Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Set Encounters? Use Wandering Encounters Instead!
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="timbannock" data-source="post: 4850715" data-attributes="member: 17913"><p>The skill challenge in my blog (here on ENWorld or at dungeon-crawl.blogspot.com) does go over some of the same kind of thoughts, so I'm very much like you: have "pre-planned random encounters," which sounds odd but is totally alright in my book!</p><p></p><p>I too agree that it's seamless.</p><p></p><p>A great way to change things up in your position would be to populate several of the dungeon rooms/areas as you would any other, but then just have an idea of what forces exist beyond this, and have those be the "makeup" of the random encounters which you will roll-up only in "border areas" of the dungeon; i.e., areas where the Gnolls and Lizardmen occupy rooms very close to the enemy camp.</p><p></p><p>So, you might have the Gnoll lair room, the Gnoll armory, and the Lizardman underground river rooms prepped as normal, but the Causeway and the Antechamber -- two connected rooms -- are constantly shifting ownership, and thus you make it a random encounter area where the PCs could find Gnolls, or Lizardmen, or Gnolls fighting Lizardmen.</p><p></p><p>If you find yourself rolling an excessive number of Gnoll encounters, you could then just say "Hey, the Gnolls have gained the upper hand during the battles, so now they start raiding deeper into the Lizardman area." This keeps the dungeon's setup constantly changing in a way that may inspire you with different changes, and keeps you on your toes just as much as it does the PCs. It'll feel a little more "natural" and like the dungeon is constantly evolving.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="timbannock, post: 4850715, member: 17913"] The skill challenge in my blog (here on ENWorld or at dungeon-crawl.blogspot.com) does go over some of the same kind of thoughts, so I'm very much like you: have "pre-planned random encounters," which sounds odd but is totally alright in my book! I too agree that it's seamless. A great way to change things up in your position would be to populate several of the dungeon rooms/areas as you would any other, but then just have an idea of what forces exist beyond this, and have those be the "makeup" of the random encounters which you will roll-up only in "border areas" of the dungeon; i.e., areas where the Gnolls and Lizardmen occupy rooms very close to the enemy camp. So, you might have the Gnoll lair room, the Gnoll armory, and the Lizardman underground river rooms prepped as normal, but the Causeway and the Antechamber -- two connected rooms -- are constantly shifting ownership, and thus you make it a random encounter area where the PCs could find Gnolls, or Lizardmen, or Gnolls fighting Lizardmen. If you find yourself rolling an excessive number of Gnoll encounters, you could then just say "Hey, the Gnolls have gained the upper hand during the battles, so now they start raiding deeper into the Lizardman area." This keeps the dungeon's setup constantly changing in a way that may inspire you with different changes, and keeps you on your toes just as much as it does the PCs. It'll feel a little more "natural" and like the dungeon is constantly evolving. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Set Encounters? Use Wandering Encounters Instead!
Top