Random Wilderness Encounters - How do you use them?

[genshou]

I use wilderness encounters a lot. They're a great way to let the PCs earn XP to keep them up with the level I need them to be to run a progressive storyline. Not only that, but they make overland travel be dangerous at low levels, and they simulate the fact that those monsters are really out there.

 

[genshou]

I could see doing it randomly depending on the type of campaign. It might be a nice way to keep the DM on his toes -- he kind of has to roll with the situation the way the PCs sometimes do.

Thinking back, I mostly used the d8+d12 style encounter charts from 2E. Gave you a result from 2-20, and would make a nice curve where you could put rare/very rare at the ends, and common in the middle. Even if not randomly rolled it gave you an immediate sense of what was common and what was unusual.

Hey, that's pretty cool. Only 19 possibilities, and you don't have to piddle around with percentile-scale numbers. I think I'm gonna adapt this for randomly determining monster type in a random encounter. Two dice of varying size per region/dungeon section.

 

[Nightfall]

I will only use them in Rappan Athuk. Just because it's Rappan Athuk.

 

[Spatula]

I use random encounters to wring some use out of all the oddball D&D miniatures in my collection.

 

[Nightfall]

See I just think if you have random encounters they should be a reason, like a powerful source of evil or something like that...

 

[genshou]

See I just think if you have random encounters they should be a reason, like a powerful source of evil or something like that...

Or the fact that once every few hours, the PCs might encounter a grizzly when they're wandering around in the woods. Whoops.

 

[JRRNeiklot]

I use them because it's fun for the pcs to get to toast 30 goblins in a fireball or cleave through the same bunch in a round or two and show off their skills. It's also fun for them to run screaming in horror from the ancient red that happens to eat their horses.

 

[jdrakeh]

I use them, but I cheat -- I roll the specifics in advance, so that when I sit down at the game table I have 3-4 fairly detailed encounters entirely ready to run when I need them. Rolling up the specifics of random encounters during a game can really dig into actual play, I've found.

 

[TheNovaLord]

I tend to have a list of pre written encounters some of which ill use, some ill save for another day. Often i fiddle with etools adding templates/classes to a base creature vaguely connected to the overall plot, until i get something interesting. Or as someone else mentioned try to find a use for some bizarre mini i have bought

current party has two paladins, a cleric, a ranger and a scout, 3 of whom took mounted combat at 1st level, so doing stuff outdoor is quite important to them

JohnD

 

[Dr Simon]

I'm kind of in the "semi-random" school of DMing, in that if I set up a random encounter table for an adventure, each possibility will have some thought behind the wheres and whys, rather than the aforementioned '1d4 manticores'. Not always - some will be because there are a high number of Whosits in the area and so walking around for a few days you are bound to see some. And not all are things to fight, of course. Merchant caravans, Lone Survivors etc. are all fun.

Having said that...

I once ran a little solo campaign for myself (so sad !) using only the random tables in the DMG (including the old random dungeon stuff for indoors). *That* threw up some interesting situation, especially the time the characters were faced with rescuing a unicorn from four ogres, and they were 2nd level. I posted that one on rec.games.frp as a tactical problem. I think Entangle was used to good effect....

Further, random tables can be expanded beyond what you meet to include what they are doing. RuneQuest Cities is a good supplement for this, and 2nd Ed. Jorune had a similar thing. In RQC (which can be expanded beyond Cities, it's just that most of the encounters are human types), you might roll and encounter with... Barbarians. So then roll on a sub-table and the Barbarians are... Drunk and Looking for Fight, or... Wanting to Hire Adventurers to help them (which might lead to a further set of sub tables - very useful for adventures on the fly which would give you an adventure like ... Doing What? - Steal. To What? A Book. From Where? A Graveyard. Eh? Well, perhaps there's..er..a Lich involved. Etc.

Takes a bit of work and rolling, doesn't always give logical results, but they are pretty useful. I've even used them for Babylon 5 adventures, with a bit of tweaking. Barbarians might become, say, Drazi, for example, and the book becomes a datacrystal.