Encounters you thought you'd see

[Mark Griffin]

So I was wondering what kind of encounters you guys expected/wanted to see but didn't? What round 2 monsters should have gotten more love, or what would you have done if you were in the top 16?

I really expected to see at least one chimney troll, and I was hoping for an encounter on some gothic rooftops in Caliphas. That would have probably been my entry.

I was also looking forward to a really neat sewer encounter with everyone's favorite sharktopus. Maybe people though that would be too cliche.

Lastly, while I didn't think it was likely, I wanted a social encounter with a filth dragon.

On the flip side, I was surprised to not only see an imposter maw, but also have it be a favorite of mine, since I that monster wasn't my favorite. Congrats there Mikko.

And congrats to all the top 16, great job all around.

[James Casey]

I agree with Mark on Mikko's use of the Imposter Maw. I was totally surprised and impressed with Mikko's use of that monster.

I originally was going to use a Chimney troll in the crematorium but was afraid too many other contestants would be using the Chimney troll. That being said, I was disappointed not to see at least one Chimney Troll.

I also would have liked an encounter that featured the Miscaster. I really liked those guys and thought they could make for an interesting, fun and challenging encounter. A portion of my module pitch was going to include some Miscasters.

As for a social encounter, I think having only 1,500 words to create and describe a location and then to detail an encounter in that location made it difficult to create a truly social encounter.

Thank you for the reference to my creature, Mark. I would have liked to see an encounter featuring him also. I plan on correcting some of the errors as well as making some adjustments based on the comments I received.

[frank gori]

Were it me I'd have gone Galt, set up would be middle of a riot. An arsonist has started fires attracting a Chimney troll and his fire mephit buddy. An alchemist would be the culprit and I'd shoot for CR 6.

[Scott Fernandez]

I'm also on board with the chimney troll. I totally had visions of a group of PCs in Ardis (moreso than Caliphas) trying to fight a fire started in a battle between a gang of chimney trolls and some gargoyles.

--Vrock & Troll

[Mikko Kallio]

James Casey wrote:

I agree with Mark on Mikko's use of the Imposter Maw. I was totally surprised and impressed with Mikko's use of that monster.

Mark and James, thank you. :) I picked the maw mainly because it seemed like a more interesting challenge than the more popular monsters. It was also a homage to michaeljpatrick for creating a more interesting monster from the "humanoid with a big mouth" concept than I was able to. One of my four concepts that I considered was "piranha people" (who were inspired by the Japanese urban legend, kuchisake onna and the ballerina in cabin in the woods), but I never got farther than "a human-like aberration with a bite attack". My third reason was that the author left its origins largely up for the GM to decide. Which suited me just fine; Muad'dib... sorry I mean Musa'id thanks you kindly. ;-)

I also wanted to see encounters featuring the chimney troll! I very much like GM_Solspiral's idea for a riot encounter with the troll.

[Curaigh]

I too expected more chimney trolls and also fewer shattered dryads (three). I thought there would be more sewers, but I am glad there wasn't :)

[Joseph Kellogg]

One of my earlier ideas for an encounter featured chimney trolls and a pair of ghouls with levels in the Roof Runner rogue archetype. Then I was reminded that custom stat blocks were off-limits, so I moved on. Plus, it would seem weird to say "Here's a really cool new urban location, with a few paragraphs of backstory and description. But you won't see any of that, because you'll be up on the roof."

[Mike Kimmel]

Glad to see some fun chimney troll ideas here even if nobody used them for their encounters. I'll definitely be checking here first next time I want to use chimney trolls in a game!

[Andrew Marlowe]

Mike Kimmel wrote:

Glad to see some fun chimney troll ideas here even if nobody used them for their encounters. I'll definitely be checking here first next time I want to use chimney trolls in a game!

I think we all expected to see more chimney trolls and rooftop encounters. As for my design Gnar and Boll came to me fully formed when I read the guttersnipe. So there was little debate in my mind what creature I would use for my encounter but the tiny bit of debate did revolve around the chimney troll.

My concern with the troll was...and maybe this is the same concern others had...I was afraid my entry would be lost in a bunch of chimney troll encounters.

[Tripp Elliott]

Andrew Marlowe wrote:

My concern with the troll was...and maybe this is the same concern others had...I was afraid my entry would be lost in a bunch of chimney troll encounters.

Here here! My intent with the Portrait Phantom was to avoid the couple monsters with that were universally acclaimed, and at the same time avoid the ones that everyone seemed to dislike. I wanted a "middle of the road" monster for my encounter.

Ahhhh well, we'll always have Paris!

[Jeff Lee]

I was definitely expecting to see a few chimney troll encounters. I wanted to see someone do something with the chwal, selachipoda, and the nightflower.