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Points of Light - replacement for random encounters
- Thread starter Arlough
- Start date
Here we go. I finally managed to find a spot in my Dark Sun campaign to use PoL. The players just have to get out of the dungeon, which hopefully is done by the end of next session. And then I'll chase them through the desert with random encounters. Let's see how it works out. Great naming of the different options, by the way 
Okay, it finally happened. Yesterday was the first session using the PoL system. It did work pretty well though it suffered a little from an unprepared gm (me). It was definitely more interesting than just traversing Athas with some preset randoms or no encounters besides the plot. I was able to put in a gnoll encounter when passing by the Dragon Horns on the fly. That was pretty neat.
A few things came up:
- One players didn't like the "1d4 solves it all" approach, which I used for the two lowest encounter categories. Playing out those will be boring anyway, so that won't be a solution. I think the main problem is that it doesn't differentiate. You roll, all get the same share and done with it. It doesn't fell as if a combat happened.
- I had some difficulties keeping track of the daytime. I tried to do it roughly but that didn't work out that nice. You don't get into a constant rhythm because after an encounter you roll again not after 6h but after 2h. You could note it down, but I wonder if there is some easier way to do it, especially for simple daylong overland travel. More on a spontaneous idea below.
- Encounters that are handled by the 1d4 roll during the extended rest can mostly be ignored. You regain your surges at the end of the rest, so any surges lost during the rest that don't kill anyone don't make any difference.
Some solution for overland travel days: You could make your 4 daily rolls in one step. All at once. For "hits" in the threat level you roll again. you then can arrange all the encounters you have rolled up during the day. and roll your d4s all at once. Or, even more simple: Do one random encounter with group level plus number of hits on the threat level. That also contains the possibility to generate "unbalanced" encounters (L+5 and higher) though pretty seldom.
Just some random thoughts on my points, maybe you guys can make more of it.
All in all the system works good. I had a whole group trained in stealth, so I just gave them a +5 to their encounter roll (RoFL) and done with it. I'd have the players roll Stealth that don't have it trained against a moderate DC. A little different from the original rules, but it felt simpler for me. I did set an TL of 17 for the trade route Altaruk to Tyr (and the area near it) and 21 for the area around the Dragon Horns because of the gnoll tribe. The group is level 4.
A few things came up:
- One players didn't like the "1d4 solves it all" approach, which I used for the two lowest encounter categories. Playing out those will be boring anyway, so that won't be a solution. I think the main problem is that it doesn't differentiate. You roll, all get the same share and done with it. It doesn't fell as if a combat happened.
- I had some difficulties keeping track of the daytime. I tried to do it roughly but that didn't work out that nice. You don't get into a constant rhythm because after an encounter you roll again not after 6h but after 2h. You could note it down, but I wonder if there is some easier way to do it, especially for simple daylong overland travel. More on a spontaneous idea below.
- Encounters that are handled by the 1d4 roll during the extended rest can mostly be ignored. You regain your surges at the end of the rest, so any surges lost during the rest that don't kill anyone don't make any difference.
Some solution for overland travel days: You could make your 4 daily rolls in one step. All at once. For "hits" in the threat level you roll again. you then can arrange all the encounters you have rolled up during the day. and roll your d4s all at once. Or, even more simple: Do one random encounter with group level plus number of hits on the threat level. That also contains the possibility to generate "unbalanced" encounters (L+5 and higher) though pretty seldom.
Just some random thoughts on my points, maybe you guys can make more of it.
All in all the system works good. I had a whole group trained in stealth, so I just gave them a +5 to their encounter roll (RoFL) and done with it. I'd have the players roll Stealth that don't have it trained against a moderate DC. A little different from the original rules, but it felt simpler for me. I did set an TL of 17 for the trade route Altaruk to Tyr (and the area near it) and 21 for the area around the Dragon Horns because of the gnoll tribe. The group is level 4.
That was well thought out.
http://kira3696.tripod.com/combatTracker.rar
http://kira3696.tripod.com/dndnotes.htm
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