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
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Do You Think Encounters Should be Difficult?
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="Imaculata" data-source="post: 6957749" data-attributes="member: 6801286"><p>Encounters should be engaging, and exciting. This could be in the form of difficulty, but also in the form of complexity. In the end, I want my players to feel triumphant, and like heroes. I want them to have epic moments, and close brushes with death. Most importantly, I want them to have fun, and be engaged.</p><p></p><p>I tend to mix up the difficulty. Some encounters rely more on entertainment, rather than difficulty. Others are not difficult, but have unpredictable outcomes that make them an exciting brain exercise. Occasionally I throw my players an easy encounter, just so they can feel strong.</p><p></p><p>But when it comes to important battles with important villains, that is when I turn up the difficulty. I think a big battle with an important foe should be dangerous. I want them to incur injuries, and maybe even have some of their characters be reduced to 0 hit points.</p><p></p><p>It is important to realize that being reduced to 0 hit points is not the same as being killed. There are many ways for players to recover from being 'downed'. And so I often plan by big battles to be enough to down one or two players. This makes it feel like they almost died, even if there are many ways to get back on your feet with a little bit of teamwork.</p><p></p><p>My encounters can also have other lose conditions, such as an important npc biting the dust, or an important resource being captured or destroyed. If the villains accomplish their goals, the players still lose, even if they don't die.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Imaculata, post: 6957749, member: 6801286"] Encounters should be engaging, and exciting. This could be in the form of difficulty, but also in the form of complexity. In the end, I want my players to feel triumphant, and like heroes. I want them to have epic moments, and close brushes with death. Most importantly, I want them to have fun, and be engaged. I tend to mix up the difficulty. Some encounters rely more on entertainment, rather than difficulty. Others are not difficult, but have unpredictable outcomes that make them an exciting brain exercise. Occasionally I throw my players an easy encounter, just so they can feel strong. But when it comes to important battles with important villains, that is when I turn up the difficulty. I think a big battle with an important foe should be dangerous. I want them to incur injuries, and maybe even have some of their characters be reduced to 0 hit points. It is important to realize that being reduced to 0 hit points is not the same as being killed. There are many ways for players to recover from being 'downed'. And so I often plan by big battles to be enough to down one or two players. This makes it feel like they almost died, even if there are many ways to get back on your feet with a little bit of teamwork. My encounters can also have other lose conditions, such as an important npc biting the dust, or an important resource being captured or destroyed. If the villains accomplish their goals, the players still lose, even if they don't die. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Do You Think Encounters Should be Difficult?
Top