Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="dreaded_beast" data-source="post: 1594127" data-attributes="member: 11185">Are they the same thing?While perusing over the DMG, I came accross a section detailing using wandering monsters in dungeons. The section discussed when to use wandering monsters, such as when PCs are in a "high-traffic" area or take a 20. It then gave a recommended percentile chance for a monster to "wander" in if the the criteria was met. In general, the DMG recommended rolling for "wandering monsters" for every hour in game time spent in the dungeon.I remember some modules even having a list of wandering monsters and stating that DMs should roll during the game to see if a wandering monster occurs. If it happens, the DMs roll on the appropriate list during the game.On the otherhand, my understanding of random encounters, is that the DM rolls to see if a "random encounter" takes place, usually before the game starts. If it does, then the DM prepares the encounter beforehand, then springs it upon the PCs during the appropriate time.In my opinion, wandering monsters and random encounters seem like the same thing to me, only that wandering monsters are rolled for during the game while random encounters are rolled for prior to the game session.Are they the same event with just a different label or do you consider them different types of events?</blockquote>