Making Random Encounter Interesting. How?

[Wishsong]

Yesterday I bought "Dungeon Bash v1.1" It looks very cool! I always want to make easy-n-fast dungeon crawling. And Dungeon Bash helps it very geniusly.

But recently, I have started to play D&D 4e. For me, It is much suitable for dungeon crawling than 3rd. So, I'm eager to convert DB from 3rd to 4e.

Only one thing I'm afraid to do it is "Making Random Encounter". I have made several Random Encounter, and most of them was dull. In 4e combat, DM have to take account of Traps, Terrain and Monster Tactics much more than 3th. Without enough preparation, 4e combat seem to plain and boring.

So, How can I make Random Encounter on-the-fly AND interesting?

 

[Lauberfen]

Well you'd obviously need to consider monster roles.

You'd probably need to start with random 'formations' or grouping of monsters, such as described in the DMG. For example, 1 controller with some soldiers.
Then you'd need to fill the roles with monsters appropriate for the level of the party.
Then you could add on terrain and maybe traps.

However this would still require that you check each encounter to make sure that it's interesting and works.

Another option would be to build lots of combos (so teams of monsters that work well together), or even whole encounters, and then randomise between them. This way you could make sure that each encounter is interesting and challenging, but you'd have to to do lots of work.

 

[Nurgle84]

First some shameless advertisement :

http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-fan-creations-house-rules/254052-list-random-encounters.html

As you can see, there is a short line over each encounter. This should give a hint about the flair of the encounter. And practically, thats all you need. For example:

Tavern Brawl
2 Human Bandits (Skirmisher, 125 XP) (MM P.162)
4 Human Rabble (Minion, 31 XP)
1 Human Guard (Soldier, 150 XP)

So if you think about "Tavern Brawl" what do you think of? I, for example, see a big, ill-ventilated room. (general layout) Many tables and chairs to throw around. A bar with Jars on top, filled with various liquids. Maybe a fire place in a corner, with a pig roasted on a spit. (Improvised Weapons) Some guys are playing a card game, others are drinking, again others are talking to each others, possible the shady guys. (Enemies) A bar maid is walking around, serving beer and the barkeeper is washing some kegs with his dirty towel (non-combatants that can be rescued)

Thats quiet a lot for a random encounter. You just need something to get your creativ juices flowing. Maybe give us an example, so we can see what you are up to.

 

[webrunner]

We run a randomly-generated dungeon regularly.. Sometimes the fights are.. easy.. sometimes they're hard.. sometimes the terrain makes things frustrating, but all in all it works.


There's a random encounter generator available if you search for it, and it links to the compendium if you have that for monster stats.

 

[qotile]

i've actually been working on a dungeon bash conversion to 4e. you don't need to generate the random encounters yourself, you just need to create a table you can roll on to determine the level of the encounter. for example, on a D20:

1-2 APL -2, Trap
3-4 APL -2
5-7 APL - 1
8-9 NPC
10-16 APL
17-18 APL +1
19-20 APL +1, Trap

Then generate an encounter of the appropriate level using a random encounter generator.

Two big problems, traps, and monster tactics. For traps, I modified a bunch from the dmg, so that the players knowing everything doesn't spoil them. so now, if there's a pit trap, the players obviously know it's there, since there's no DM, but they don't know where it is. when a player ends his turn on a square in the room, there's a % chance he's standing on the trap. (this does have instances where a different player might have been standing on the same square last round without triggering it, but the dungeon's old, the traps don't work that well)

i have 20 traps/hazards converted, and just roll for a random one when it comes up in a room.

as for monster tactics, i haven't worked that out yet. i want to create a kind of flow chart so that there is zero dming involved in the game. toying with the idea of just making priority targets depending in the monster types. brutes and soldiers target leaders and defenders. skirmishers hit strikers and controllers, etc. but i'm not quite sure on that yet.