Encounter Building Guidelines

[Morrus]

I get asked this most every day, so a sticky thread seems appropriate. I'll continue to edit this thread as things occur to me.

Things To Remember
WOIN is a tactical game. It assumes that you and the monsters will be using tactics. Using tactics can make a weak opponent decimate a powerful one.

• This means using cover, crossfires, aims, feints, LUC dice, higher ground, exploits, exchanging damage dice, etc. If you don't use those (or worse, if one side does and the other doesn't) then you're going to struggle in combat. Using tactics can make a weak opponent decimate a powerful one.
• Attack weak DEFENSES, not strong ones. Most monsters have at least one weak DEFENSE. If you're attacking a brute in melee or shooting at a speedster, you're doing it wrong. The game requires you to think about how to attack your foe.
• Remember, your max dice pool is the maximum size of your initial ATT + SKILL + GEAR dice pool. Your exploits, positioning, LUC, etc. are all applied on top of that.
• Don't forget to exchange dice for damage, and to get damage upgrades when you can.

Maximum Dice Pools (MDP)
MDP gives you a rough guide to a PC or monster's power level sans tactics. This isn't your PC's grade, it's their maximum dice pool. As a rule of thumb:

• Equal total MDP on each side makes for a medium encounter; unlikely a PC will die. However, a single monster 3 MDP higher than the party is deadly. Including that in the mix will turn that encounter into a deadly one.
• Monsters lower than the party MDP are trivial. Use when you want PCs to show off and heroically dispose of bad guys with ease. If you ant your PCs to feel awesome for a bit, do that.
• One MDP higher is medium. The PCs will win, use some resources, but won't die.
• Two MDP higher is difficult. Use for a leader with some lower monsters.
• Three MDP higher is deadly.
• As always, tactics completely sway this.

[Micah Cael]

Thanks for this. As a beginner GM I appreciate having these reminders on hand.