Random Encounter Chance?


Homebrew and House Rules


Okay I have a big Mine/ Kobold dungeon coming up in my next campaign chapter, and I'm looking for a decent RANDOM ENCOUNTER CHANCE that seems plausible.

Near Cavern Openings/ Cliffs
30% per hour that they are hanging around
+10% if there is fighting going on
+5% if loud speaking
+5% if characters are bloodied(4th ed term but i like the status indicator)
+10% if light sources are present

Basic Camping/ Resting
20% per 6 hours
+10% fighting
+5% loud speaking
+5% bloodied or injuried as above
+5% light
+5% food is out in the open
+5% for each entrance opening to established camp site
-10% for each Secured Entrance

Very broad and General points to track, but I didnt want to overwhelm the party. Currently, 9 PCs level 2-3, and half are pretty new to gaming. The other Half have been gaming 10+ years. My goal is to impose the sense of exploration, fear of the unknown, etc. Thanks for any comments.

Liberty's Edge

I do my encounters much more simplistic:

Close to the liar (Badies home) 1 in 6 during the day, 2 in 6 at night (if they are nocturnal).

Few days travel from liar or normal situations (this depends on what type of terrain it is) 1 in 8, and 1 in 6 at night.

I've found this working well for me and my group, though sometimes the encounter is garaunteed because a particular 'random' encounter is key to the adventure.


That seems like a petty decent method. I think keeping track of all the minor details like whether or not food is out in the open might be a bit extreme, unless you want the party to micromanage everything. This seems, to me, akin to saying "Hah, you never picked up your sword after that fight because you didn't say you did; so you left it there", even if the party of adventurers might know better (a DC 11 survival check with the option to take 10 would probably be enough for pretty much anyone with any camping knowledge to know not to do stuff like leave bear-magnets laying about).

However, I do like the modifiers for some of the other stuff like lighting and what-not. That's not something that most people would just automatically choose to avoid, since light = more chance to notice things creeping up (unless you're an elf in moonlight or a dwarf in the dark).

When it comes to random encounters in my own games, I generally roll a d20 (each 1/20 is a 5% chance) versus a specific DC that is set by the area the party is in. If the d20 meets the DC the party doesn't encounter enemies. It can be modified based on situational things easily by adding simple +x/-x modifiers.

For example, your kobold den seems pretty dangerous, while general camping probably shouldn't involve too many random encounters. So the kobold camp might have a DC of 8 (35%) with a +1 DC per hour (so resting 8 hours would be DC 15). The light source, loud noises, and strong odors might increase the DC by +1 each.

Thus every hour there is a 35% chance they run into something on your random encounter chart (say kobolds). If they stop to rest for eight hours, they have a 70% chance to encounter something. If they were also being loud, using torches in the darkness, and frying bacon, the DC would be 19 (a 90% chance they will be discovered).

Favorable conditions add a bonus to the d20 roll respectively. You can also set a % chance that they will encounter something friendly. For example, in a forest you might have a DC 6 chance to run into an enemy, but on an 18-20 you encounter something friendly like a Unicorn or a patrol of elves.

Just some ideas.

Silver Crusade

I think you might want to just save yourself some heart ache and just drop encounters when they seem dramatically appropriate. Prep 3 or 4 encounters and drop them in when desired. You can reuse some of the encounters if your players need some prodding.

Shadow Lodge

karkon wrote:
I think you might want to just save yourself some heart ache and just drop encounters when they seem dramatically appropriate. Prep 3 or 4 encounters and drop them in when desired. You can reuse some of the encounters if your players need some prodding.

I'm with this suggestion. Random encounters feel so...2E. Not that 2E is a bad thing, I loved 2E, it's just that in my experience, games work better when there is an illusion of randomness, but it's not really that random. Make a couple interesting encounters, and then roll if you really want to, or just drop one in because the game needs a pick-me-up. Sometimes GMs just need to set a pace, not follow the die rolls (when it comes to random encounters).


I'm mostly inclined to agree with that. However, I think some people enjoy the random encounter aspect because they themselves don't know exactly what is going to happen, which makes it more interesting for the GM as well. Likewise, it adds a certain charm to deciding what to do. Could some big nasty show up in the middle of the night? If it does, did you find a good place to hide? If you're in an old dungeon, did you pick a room and fortify it to hold up in for the night while your cleric tends to the wizard's poisoned wounds?

There's a certain charm with random encounters. Even when I'm playing Baldur's Gate, each time I decide to try resting in a questionable location, there is the sense of anxiousness that I might be beset by danger; so resting on well traveled roads is pretty safe, while resting on the 3rd level of the kobold lair means I'm probably going to get mobbed by some dozen kobolds everytime I try; meaning I either need to be ready to tough it out or retreat back to safety.


