The Boz
2011-11-01, 06:23 PM
How about the DMs here share some secrets regarding encounter creation?
When you're generating an encounter for your party, how long do you take, on average? How about generating MBEGs and recurring villains? What's the best way to organize and develop your NPCs, especially those with combat interactions in mind?
In the PF game I'm currently running, I normally use the bestiary for monsters, which is nice and simple, but the campaign has a lot of allies and foes with class levels, which I find I have to develop quickly from the ground up. I get through the random mooks quickly enough, especially since after one is statted up, its easy to use the stat block to develop similarly CRed mooks with minor adjustments. I take my time on any spellcaster or memorable character and develop their stuff with a lot of detail, but I keep that detail in a separate file. I use my laptop a lot, and on it I have multiple text files with NPCs, quests, events, PC cheat sheets, items and fluff.
An NPC from a quest might have the following blurb in the part where all the other NPCs and enemies are statted up for ease of access:
Robbett
(40hp, AC 20, +7/+7/+3, I+1, LE, 20ft, A+7 1d8+3 C19x2)
[Masterwork Longsword, Masterwork Heavy Shield, Masterwork Banded Mail, letter, 260 gold]
Will engage confidently, but will try and withdraw if any of his friends is killed.
In the quest description, however, there is a more detailed text about that same guy:
Robbett
A portly human of some fourty years, with balding and greying hair. He stands completely relaxed not out of confidence, but out of laziness. The tunic of the Felton Guard that he wears is messy, showing obvious signs of neglect. His shield is old but sturdy, and it doesn't have a single battle dent or scratch on it, and the same is true for his armor. The banded mail he wears was obviously made for someone taller, thinner, likely several years ago when Felton's economy was booming. He talks slowly, but not because he's stupid; he just doesn't give a ****.
How does everyone else do it?
When you're generating an encounter for your party, how long do you take, on average? How about generating MBEGs and recurring villains? What's the best way to organize and develop your NPCs, especially those with combat interactions in mind?
In the PF game I'm currently running, I normally use the bestiary for monsters, which is nice and simple, but the campaign has a lot of allies and foes with class levels, which I find I have to develop quickly from the ground up. I get through the random mooks quickly enough, especially since after one is statted up, its easy to use the stat block to develop similarly CRed mooks with minor adjustments. I take my time on any spellcaster or memorable character and develop their stuff with a lot of detail, but I keep that detail in a separate file. I use my laptop a lot, and on it I have multiple text files with NPCs, quests, events, PC cheat sheets, items and fluff.
An NPC from a quest might have the following blurb in the part where all the other NPCs and enemies are statted up for ease of access:
Robbett
(40hp, AC 20, +7/+7/+3, I+1, LE, 20ft, A+7 1d8+3 C19x2)
[Masterwork Longsword, Masterwork Heavy Shield, Masterwork Banded Mail, letter, 260 gold]
Will engage confidently, but will try and withdraw if any of his friends is killed.
In the quest description, however, there is a more detailed text about that same guy:
Robbett
A portly human of some fourty years, with balding and greying hair. He stands completely relaxed not out of confidence, but out of laziness. The tunic of the Felton Guard that he wears is messy, showing obvious signs of neglect. His shield is old but sturdy, and it doesn't have a single battle dent or scratch on it, and the same is true for his armor. The banded mail he wears was obviously made for someone taller, thinner, likely several years ago when Felton's economy was booming. He talks slowly, but not because he's stupid; he just doesn't give a ****.
How does everyone else do it?