Does Your Game Have Random Encounters?

[pemerton]

It depends on the game. If I'm running an OSR-style game, where resource attrition is meant to be part of the challenge, I do. Otherwise, I can't think of a gaming style I use where it would be appropriate.

The use of random encounters as a type-of "clock" is one well-known use case.

The other, though, is as a type of "world simulation". At least as I understand and approach them, this is the role of random encounters in Classic Traveller and of events in Torchbearer 2e. To borrow some language from Apocalypse World, it's a way for the GM to "disown" the framing of a scene.

In practice, I have found the TB2e events pretty fun and effective. The Classic Traveller encounters, on the other hand, tend to serve more as a type of formal constraint on GM creativity: like, now it's time for me to frame a scene, and it has to include <this> - where "<this>" is the result of the encounter roll. That's because (unlike the TB2e tables) the Traveller tables don't bring stakes/motivations with them. So I, as GM, still have to inject those into the scene.

 

[1QD]

I was reading a thread about narrative choices in tabletop games, and it made me curious about a particular type of narrative choice: the random encounter. Do you use them in your game? Are you comfortable letting the dice decide the party's conflicts and challenges for the day? Do you scipt and carefully balance every combat scene? Some mix of the two?

Vote for the option that best fits your table, and add any clarification or nuance in the comments.

EDIT: typo in that second-to-last poll option. It should read, "No, we don't use random encounters, I use different mechanics for unscripted encounters."

Yes, all the time. Luck will play a part when you get an encounter. You can crit fail an encounter and get something terrible, or you can crit succeed and get extra lucky and find a random magic item...There is more but that is the basics. Each person takes turns rolling encounter as well, so depending peoples stats you can have an easy time of things or not..Also with a crit succeed you can normal trade the item for a weeks uninterupted travel.

 

[pemerton]

Yes, all the time. Luck will play a part when you get an encounter. You can crit fail an encounter and get something terrible, or you can crit succeed and get extra lucky and find a random magic item...There is more but that is the basics. Each person takes turns rolling encounter as well, so depending peoples stats you can have an easy time of things or not..Also with a crit succeed you can normal trade the item for a weeks uninterupted travel.

Is this in the context of D&D play (or some similar sort of FRPG?) Can you say a bit more about how your system works: who is rolling? when? modified how (eg what stat)? And do you have a look-up table that you're using, or something else?

 

[Edgar Ironpelt]

It depends on the campaign. My current Brotherhood of Rangers game is heavily scripted and without random encounters. In previous games I've used random encounters a fair bit - especially for encounters in cities and towns.

 

[Piperken]

Looks like about a third of us use random encounters fairly regularly, or have some kind of mechanism in place to avoid using scripted encounters. That's fewer than I had imagined; I figured it would be about half of us.

This poll was born from a different thread, where people were discussing the practice of letting the players decide certain aspects of the game and the campaign setting. I wondered how letting the dice make certain decisions (such as the number and type of encounters or combat scenes) would compare.

Turns out: not very much at all. I guess that whenever the DM generates an encounter (or whatever) at random, they still have the ability to ignore or change the result on the fly to shape it to their liking. Player input is a little harder to bend.

Often when an adventure or module gives a random encounter table or the like to use, about half the time I rolled dice and used the result. I've feel like I've had more success facilitating play, when I've picked a result that fit best at the time.

I love curated random encounter tables that are integrated well; with those I will roll.

 

[MacDhomnuill]

I honestly have never used random encounters and find them to be kind of silly. I think this stems from the fact that I just don’t really do anything with Dungeons & Dragons or it’s many clones. Even when I run OSR games I just don’t like random stuff happening in the world I prefer to have encounters occur as the result of player action and or advancement of the story/narrative.

 

[Edgar Ironpelt]

Looks like about a third of us use random encounters fairly regularly, or have some kind of mechanism in place to avoid using scripted encounters. That's fewer than I had imagined; I figured it would be about half of us.

This poll was born from a different thread, where people were discussing the practice of letting the players decide certain aspects of the game and the campaign setting. I wondered how letting the dice make certain decisions (such as the number and type of encounters or combat scenes) would compare.

