(A) Random encounters, wandering monsters and intentions
This is archival material from previous blog
I really got stuck writing this article. I did it probably two months before publication, but it was one of biggest blocks during my blogging.
I think there should be less ârandomâ encounters in games. Because this randomisation sometimes covers possible fun endeavours when you have only 1-in-X chances for it. Also they are getting everywhere. I mean â not every travel has to have encounter per hex. Not every walk on city streets has to end up bumping onto drunk students, beggar or religious procession. Random encounters are best when they happen on a purpose. Let me explain on an example.
AngryGM in Megadungeon Monday presents at some point (Iâm not checking which one of 44+ articles was it) idea of random encounters in a dungeon. But this dungeon is very much like Metroid video game, itâs planned and well thought out, and encounters are preplanned to get maximum fun out of certain areas and rooms. Why random encounters then? To restrict players from backtracking their way after every encounter they had to spend something. If youâd give players option to go back and camp out for free after every time they lost health and spell slots â theyâd do that. At least some of them. So when you walk around this dungeon you really like to push forward and go back only when you really need it. Because walking through previously cleared areas is going to bring up random encounters which only drain resources and donât give too much experience.
This is the designers choice in which random encounters matter. They do have meaning for the adventuring ecosystem created by the dungeon. The worst way is to just pop them out of nowhere because you donât have plot ready. Or just throw one during travel no matter how long travel takes. I mean, even Order of the Stick made a comic about it like gazillion years ago. Why do I even talk about it, let me just link it (https://theangrygm.com/redesigning-random-encounters-1/). I know the style is very specific and all these angry rants are for fanservice but there really are genuine and very helpful advice there. So what would I do with this article next?
I would like to advocate for maybe stopping with setting random encounters everywhere. One thing I learned GMing Blades in the Dark (https://bladesinthedark.com/) was to just write down my ideas for things that could happen during a score. Like âangry neighbour with a gunâ or âbuilding falling apartâ and âjanitor with combat-trained dogâ and then instead of rolling what would happen I actually glance at the list and pick the most realistic-yet-adventurous one and add it to the scene. This way I donât end up awkwardly rolling behind the screen and interpreting results while the game stops.
I once was very strongly set on making âtruly open worldâ game. Nothing predetermined, everything random, world created by chance. Me and my players had short hexcrawl during which only elf-traitor survived and one other PC became intelligent undead. It was fun a little but it lacked important thing. Being anchored in the world. The elven village worshipping death was missed by PCs who walked three adjacent hexes next to it. I mean, presence of fifty-something cultists/necromancers should leave some traces in wilderness around or in peoples gossip or something. Nope. Just the same with every big monster. They werenât part of this world. Villagers should be able to show you the road to the next village or town or wherever they go to trade. People get to know people, information flows between societies. I mean, they didnât have internet, TV, radio or even press then. All they had was the guy from neighbouring village who saw local official coming to the inn with soldiers so maybe they came for taxes or drafting people to war or⌠Gossip. Cannot really render truly fake-alive world without spreading information everywhere. And you could always make random gossips which then come to live. Thatâs a good idea. Pulling random troll in the middle of nowhere rarely is. Unless you cultivate the notion of really chaotic world.
I think instead of random encounters one should take inspiration for themselves. Like, I saw duckload of random tables. Random everything. You can roll your pants, your backstory, cataclysmic event happening in the area. But these rarely bring something meaningful to the game. Players donât see what COULD have happened. They donât have any agency and even if they have the agency but donât know about it â it feels as if they hadnât. If the badness of random things grows with bad decisions some players will never be able to tell unless it is explicitly said. Some may suspect but the logic behind poor decisions and how the world works differ between people, so things obvious for one might be totally implausible for the other. I call it weak shot â seen too many bad decisions made by people following their logic instead of âworldâ logic. The best way is to explain to GM not only our plans but also whatâs behind them, the intentions and understanding of events.
The random is not the essence. Only interpretation. I would really like inspirations more than tables. And even if they got to be random tables they would be better as not single words but evocative descriptions as in https://attnam.blogspot.com/2021/06/regional-trouble.html I mean, this list is something I will surely be using for myself, who knows if not for my settings or adventures.
What Iâm trying to say, I think, is to think before making these systems. Like, not every wilderness travel should be full of surprises. You donât have to roll each 6 in-game hours to check if something random happened. Maybe prepare something relevant and roll just to see IF it happens at this time. Old grandma living on ground floor who is scared of thieves and owns a shotgun is one of them. My players, fortunately for them, got away quickly before she took her gun out. At least this time. But sheâll be back.