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<blockquote data-quote="Dannager" data-source="post: 5834850" data-attributes="member: 73683">That's sort of a two-part question. The first being the difference between a crafted encounter and a random encounter. A random encounter is decided upon with a random element (a die roll) from a table populated with predetermined values. The resultant encounter may have some connection to the campaign's events as a whole, or it may not.A crafted encounter (or, simply, a non-random encounter) is an encounter designed - ahead of time - to fit into a specific part of the campaign. Rather than being rolled up randomly, the DM has the opportunity to flesh out the encounter in detail because he knows it will be used.The second part is the difference between a crafted encounter and a well-crafted encounter. A well-crafted encounter is one that exhibits good design. I realize that's a subjective quality, but I also believe that there is a difference between good design and poor (or lazy) design. And, as with most things, the more time and effort put into something, the better it typically turns out. A random encounter doesn't really allow for preparation time, because the DM would have to prepare for every encounter on the table. That's a tremendous amount of work (though, if feasible, would probably create a good game experience). Crafted encounters, on the other hand, can (though do not necessarily) involve thoughtful design choices on the part of the DM.If you open up a published 4e adventure, you will find crafted encounters. Many of them will be well-crafted, in the sense that careful consideration has been given to their design.Is this clear, or is there disagreement over the existence of well-crafted encounters? I'm expecting someone to chime in with something like, &quot;What's 'well-crafted' is subjective and you can't know what every group likes!&quot;</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dannager, post: 5834850, member: 73683"] That's sort of a two-part question. The first being the difference between a crafted encounter and a random encounter. A random encounter is decided upon with a random element (a die roll) from a table populated with predetermined values. The resultant encounter may have some connection to the campaign's events as a whole, or it may not. A crafted encounter (or, simply, a non-random encounter) is an encounter designed - ahead of time - to fit into a specific part of the campaign. Rather than being rolled up randomly, the DM has the opportunity to flesh out the encounter in detail because he knows it will be used. The second part is the difference between a crafted encounter and a [I]well-[/I]crafted encounter. A well-crafted encounter is one that exhibits good design. I realize that's a subjective quality, but I also believe that there is a difference between good design and poor (or lazy) design. And, as with most things, the more time and effort put into something, the better it typically turns out. A random encounter doesn't really allow for preparation time, because the DM would have to prepare for every encounter on the table. That's a tremendous amount of work (though, if feasible, would probably create a good game experience). Crafted encounters, on the other hand, can (though do not necessarily) involve thoughtful design choices on the part of the DM. If you open up a published 4e adventure, you will find crafted encounters. Many of them will be well-crafted, in the sense that careful consideration has been given to their design. Is this clear, or is there disagreement over the existence of well-crafted encounters? I'm expecting someone to chime in with something like, "What's 'well-crafted' is subjective and you can't know what every group likes!" [/QUOTE]

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