What Makes an Encounter Exciting?

[Philotomy Jurament]

Amazons in torc and rings armor.

 

[Hairfoot]

Amazons in torc and rings armor.

That's the same thing that makes my house parties exciting.

I hope this doesn't mean a squad of armoured goons with swords kills me and takes my stuff. That Vancian espresso machine cost me a mint.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Amazons in torc and rings armor.

Chainmail Bikinis!

 

[Keldryn]

The short version: If every participant has something meaningful to do.

If one or more participants are stuck waiting and watching while others get to do all of the meaningful stuff, then it's not an exciting encounter.

Pretty much any encounter can become an exciting encounter, whether it is in combat or not. A sense of tension, an element of risk and uncertainty...

 

[Reynard]

To rephrase what others have said: the stakes.

Interesting, interactive and dangerous locations can help, of course (chandeliers to swing on, spinning blades sweeping through the battlefield, etc...) and certainly interesting enemies help (they aren't just Hobgoblins, they are SPartan Hobgoblins in a phalanx!) but ultimately it is what lies on the other side oif the encounter that makes it meaningful and exciting.

Life and death struggle works. The chance of failure is extremely important. The idea that if the PCs don't win this one, something bad is going to happen to them, someone they care about, the world, whatever...

That being said, not every encounter needs to be "exciting". Every encounter should be fun, certainly, but think of action movies: sometimes, a relatively rote shoot-em-up scene is fun and enjoyable, even if it isn't full of tension. Often, IMO, movies that make every fight scene bigger and louder than the last bore me to death -- it is obvious that the people who made the movie can't think beyond CGI fireballs and inverted gunplay. The same thing can happen in D&D when every encounter has to be more than the last. Soemtimes, it is okay just to kill someorcs.

 

[Rechan]

I personally have trouble coming up with good location fights, because often the terrain doesn't allow for it. Like: "You're in a forest." Or "You're in a city." There's only so many "You're in a burning building".

 

[Aus_Snow]

On the walls? Across the rooftops?

Classics/cliches, sure. But they're just a couple that could work there.

 

[Reynard]

I personally have trouble coming up with good location fights, because often the terrain doesn't allow for it. Like: "You're in a forest." Or "You're in a city." There's only so many "You're in a burning building".

Remember that changes in elevation and quality of footing are extremely important when doing active things. "Forest" can mean a lot of things. I am not sure where you are from, but here in New England our woods are full of ledge outcroppings, rocky streams and small ravines (occassionally with fallen trees running across them). In cities, the difference between fighting/chasing in the lowland slums versus the high class areas can be extreme, especially if the rich have access to magical construction and/or services.

 

[Asmor]

I personally have trouble coming up with good location fights, because often the terrain doesn't allow for it. Like: "You're in a forest." Or "You're in a city." There's only so many "You're in a burning building".

As Reynard says, it's still very possible to have exciting and varied locations in those settings, but don't forget: You're the DM! You wrote the plot! Save yourself some effort, and make it take place in exciting places. Players going to get back-stabbed by the duplicitous queen after accepting her invitation to a feast? Sure, you could set it on the ground floor of her palace, but what if she was holding it on top of the Western Tower? Heck, even the feast itself could be fun... Lots of tables to maneuver around or tip up for cover, stacks of barrels tied together with a rope, so that when it's cut they all go flying...

 

[Psion]

1. A sense of threat of loss or failure. - When there is nothing at stake, the encounter is less exciting to me. Usually, there's at least the PCs own life or freedom at stakes, but even then, if the players feel no threat in any encounter, it takes something out of it.
2. A sense of empowerment/things to do. - I find encounters extremely frustrating if I ever get the feeling "there is nothing I can do to change the outcome of this encounter." Someone has a quote in their sig about taunting the enemy when down on HP so the samurai can get the last hit in. That's what I am talking about!
3. Different from the last encounter. - This seems to be what the folks about me talking about scenery are getting at.