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<blockquote data-quote="mrpopstar" data-source="post: 8368408" data-attributes="member: 25352">Any encounter you create needs to account for the standard three possible outcomes: The characters succeed, the characters partly succeed, or the characters fail. A chokepoint exists only if you fail to account for failure and what that might mean for the forward momentum of the adventure.The random tables are huge time-savers (at least for me). Takes literally a minute to roll up an NPC and a few more to fill out the ten sentences. Set aside an hour or so on your off week (we play every other Thursday and I do my planning on the off Thursdays) and you can get a lot accomplished.I'm good at jotting down inspirations as they come while musing through my days, which gives me a lot to work with when I sit down with intention. My ideas are big and fluid and fantastical, but following the basic outlines helps me materialize something focused and useful.I've got a stack of potential encounters. As one gets crossed off the random encounter table, I just pencil the next one in.The secret is in being able to let things go. I don't insist upon niggling details. Like, merchant dude just needs X, Y, and Z. Nothing else matters, despite how awesome it sounds in my imagination.Totally with you on skipping ahead if the destination is more interesting than the journey, though! I think that's just a natural decision based on how you wish to enjoy the game.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="mrpopstar, post: 8368408, member: 25352"] Any encounter you create needs to account for the standard three possible outcomes: The characters succeed, the characters partly succeed, or the characters fail. A chokepoint exists only if you fail to account for failure and what that might mean for the forward momentum of the adventure. The random tables are huge time-savers (at least for me). Takes literally a minute to roll up an NPC and a few more to fill out the ten sentences. Set aside an hour or so on your off week (we play every other Thursday and I do my planning on the off Thursdays) and you can get a lot accomplished. I'm good at jotting down inspirations as they come while musing through my days, which gives me a lot to work with when I sit down with intention. My ideas are big and fluid and fantastical, but following the basic outlines helps me materialize something focused and useful. I've got a stack of potential encounters. As one gets crossed off the random encounter table, I just pencil the next one in. The secret is in being able to let things go. I don't insist upon niggling details. Like, merchant dude just needs X, Y, and Z. Nothing else matters, despite how awesome it sounds in my imagination. Totally with you on skipping ahead if the destination is more interesting than the journey, though! I think that's just a natural decision based on how you wish to enjoy the game. [/QUOTE]

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