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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 6253423" data-attributes="member: 1210">Well, I thought we were talking about the issue. The reason the words you're using matter is because you're not using them to mean the same thing that most people in the D&D community mean, at least in talking about wandering monsters vis-a-vis random encounters. That makes it hard to come to an understanding.Onward! I'll repeat something I said in the post you quoted: the "infinite number of random monsters wandering around with no rhyme or reason" is a total strawman. That is not how they've traditionally been employed; in fact, I even quoted from a pretty damn definitive source, the 1e DMG, to give you a specific and concrete example. Nor has the "no rhyme or reason" thing typically been the case, though I'll grant that less well-designed dungeons sometimes do use them this way; but I've also seen poorly-designed dungeons that mishandle just about everything an adventure could contain, from denying player agency to horribly unbalanced treasure, but those are- I think, and I could be wrong- exceptions rather than the rule. If you're referring to my referencing landslides and spooky noises, actually, they are both specific examples from 1e modules.The landslide appears as a random wilderness encounter in S4, in the wilderness exploration section of the dungeon. The spooky noises appear in L1, and I think they are in the dungeon level of Bone Hill itself but would have to go back and find it to be absolutely certain. That's certainly not my reading of them, but I'll admit that I may have skimmed the section in question. Still, I'd bet a dollar that you will find nothing suggesting such a thing in the 5e playtest rules.As to other editions- no. No, they are not presented as infinite spawn randomness, at least not outside the context of a randomized or huge environment. Even 4e, which comes much closer to endorsing your endless random hordes, says this:In addition, as you yourself noted, 4e adventures tend to use random encounters as patrols or the like and in limited number. So I just don't think your assertion of how random encounters work stands. Your REPEATED assertion.Several people have addressed this, including me. Again, to repeat what I posted above, clearing a safe zone is a long-standing D&D tradition. It goes way back. Even so, certain random encounters, such as bugs, rats, etc, make sense even in many cleared zones.Those sound like some great examples of misusing random encounters to the extent that I have to question what sort of dm wouldn't adjust the results on the fly. Did you make them up, or are they examples from modules, Dungeon adventures or something else that was published? I have nothing against a discussion about how to use them- which every edition has had (although in fairness, I didn't bother to look in 2e, since you were talking post-2e).</blockquote>

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