.

Great response as always, Quickleaf!

You really should publish a book on all this stuff

M.T. Black said:

Great response as always, Quickleaf!

You really should publish a book on all this stuff

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Glad it was inspirational for you M.T.

I'm always hesitant to offer unsolicited advice, even writing an e-book or blog of "GM advice", because SO much depends on the particular people involved, the timing, the gaming group's setup... Advice I might offer for a particular GM or group at a particular time might change under a different set of circumstances. I have started keeping a folder of my GMing notes finally, so at least I'm not losing stuff in the expense of the Net.

And the guy I think should publish is [MENTION=4937]Celebrim[/MENTION] I believe; he's offered some really insightful advice in the past that shows a real mastery of storytelling and GMing.