Random Encounters

[kuje31]

Here's a few questions for you all.

How many of you, as DM's, use random encounters, especially when your PC's are in the wilderness?

How many of you, as players, know your DM's use random encounters?

Do you enjoy them either way? Or do they bore you and make the game dull?

Do you, as a DM or player, believe that using random encounters makes you or your DM a "bad" DM?

I'm just curious about what type of replies I'll get because I just read a thread where someone said that using random encounters makes a DM a "bad" DM and that random encounters and charts shouldn't be used in the game because they are boring and dull.

 

[Crothian]

Mty random encounters are not random. That is to say that I don't have a table and and roll on to it to see what the party encounters. I do have encounters that may or may not heppen. But I plan for them and include them in the adventure though they serve the same function as traditional random encounters.

 

[kuje31]

Mty random encounters are not random. That is to say that I don't have a table and and roll on to it to see what the party encounters. I do have encounters that may or may not heppen. But I plan for them and include them in the adventure though they serve the same function as traditional random encounters.

I see and any answers to the rest of my questions?...

 

[Severion]

I mostly run Dungeon adventures, if theres a random encounter chart, i roll on it while preparing for the session. The players obviously have no idea i do this. Random encounters don't make a bad DM, bored players do.

 

[Crothian]

I see and any answers to the rest of my questions?...

I guess....

As a players it is usually obvious when a random encounter occurs and I'm not a big fan ofthem becasue many times they do seem very random and to have no point other then to die. They are usually badly set up and badly run. Without the stats already written out, many times the creature has to be looked up and it can really damage a session.

Using them doesn't make a DM good or bad, but a bad DM usually has trouble doiung them good.

 

[VirgilCaine]

I might use them. It'd be a good way to use all my monsters. Not really though.

 

[Ibram]

There are no "Random" encounters in my game... though I have been known to throw some thugs at the party if things are going slowly.

I dont use the random tables because they tend not to make sense... and can even mess up the adventure ("That Troll attacked us, so there must be more of them around... Lets get them").

Does it make a DM "Bad" to use them? Depending on the style of play then the answer is NO... a kick-down-the-door game can work perfectly well with random encounters while a deep emersion game can be thrown off track.

 

[MonsterMash]

I use random encounter charts and so on to spark ideas, so I'll roll the dice and get a result, but then just use that as a seed as it prevents me getting too predictable.

 

[Bigwilly]

What he said...

My random encounters are not random. I do have encounters that may or may not happen. But I plan for them and include them in the adventure though they serve the same function as traditional random encounters.

Last session, I had a bunch of wyverns waiting in the wings to attack the party on their way back to town. However, by the time we got to their return journey it was getting late and as I was not feeling 100 % and the players were looking tired, I just ruled that the party made it back to town without any incident.

Bigwilly

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Here's a few questions for you all.

How many of you, as DM's, use random encounters, especially when your PC's are in the wilderness?

Not exactly. I prefer to do something like Crothian said... have a number of pre-prepared encounters that I can drop in if I need to mix things up a bit. Tend to have a variety of different ones other than combat - can drop in something to suit the situation.

If I find a good random table, I'll sometimes make rolls on it to give me ides during the design bit.

How many of you, as players, know your DM's use random encounters?

Do you enjoy them either way? Or do they bore you and make the game dull?

The other DM's I know don't normally use them. We did in Rappun Athuk - fit with the style of those modules.

They were good fun for a while - partly nostalgia value/partly because the GM had a knack of making them funny - which helped a lot. We started to get bored of them about the same time we had enough spells to avoid them.

Do you, as a DM or player, believe that using random encounters makes you or your DM a "bad" DM?

I'm just curious about what type of replies I'll get because I just read a thread where someone said that using random encounters makes a DM a "bad" DM and that random encounters and charts shouldn't be used in the game because they are boring and dull.

I wouldn't say it makes for a bad GM.

Having said that, I often find them pointless and nonsensical. Particularly don't like the 'roll on this table every X hours' type.

I think they work well if they're a welcome distraction from whatever the characters are doing.