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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6441762" data-attributes="member: 42582">I'm not 100% sure of the distinction between &quot;tailored&quot; and &quot;status quo&quot;, given that all encounters are tailored in the sense of being created by the deliberate actions of an author.But both Gygax (in his DMG) and Moldvay (in Basic) assume that the GM, at the start of a campaign, will prepare an adventure (in the form of a dungeon) that is appropriate, in terms of encounter difficulty, for players of 1st level PCs. There is no suggestion that the PCs (and thereby the players) will hear rumours of monsters and dungeons that are not suitable as adventuring options for their PCs.Another possile meaning of &quot;status quo&quot; encounters is the classic freeze-frame/in media res room - for instance, when the PCs enter room 10 they will find the executioner about to behead the halfling prisoner. The use and possible pitfalls of such encounters is discussed in the 1982 Puffin Book &quot;What is Dungeons &amp; Dragons?&quot;, and from memory is also discussed by Roger Musson in a White Dwarf article from around the same time. The idea of such dungeon rooms is an obvious precursor to later ideas about framing the PCs into dramatically engaging scenes (eg the start of the early-90s Greyhawk module Five Shall Be One has the PCs witnessing an assault as they walk down the street), although not the only precursor: there is also Gygax's discussion in his DMG of fudging a secret door roll during exploration to make sure that the PCs (and thereby the players) find an interesting and entertaining part of the dungeon.The idea that the GM has responsibilities of authorship that go beyond simply documenting an imagined fantasy world goes back pretty far in the hobby. It's not really that different from a type of bridge party (which predates D&amp;D), in which the cards won't just have been dealt randomly; rather, the host will have pre-arranged hands that will make for interesting bidding and play.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 6441762, member: 42582"] I'm not 100% sure of the distinction between "tailored" and "status quo", given that all encounters are tailored in the sense of being created by the deliberate actions of an author. But both Gygax (in his DMG) and Moldvay (in Basic) assume that the GM, at the start of a campaign, will prepare an adventure (in the form of a dungeon) that is appropriate, in terms of encounter difficulty, for players of 1st level PCs. There is no suggestion that the PCs (and thereby the players) will hear rumours of monsters and dungeons that are not suitable as adventuring options for their PCs. Another possile meaning of "status quo" encounters is the classic freeze-frame/in media res room - for instance, when the PCs enter room 10 they will find the executioner about to behead the halfling prisoner. The use and possible pitfalls of such encounters is discussed in the 1982 Puffin Book "What is Dungeons & Dragons?", and from memory is also discussed by Roger Musson in a White Dwarf article from around the same time. The idea of such dungeon rooms is an obvious precursor to later ideas about framing the PCs into dramatically engaging scenes (eg the start of the early-90s Greyhawk module Five Shall Be One has the PCs witnessing an assault as they walk down the street), although not the only precursor: there is also Gygax's discussion in his DMG of fudging a secret door roll during exploration to make sure that the PCs (and thereby the players) find an interesting and entertaining part of the dungeon. The idea that the GM has responsibilities of authorship that go beyond simply documenting an imagined fantasy world goes back pretty far in the hobby. It's not really that different from a type of bridge party (which predates D&D), in which the cards won't just have been dealt randomly; rather, the host will have pre-arranged hands that will make for interesting bidding and play. [/QUOTE]

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