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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 7193293" data-attributes="member: 6785785">Do they still happen? And by "happen" what do we mean? Because I think we're talking about preferences rather than how things actually must be. In my game, there are literally no random encounters for NPCs. They never ever occur. Anything that happens to an NPC or group of NPCs happens by DM design. We can't compare this to the real world though...because the real world isn't a fiction being manipulated by a DM and players (not that we know of anyway <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f615.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":confused:" title="Confused    :confused:"  data-smilie="5"data-shortname=":confused:" />). Sure it does. It makes the story ABOUT them. Therefore, whatever happens to them matters more than what happens to Joe the Blacksmith 100 miles away. The rules and everything about the game is designed around your PCs. So the game functions differently for them. They have encounters because they are adventurers. NPCs have things happen to them. So this is not to say that the fiction of the world has to acknowledge their specialness....although it can. They can be fated for great things or prophesied to achieve some monumental victory...they can be Ta'veren or bound by Ka or the Chosen Ones or any other fictional trope. But it's not required in the fiction. We can read a story about a character who is thrust into the midst of great happenings and realize that the story is about that character, but he's not some kind of Chosen One. But we still know he's the star of the show.I know I'm drifting away from the point of the (already tangential) discussion, so I'll just summarize by saying that I don't think it's accurate to say that PCs...no matter how mundane they may be in their world...are not more important or special than NPCs. They certainly must be so. Sure, I can agree with most of that. Because I would expect that a DM would always give consideration to the kind of area in question, and would determine encounters accordingly. You're not going to have a random encounter table for the Shire that has Smaug and the Witch King of Angmar and the Balrog on it just so you can have your PCs be challenged. DMs have total control over this...which is why I don't really get the complaint. If it's a one encounter a day kind of area, then go ahead and do that. If your group doesn't find one encounter days fun, then stop doing it and simply narrate it. Where I disagree is in the Travel and Dungeoncrawl resting comment. Why can't they be different? I think that's a pretty suitable solution that has been mentioned quite a bit in this thread. Have long rests be impossible in the wilderness while on a journey. Then the entire journey is viewed as an "adventuring day" in that sense. You can have 3 or 18 encounters or anywhere in between as suited. Spread them out in a way that makes sense for the areas the PCs travel. Problem solved.</blockquote>

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