Structuring Encounter Tables, Amended & Restated

Source: Structuring Encounter Tables, Amended & Restated

Author: @Nick LS Whelan (Papers & Pencils)

Notes

🌱 Make environments intrude on the player's desired activities to make them feel dangerously alive
🌱 A 2DX encounter table gives you options to differentiate encounters by likelihood
🌱 The most likely encounters can be mundane to establish the normal of a place
🌱 Make zany encounters the least likely to not make the game feel disjointed
🌱 Reserve the tail ends of all 2DX encounter table for the same unlikely encounters
🌱 All elfgames could use more dragons and wizards in them
🌱 Use a specific reaction table for dragons
🌱 Wizards need the ability to do something weird and scary
🌱 Wizards need an escape plan
🌱 Use a specific reaction and action table for wizards
🌱 Dragons and wizards should offer great risk-reward ratios
🌱 Reserve the likeliest encounter in all 2DX for recurring NPCs
🌱 Maintain a list of NPCs the players liked to bring them back as random encounters
🌱 Reserve the major half of a 2DX table for universal threats
🌱 Reserve the minor half of a 2DX table for threats tied to a specific location
🌱 Encounters can emphasize the boundaries between locations
🌱 Universal 2D6 Encounter Table
🌱 When using the universal 2D6 encounter table, a new location requires only 4 new entries
🌱 Encounters should be agentic
🌱 Encounters should have desires and the ability to pursue them
🌱 It's easier to turn a weak encounter into a strong one than to come up with strong encounter first
🌱 Encounters should be doing something specific when you encounter them
🪴 "What is the Encounter Doing?" Table
🌱 Excreting NPCs are only interesting if the can experience shame
🌱 Ignoring an encounter should be possible, but not simple
🌱 Ignoring an encounter should be a choice with consequences
🌱 The majority of encounters should make an undesirable demand on the player's attention
🌱 Recurring characters give the world a sense of history and interconnectivity
🌱 Recurring characters should invite the party's attention in some way
🌱 Making encounter tables specific means frequent restocking is necessary
🌱 Record any extra ideas you have for an encounter table to use them during restocking
🌱 When restocking, come up with new encounters by twisting previous ones
🌱 The encounter die can be the primary driver of play