Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Wilderness Travel & Encounters/Day - How do you handle it?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 6869195" data-attributes="member: 20323"><p>[MENTION=94951]arjomanes[/MENTION] Well, you've got some solid answers already, ranging from [MENTION=6775031]Saelorn[/MENTION]'s astute recommendation to change the rules, to [MENTION=3586]MerricB[/MENTION]'s suggestion to do away with random encounters entirely. So let me offer a slightly different take...</p><p></p><p>You've got a high-level party right? You mention them wiping encounters with high-level spells, so that's what I'm assuming. Generally, in D&D exploring the wilderness is a challenge for low-to-mid-level characters. "Dangerous" wilderness exploration isn't something typically associated with high-level D&D... I could definitely see it if there were a war, a supernatural event, or the players were in a hostile plane, or something like that. From the encounter examples you gave, a theme of your setting seems to be <strong>demon cultists corrupting the land, pursued by witch hunters</strong>. So I'm going to assume that the point of your random encounters in this adventure is to reinforce that theme.</p><p></p><p>All of your example solutions assume that the main purpose of an encounter is to threaten the PCs' lives.</p><p></p><p>I'd challenge that assumption.</p><p></p><p>Especially for random encounters, and especially for high-level characters facing random encounters, the primary purpose of the encounter shouldn't be for the monsters to kill the PCs, and the PCs to kill the monsters. That either feeds the whole 5 MWD issue or necessitates changing the rules. <em>"Threaten the Quest, not the PCs"</em>, is a saying I've used before</p><p></p><p>Let's take your example of cultists in the woods...</p><p></p><p>The cultists live in a woodland hamlet of poachers and others living outside of the king's law. They're decent enough folk, however, and it makes a good resting/trading spot, as well as a place to do business with a fence known only as The Knave, who is the hamlet's unofficial leader. However, the hamlet folk are dissatisfied with The Knave's leadership — many were hoping to reclaim family lands but The Knave hasn't come to terms with the king due to an old grievance The Knave arrogantly wants the king to apologize for first. Gradually, the hamlet folk are falling under the sway of a charismatic man known as The Traveler. The Traveler offers to violently force the occupying soldiers from their lands and give the disenfranchised folk power they never knew before. All it requires is a little blood ritual in a dark hut in the woods. Most of the hamlet folk have no idea they're actually worshipping a demon, even though they're shifting toward Chaotic Evil alignment and there are signs all around the hamlet and surrounding woods.</p><p></p><p>This random wilderness encounter can threaten several things (instead of the PCs):</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">It can threaten the relationship between the king and other squatters/bandits/poachers.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">It can threaten The Knave who has information the PCs need.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">It can threaten the nearby land-owners if the demon cult reaches critical mass.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">It can threaten the hamlet as a safe resting/trading place in the future.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">It can threaten the PCs' morality...can we justify killing misguided "cultists"? Is that a good or evil act?</li> </ul><p></p><p>Probably the most important thing about this encounter is that it does not begin with <em>"Roll initiative."</em> Time again, I've seen those words lock players (across editions) into combat-mode. </p><p></p><p>When I run random encounters, I prefer to present a challenge which can be solved through multiple avenues, and if combat is the PCs' preferred approach, I set up combats where there is something else at stake besides whose side hits 0 hit points first.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 6869195, member: 20323"] [MENTION=94951]arjomanes[/MENTION] Well, you've got some solid answers already, ranging from [MENTION=6775031]Saelorn[/MENTION]'s astute recommendation to change the rules, to [MENTION=3586]MerricB[/MENTION]'s suggestion to do away with random encounters entirely. So let me offer a slightly different take... You've got a high-level party right? You mention them wiping encounters with high-level spells, so that's what I'm assuming. Generally, in D&D exploring the wilderness is a challenge for low-to-mid-level characters. "Dangerous" wilderness exploration isn't something typically associated with high-level D&D... I could definitely see it if there were a war, a supernatural event, or the players were in a hostile plane, or something like that. From the encounter examples you gave, a theme of your setting seems to be [b]demon cultists corrupting the land, pursued by witch hunters[/b]. So I'm going to assume that the point of your random encounters in this adventure is to reinforce that theme. All of your example solutions assume that the main purpose of an encounter is to threaten the PCs' lives. I'd challenge that assumption. Especially for random encounters, and especially for high-level characters facing random encounters, the primary purpose of the encounter shouldn't be for the monsters to kill the PCs, and the PCs to kill the monsters. That either feeds the whole 5 MWD issue or necessitates changing the rules. [i]"Threaten the Quest, not the PCs"[/i], is a saying I've used before Let's take your example of cultists in the woods... The cultists live in a woodland hamlet of poachers and others living outside of the king's law. They're decent enough folk, however, and it makes a good resting/trading spot, as well as a place to do business with a fence known only as The Knave, who is the hamlet's unofficial leader. However, the hamlet folk are dissatisfied with The Knave's leadership — many were hoping to reclaim family lands but The Knave hasn't come to terms with the king due to an old grievance The Knave arrogantly wants the king to apologize for first. Gradually, the hamlet folk are falling under the sway of a charismatic man known as The Traveler. The Traveler offers to violently force the occupying soldiers from their lands and give the disenfranchised folk power they never knew before. All it requires is a little blood ritual in a dark hut in the woods. Most of the hamlet folk have no idea they're actually worshipping a demon, even though they're shifting toward Chaotic Evil alignment and there are signs all around the hamlet and surrounding woods. This random wilderness encounter can threaten several things (instead of the PCs): [list][*]It can threaten the relationship between the king and other squatters/bandits/poachers. [*]It can threaten The Knave who has information the PCs need. [*]It can threaten the nearby land-owners if the demon cult reaches critical mass. [*]It can threaten the hamlet as a safe resting/trading place in the future. [*]It can threaten the PCs' morality...can we justify killing misguided "cultists"? Is that a good or evil act?[/list] Probably the most important thing about this encounter is that it does not begin with [i]"Roll initiative."[/i] Time again, I've seen those words lock players (across editions) into combat-mode. When I run random encounters, I prefer to present a challenge which can be solved through multiple avenues, and if combat is the PCs' preferred approach, I set up combats where there is something else at stake besides whose side hits 0 hit points first. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Wilderness Travel & Encounters/Day - How do you handle it?
Top