Lots of good points. I appreciate the feedback so far. I'll chew them over a bit more tonight when I have time to think it over.


I would argue that you should roll for your encounter chance, though possibly using a less complex system than the one you have, but don't make the encounters completely random. Your camp encounter table, specifically, seems built for micromanaging. You have to ask the players how loud they are talking, make sure they know how many entrances they have, and check how they secure each one. You'll also need to ask what they do with the food they cook, unless you assume that if they say nothing they're leaving it out in the open. All that seems like it would get tedious to ask every time, and lead to the party eventually just saying, "we find a campsite with only one entrance, barricade it, and bury our food" every time they camp once they figure out how the table works. If that's what you;re looking for, and managing all those specific circumstances doesn't seem tedious to you or your players, than that's perfectly fine and you can use the table as is. I'm just saying that for my games and players that seems like a more detailed table than it needs to be.

As for random encounters, in my opinion they are a great part of the game, perfect for keeping the party on their toes and with just a bit left in the tank. Still, just because when the encounter happens is determined randomly, you don't need to have the actual encounter itself be left up to the dice. Make a handful, maybe 5 or 6 for a single location, of encounters that are thematically appropriate and interesting to you, and when a random encounter comes up pick one of them to throw at the party. This has the benefit of still including random encounters to keep your players on their toes, while allowing you to plan the encounters in advance so you won't need to do much scrambling around at the table.


hmm. Okay points to consider....

1- Dont micromanage. I'll go with that even though this group needs to be mircomanaged. Integrity comes up with some of the players sometimes, but that's another post. Key not to micromanage in order to have more time and effort for fostering the sense of exploring the unknown. Maybe instead of fighting, loud noise, etc...just have it as Noisy vs quiet +10%. Light vs no light +10%. Odor vs non odor (meaning food, blood, etc. or no food, blood, etc.) +10%. Simple enough.

1b- Camping area I'll probably continue with the same type pattern. Secure vs Unsecure. Light vs no Light. Odor vs No Odor. etc. I dont want them resting after each fight like they tend to do sometimes. Got to push them a bit. But, Ashiel mentioned a key point earlier about falling back to safety. LOL, PC's dont think like that do they? Wasn't sure they were programmed to think like that. Just glad someone else displays the same thought process.

2- I have 2 tables of 1-8 different encounters done up. Both different. Some have friendly NPCs and some are mutually hostile(meaning, if they happen to be fighting kobolds near a random encounter area. They might draw a 3rd "mob" into the fight that attacks both sides. Complicated, but interesting none the less.)

Okay, now taking those 2 points, I'll put it into a DC-type table as Ashiel recommended or keep it as %. Good Insights. 'ppreciate it.


Aristin76 wrote:
Lots of good points. I appreciate the feedback so far. I'll chew them over a bit more tonight when I have time to think it over.

I do 1 in 6 during 24 hours in untracked wilderness, 1 in 20 per day in civilized lands. Also, civilized lands are going to have a much different encounter table than the woods.

When in the layer of the beast, like a dungeon, I don't have random encounters. I write up specifically what the party is going to be fighting.


I do have specific encounters designed for the group to handle, but I also have chasms, inhabited tunnels, pits, underground water-ways, etc.. These areas are not inhabited by the kobolds, and are more like natural pockets of caves and tunnels that might invite random underground critters to stop by for a visit. In game terms, I dont want to bore the PCs fighting kobolds and such. I want to throw a few twists that might surprise them. Hence, finding an appropiate game mechanic to add "Flair" to encounters.


Aristin76 wrote:
I do have specific encounters designed for the group to handle, but I also have chasms, inhabited tunnels, pits, underground water-ways, etc.. These areas are not inhabited by the kobolds, and are more like natural pockets of caves and tunnels that might invite random underground critters to stop by for a visit. In game terms, I dont want to bore the PCs fighting kobolds and such. I want to throw a few twists that might surprise them. Hence, finding an appropiate game mechanic to add "Flair" to encounters.

If you wanted to get deep with it, and I might work on this over the next few days, is create a random environment table for where the party is in relation to the thing when they encounter it.

Uphill
Downhill
Upwind
Downwind
With Cover
Without Cover
With Obstacle
Without Obstacle

I think there are only 16 possible combination - roll 4 encounter dice... even you get A, odd you get B. You could decide based on where they are to automatically favor one variable, like always have cover in the woods.

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