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<blockquote data-quote="DestroyYouAlot" data-source="post: 4026913" data-attributes="member: 36618"><p>Keep in mind that the Monster Manual advises you to adjust "# encountered" according to the situation and the PCs' abilities. Bad (or lazy, or sadistic) DMs were the root of that issue, not 1e. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></p><p></p><p>I was running T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil with 1e rules earlier this year, and I had a whole hexmap for the region around Hommlet, with different "zones" marked off, each with their own encounter table. The tables were derived from the appropriate climate/terrain listing in the MM, and the overall difficulty was appropriate to the area - you just aren't going to find hordes of orcs wandering up and down the road to Verbobonc; it would interfere with trade, and the Viscount would have to hear it from the merchants, so the road is patrolled. Off the road, in the Kron hills, though - that's a different story. What's more, once an encounter came up (and presuming the PCs defeated the beasties), that entry was crossed off the chart, with a fixed chance per week of a new entry taking its place. (I'd just do all the maintenance for all the zones by week, it's not like the PCs are gonna notice when the change happens.) Sometimes an entry would migrate from one zone to another; if you kill all the owlbears in the Dank Forest of Dankness, the wolves that roam the Desolate Plains of Desolation are likely to move in.</p><p></p><p>It's some work, but I enjoy this kind of fiddly crap. And it takes care of itself with minimal maintenance once you get it running. (I have a background in programming, so this makes me happy.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DestroyYouAlot, post: 4026913, member: 36618"] Keep in mind that the Monster Manual advises you to adjust "# encountered" according to the situation and the PCs' abilities. Bad (or lazy, or sadistic) DMs were the root of that issue, not 1e. ;) I was running T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil with 1e rules earlier this year, and I had a whole hexmap for the region around Hommlet, with different "zones" marked off, each with their own encounter table. The tables were derived from the appropriate climate/terrain listing in the MM, and the overall difficulty was appropriate to the area - you just aren't going to find hordes of orcs wandering up and down the road to Verbobonc; it would interfere with trade, and the Viscount would have to hear it from the merchants, so the road is patrolled. Off the road, in the Kron hills, though - that's a different story. What's more, once an encounter came up (and presuming the PCs defeated the beasties), that entry was crossed off the chart, with a fixed chance per week of a new entry taking its place. (I'd just do all the maintenance for all the zones by week, it's not like the PCs are gonna notice when the change happens.) Sometimes an entry would migrate from one zone to another; if you kill all the owlbears in the Dank Forest of Dankness, the wolves that roam the Desolate Plains of Desolation are likely to move in. It's some work, but I enjoy this kind of fiddly crap. And it takes care of itself with minimal maintenance once you get it running. (I have a background in programming, so this makes me happy.) [/QUOTE]
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