D&D 5E Boy, that escalated quickly...

[Rhenny]

That is one thing I like about the Starter Set adventure. In several places where encountered could be linked there are explicit reasons given why they will not (e.g. waterfall drowning out the sound, some monsters always making a lot of noise so others ignore fighting in that area etc) or possibly that fighting in one area will attract the attention of a specific area. It also has places where it says that guards are lazy and don't really pay attention.

All of those things (from Cragmaw places) could be good to take inspiration from to avoid large encounters. Maybe one patrol stays away to prevent a two-front assault or similar.

This is a very good point.

In many of the adventures I create and run, I think this through before hand as well. Quick examples I've used off the top of my head...

In one area some of the npcs/monsters are using pick axes to try to dig through a wall or mine gold/gems. Lots of noise...they won't hear fighting in nearby areas.

In one area, npcs/monsters are drunk and passed out. No response to nearby noises.

The thick walls, doors or tunnels in this area prevent even noises from combat from carrying past area x and area y. Sometimes winding tunnels do the same thing.

 

[Saeviomagy]

I think it's fair to say that any encounter within 100 feet of another encounter is likely to get chained together. They're just so close together that, unless there are specific reasons why not, any disturbance in one will likely tie into another. So if your adventure map has several encounters within a 200 foot diameter circle, you're very likely to see chained encounters.

See, I don't know about you, but I think if I heard shouts and yelling through heavy doors and around stone corridor corners, I would not necessarily expect a fight. For starters I'd expect that for around about 30 seconds, people in my area would just stand around looking at each other. After a little bit, one person might go have a look see.

In a situation where everyone is a trained guard, then I'd expect that would count double: abandoning your post because you heard some shouting and yelling is a sure-fire way to let someone past you.

I think too many DMs assume that monsters just sit around all day waiting for armed combatants to invade their home. I see the average dungeon as being more like a hybrid of an office space and a hotel: monsters are living their lives there. if the monsters 2 rooms over are shouting and making noise, they're not likely to get involved.

In all of the above cases: if you can deal with the combat quickly and without foes escaping, you probably have a breather before someone on their own pokes their head in to find out what's up.

I also think there's a lot of combat noises that won't necessarily be that audible. We tend to go "combat = loud noises", but really that's going to come down to "attacked or parried with a large metal weapon, and hit something solid". If you parry a club with a knife or hit someone in leather armor with a sword, that's pretty quiet. If you parry a staff with a staff, louder but not necessarily battle to someone a couple of rooms away. Sword hitting platemail or another sword is a fair giveaway unless you have cause for other metallic sounds (ie - fighting in a kitchen you could get away with a lot). Spells and spellcasting are all over the place.

 

[TwoSix]

See, I don't know about you, but I think if I heard shouts and yelling through heavy doors and around stone corridor corners, I would not necessarily expect a fight. For starters I'd expect that for around about 30 seconds, people in my area would just stand around looking at each other. After a little bit, one person might go have a look see.

In a situation where everyone is a trained guard, then I'd expect that would count double: abandoning your post because you heard some shouting and yelling is a sure-fire way to let someone past you.

I think too many DMs assume that monsters just sit around all day waiting for armed combatants to invade their home. I see the average dungeon as being more like a hybrid of an office space and a hotel: monsters are living their lives there. if the monsters 2 rooms over are shouting and making noise, they're not likely to get involved.

In all of the above cases: if you can deal with the combat quickly and without foes escaping, you probably have a breather before someone on their own pokes their head in to find out what's up.

I also think there's a lot of combat noises that won't necessarily be that audible. We tend to go "combat = loud noises", but really that's going to come down to "attacked or parried with a large metal weapon, and hit something solid". If you parry a club with a knife or hit someone in leather armor with a sword, that's pretty quiet. If you parry a staff with a staff, louder but not necessarily battle to someone a couple of rooms away. Sword hitting platemail or another sword is a fair giveaway unless you have cause for other metallic sounds (ie - fighting in a kitchen you could get away with a lot). Spells and spellcasting are all over the place.

This just made rethink some of the ways I've run site encounters in the past. This is a very good post.

 

[Rhenny]

The past few posts have really hit on something. In addition to rethinking how monsters/npcs react when they are in their lairs or when they are standing guard, etc, the players need to plan for stealthy missions.

There are more than enough ways that a diversified party can use spells and tactics to enhance their stealth. Hey, they created spells like Pass Without a Trace, Disguise Self, Invisibility, Silence, Enhance Ability, Alter Self, Rope Trick (for hiding and taking that short rest), Clairvoyance for a reason. (and those are just the lower level spells) With the party ready to do stealth, they can theoretically (at times) bypass 2 or 3 encounters by just being careful.

All of this is why I'm moving away from granting xp by encounter to granting xp by game session which is more heavily dependent on story awards and progress. It encourages the players to set goals and achieve them rather than bumble around aimlessly picking fights and stealing treasure. (Although, I'm not against any of those motivations either)

Maybe having the party set story goals, and the DM set milestones/check points, would help to fit 6-8 encounters into an adventuring day. Instead of encounters...call it 6-8 milestones/checkpoints. Just a thought.

 

[Kalshane]

The past few posts have really hit on something. In addition to rethinking how monsters/npcs react when they are in their lairs or when they are standing guard, etc, the players need to plan for stealthy missions.

There are more than enough ways that a diversified party can use spells and tactics to enhance their stealth. Hey, they created spells like Pass Without a Trace, Disguise Self, Invisibility, Silence, Enhance Ability, Alter Self, Rope Trick (for hiding and taking that short rest), Clairvoyance for a reason. (and those are just the lower level spells) With the party ready to do stealth, they can theoretically (at times) bypass 2 or 3 encounters by just being careful.

All of this is why I'm moving away from granting xp by encounter to granting xp by game session which is more heavily dependent on story awards and progress. It encourages the players to set goals and achieve them rather than bumble around aimlessly picking fights and stealing treasure. (Although, I'm not against any of those motivations either)

Maybe having the party set story goals, and the DM set milestones/check points, would help to fit 6-8 encounters into an adventuring day. Instead of encounters...call it 6-8 milestones/checkpoints. Just a thought.

I would agree with this. Pass without Trace plus Group Stealth checks should help most parties be stealthy when they need to, even if they've got a low Dex character rattling around in full plate. The other spells expand your options even further.

Also, good points made by several people on the DM having a logical reason for when enemies do or don't converge at the sounds of a disturbance. Some guards may have standing orders to never leave their posts, while others may be tasked with providing assistance if anyone in their "zone" encounters trouble. Also, guards on general duty are likely to have different orders than those in a location that is specifically expecting attack by the party.