Building Random encounter table help / advice

[doc the grey]

So I'm working on a 2 part random encounter table for a party of adventurers out hunting buffalo in a fantastic great plains and I'm having a bit of trouble.

Like I've said, I've broken the list into two lists. The first is for encounters that can occur while they are looking for buffalo that they have a chance to take down and meant to delay, distract, or otherwise obstruct them from reaching their goal that day. Group 2 are meant to be encounters that can occur after they have felled their buffalo target and potentially want to steal or otherwise push them off their prize.

Now, I know what creatures and hazards are on both of these lists, but I'm having trouble distributing the percentages equally in a way that makes most of these interesting encounters possible but also reflects a living world (think more nonpredatory hazards in list 1 that are either unfortunate run ins or other possible hunts rather than active predators). The current encounter lists are in the spoilers below and I'll include a link to the current tables if people are interested in aiding. I've built lists before but I always find myself making them bigger and more complex which gives me a lot of interesting options but makes the rolling part take forever.

List 1:

Ankhegs, Nomads (Native Hunters), Peryton, Pachycephalosaurus, Deer, Pronghorn (antelope stats), Skunk, Snake, Allosaurus, Juvenile Seps, Owlbear, Ettin, Chimera, Mustangs, Stinging Grasses, Poison Ivy, Diseased Mosquitoes, Diseased Ticks

List 2:

Wolves, Dire Weasel, Deinoychus, Grizzly Bear, Ankhegs, Peryton, Giant Vulture, Pteranodon, Quetzacoatlus, Allosaurus, Owlbear, Ettin, Chimera, Griffon, Hippogriff, Dimetrodon, Diseased Mosquitoes, Diseased Ticks

Current Table

So, anyone have any suggestions? Ideas on how to make these lists fit into a d% chart, questions about how or what these encounters are supposed to do/play out like? Any questions or advice would be appreciated.

[GM Rednal]

d20 and d100 are the most common choices for random encounter tables. It's normal for "common" threats to occupy a much larger percent, and the deadliest threats may only be the smallest possible percent (5% or 1%, respectively). So, you're much more likely to encounter snakes and deer than you are chimeras or ettins. The exact distribution should be based on how dangerous you want the region to be, but a 20% chance of the rare, dangerous foes is probably appropriate.

[doc the grey]

GM Rednal wrote:

d20 and d100 are the most common choices for random encounter tables. It's normal for "common" threats to occupy a much larger percent, and the deadliest threats may only be the smallest possible percent (5% or 1%, respectively). So, you're much more likely to encounter snakes and deer than you are chimeras or ettins. The exact distribution should be based on how dangerous you want the region to be, but a 20% chance of the rare, dangerous foes is probably appropriate.

So you net out with the dangerous encounters being around 20% altogether then? That sounds solid, I've also realized that I can increase the likelihood by putting an encounter across both tables, netting it out with a higher likelihood overall.

[GM Rednal]

Mm. And a fair bit depends on how many encounters you want people to face, of course. If you're only going to have them fight 1-2 foes, it's easier to pick two encounters that seem fun and just do those. XD If you want to have an encounter chance table and randomized foes along the way, though, with quite a few battles, the tables definitely help.

(Borderland Provinces, from Frog God Games, is a nice resource if you expect to want a lot of random encounter tables. It has quite a few of them, plus low, medium, high, and extreme risk versions of each type of encounter to showcase how dangerous the region is. So, areas immediately around cities tend to only have low-risk stuff, while going far off-road could lead to some genuinely dangerous situations.)

[doc the grey]

GM Rednal wrote:

Mm. And a fair bit depends on how many encounters you want people to face, of course. If you're only going to have them fight 1-2 foes, it's easier to pick two encounters that seem fun and just do those. XD If you want to have an encounter chance table and randomized foes along the way, though, with quite a few battles, the tables definitely help.

(Borderland Provinces, from Frog God Games, is a nice resource if you expect to want a lot of random encounter tables. It has quite a few of them, plus low, medium, high, and extreme risk versions of each type of encounter to showcase how dangerous the region is. So, areas immediately around cities tend to only have low-risk stuff, while going far off-road could lead to some genuinely dangerous situations.)