Turns out: not very much at all. I guess that whenever the DM generates an encounter (or whatever) at random, they still have the ability to ignore or change the result on the fly to shape it to their liking. Player input is a little harder to bend.

If a player in my game wants to roll dice to determine his character's reaction to an NPC, I consider that legit. That's the analogy I'd make to a GM rolling a random encounter. And the extension of that would be the player demanding that the GM roll a random encounter being analogous to the GM demanding that the player make a reaction roll for his character.

In general, I run reaction rolls (and social mechanics in general) as 'advisory' mechanics - the player gets to veto the result for how his character acts/reacts, and the GM gets to veto the result for his NPCs. The exceptions are either supernatural/paranormal abilities that can reach into the mind of the character, or social mechanics of the perception type, e.g. "Does this character seem to be open to bribes?" "Is this character really the noble-class sort he claims to be or is he running a bluff/fraud?" etc.

 

[1QD]

Is this in the context of D&D play (or some similar sort of FRPG?) Can you say a bit more about how your system works: who is rolling? when? modified how (eg what stat)? And do you have a look-up table that you're using, or something else?

I have my own gaming system, and that is what I am discussing. I am a former Dnd player, gone self creator. I have abandoned Dnd on the whole. As far as the rules go, Each day an encounter roll is made. Players take turns making the roll against thier own luck stat. If they fail we have an encounter. If they critically fail we have a difficult encounter or maybe a bounty hunter if they have the wanted flaw. If they fail but only by a bit, bad weather might make the days travel impossible.

If they make it, no encounter. If they make it by a bit then bad weather may threaten, and if they critically succeed they have the option of 1 weeks travel, encounter free, or they can take a randomly rolled magic item. Optionally if the group is seeking a rare item or specialized target a natural one will become, "that target is found".

While I do have charts for treasure, I have not made encounter charts. I feel that GM's should choose relavant encounters, with the option of randomness thrown in at thier whim. My book includes races as monsters so all your encounter rules are in with the monster entry and can be ran straight from the book. It also means if you want to play a specific race, the rules to play one are there as well, eliminating the need for seperate races and encounters as a book to buy. I also have a rather extensive collection of encounters already rolled up from years of gaming that I can pull from as well.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I'm not hostile in principal to random encounters, but can't say I've used them for anything for many years. Of course a fair number of games I run they'd just make no sense in.

 

[Stormonu]

I stopped using random encounters sometime back in 3E.

What I use now are "consequences" encounters. In dungeons, since I generally know what creatures are in each room, a general idea of routes they might take from area to area and any patrolling they might do, if the party encounters something unusual it's because they've either attracted attention or enough time has passed that the occupants may have shifted for one reason or another.

In the wilderness, I have pre-planned encounters ready. Less than half are combat encounters and may include points of color, mysteries waiting to see if the characters are interested in investigating or odd interactions or obstacles that may or may not be related to the ongoing story.

An example of a series of wilderness encounters I ran:

- The first day out of town, it rains the entire day. If the characters brave the wind and rain, they have to contend with wet gear, catching chills and finding a dry spot to encamp at the end of the day. The next day, they find they have to ford a swollen river and the local ferry is unwilling to run his boat across the rapidly moving river that is littered with debris from the previous day's storm.

- While on the road, a Storm Giant comes up the trail. If approached by the characters, he reveals he is a wandering merchant selling valuable wares he himself has crafted. However, instead of trading for coins, he will only part with his goods if characters can solve his riddles or tell him a worthy (and epic) tale - though he won't inform PCs of the latter unless asked.

- The party comes across a broken merchant's wagon, scorched by fire. If the party investigates, there are bandits hiding nearby who attempt to mug the players while they are picking through the wagon's goods. If possible, the bandits attempt to capture and ransom the characters back to the town they came from. In truth, the bandits are hoping to catch a VIP they expected to be on this road, but the PCs will do in a pinch. Possible complication: the VIP the bandits were hoping for shows up while the PCs examine the wagon (and they are accused of stealing), or after they have been captured.