One good thing about the new encounter format

[DragonBelow]

Personally I think the new WotC encounter format has both good and bad qualities.

One of the good things I think it has is its "pluckability", since all the encounters are self contained, and everything you need is there, it makes them prime material if you're improvising, looking for inspiration, or simply in a crunch, it seems like a great source of on the fly material.

Looking them through this new (to me) perspective suddenly adds a lot of more value and reusability for these products.

 

[MerricB]

I agree.

If I may expand a bit...

I think there are times when the format is a real pain, when the combat is too simple to properly warrant it. In such cases, Wizards would do much better just to have an encounter in the old format. 2 Goblins in a 20'x20' room comes to mind.

Better in such cases is to use the new format to link a group of rooms into one encounter - with the possibility of reinforcements and suchlike. One of the best things about the format is the way it can graphically reinforce such ideas.

Having the individual encounters as "pluckable" is a very nice insight, DragonBelow.

Cheers!

 

[Emirikol]

I don't mean to sound like a 26 year novice, but where can I find an example of the new encounter format? Anything to improve encounters and make my job easier as a DM is highly welcome!

Thanks,

jay

 

[MerricB]

It's been used in the "Expedition" books, in Barrow of the Forgotten King, the Sinister Spire, Scourge of the Howling Horde, and a few others.

If you look up the Wizards site, you may find a preview for an encounter or two.

Cheers!

 

[Mark CMG]

"pluckability"

Nice word.

I don't mean to sound like a 26 year novice, but where can I find an example of the new encounter format? Anything to improve encounters and make my job easier as a DM is highly welcome!

Hiya, Dude.

They unveiled it at Gencon, more or less.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dd/20060317a

 

[AgelessOne]

Pluckability and Stealability

I can't wait to see all the contributions from people online that you "steal" good rooms/encounters

 

[Erywin]

I need to really pick up a few of these, if not to run the full adventure then just for the ability to flick through a book and have full fledged encounters done up

Cheers,
E

 

[Pants]

I'm not a really big fan of the new encounter format.

One reason is that I really think it simplifies a lot of encounters. For example, in Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, there are some pretty damn complex encounters (mostly including the various gate complexes in the CRM) that I'm not sure would port well to the new encounter format. So I'm worried that maybe some adventures may feature overly simplified encounters in favor of some of the older WotC adventures or from Dungeon magazine.

The potential portability IS nice and was the primary reason I was going to buy EtU, but yeah... initial reports don't have me hopeful.

 

[Eytan Bernstein]

The thing I like about it is that it provides details that can sometimes slip through the cracks, all in one place. Every change is going to have advantages and disadvantages, especially in terms of getting used to running it (after running something else for so long), but I like the information the encounters provide.

 

[CharlesRyan]

I think it would be interesting to see if someone could build a cool adventure or dungeon by "plucking" encounters from the WotC books and stringing them together in a way not intended by the designers.