I might have to check that out. Right now I'm using the Discovery System from Ultimate Wilderness. The day is broken into 4 cycles and there's a 20% chance of one in each quarter of the day. With this on top of the actual buffalo encounter they're already gunning for, there's likely to be an encounter each day, but potentially none at all if they roll well(?) enough and don't find their quarry.

[Pizza Lord]

Typically, if you were to lay out the random encounters, most people would put the rare ones at either end of the spectrum. If you're doing a straight, basically one to two list option, it might be fine to put the 'tougher' stuff at the upper end, but for most environmental random encounters a good design set up is to put the common stuff in the center rolls (assuming a d100 or such chart, maybe 26%–75%), then the uncommon stuff (possibly 11%–25% and 76%–90%), then the rarer unlikely to occur stuff (not necessarily tough or dangerous, just rare, like a unicorn or wandering demon, angel, or NPC adventurer) at 01%–10 and 91%–00%).

That set up would account for a bell-curve to get the more common rolls when using multiple dice (like a 2d6 or 2d10) for determining encounters, but obviously if you're doing a d100 roll there isn't really a curve, but it's still a good layout for design purposes. You could also do the end caps with 01–05% being 'Roll on a lower CR table' and 95%–00% being 'Roll the next higher CR table', but you'd obviously need to have those tables made up (or loaded on your computer for quick reference).

Obviously encounters with random numbers of creatures may be higher or lower than the tables indicated CR. For instance, 2d4 orcs, could be a lower level encounter if you only get two, but it could be higher than the table's normal value if you get eight unexpectedly, but sometimes that happens.

[Guardianlord]

I have some advice, combine tables of benign, good, and hostile encounters to share one dice set. I did an Oregon trail system on these boards based on the ranger terrains chart.
I suggest placing your hostile encounters on a d100 spread (1-5% each), friendly encounters (either 5-10% or 1-5% each), then have neutral events or skill check events fill the gaps.
neutral events include inclement weather events, interesting terrain features (that can be creatively used by players for various bonuses to skill checks - such as a tall spire that helps with tracking herds, a canyon that can increase foraging for rare ingredients).
Good events can be strong foraging areas (bonus to survival gathering checks), secure camp sights, traders, hidden ruins for traditional adventuring (skeletons guarding an old shrine, goblins camping in an abandoned fort, a pig hiding in a lost crypt) that can be bypassed or used.
Bad could be traps, disease, pest animals raiding stores (raccoons are nice at nights), hostile humanoids, poison foods, flash weather events, hostile animals, and general gear misfortune (broken straps and wheel requiring stopping and repairing, loss of ammo forcing resupply or crafting, etc).
A second d100 can determine if events occur at all.
Maybe have a set table with increasing chances of rolling the encounter d100 based on past events or lack of past events. That way they can go potentially days without being harassed and get comfortable with the hunting/tracking/survivaling/exploring and encounters become rarer and more stressful. But they will eventually hit an encounter as the table will throw the odds in favour of a hit.
Then when an event occurs, drop one step down again.
So: Day 1- 10% chance of event, 2-20%, 3-30%, 4-40%=Event, 5=30%, 6=40% etc.

Your everyday allergy event could be rolled into this dice, anything at a flat 10% or less = encounter plus allergy. Kindof a critical failure day.

At preset points you can set fixed encounter chances, or set the odds really high, such as staying near a killing field too long and attracting scavengers.

And I love the idea of a 1% chance wild table with elements alien to the terrain. This could be a sudden gargantuan creature running amok, a crazed underdark citizen suddenly in the light, a friendly caravan, a spell duel between wizards, a double rainbow or a dragon flyby. This makes the world seem a lot more complex.

For disease/poison/traps always allow for a survival check to avoid before they have to make saves, reward good skill management because nothing sucks more than a survival expert druid with +20 check sleeping on poison ivy over night.

You have a few nested percentages, you could divide these into their own encounters. Such as snakes (give them 5 slots normal, 1 slot the rare encounter).

Then just switch between the pre and post kill tables for your second dice. If the butchering takes 1 day per animal and they kill 5 animals, that's 5 day and 5 night encounters potentially.