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View Full Version : Looking for D&D/pathfinder time and distance based random encounter charts.



Verbannon
2014-11-04, 11:15 AM
I'm looking for good time and distance based random encounter charts as I'm having trouble balancing the random encounter rate for my players. I'm currently doing a flat 50% chance of random encounter with every extended rest, day traveled and room entered. Plus the planned encounters but I think thats too high. But don't want to go lower because I want random encounters to be a constant reliable threat as well.

So what I want is two charts, one based on distance, one based on time that start out with small odds of random encounter but grow with every opportunity.

And rather then reinvent the wheel I was hoping something like this exists already balanced.

The campaign is D&D 4e but I don't care what system its from as I can convert.

Knaight
2014-11-04, 12:01 PM
I'm looking for good time and distance based random encounter charts as I'm having trouble balancing the random encounter rate for my players. I'm currently doing a flat 50% chance of random encounter with every extended rest, day traveled and room entered. Plus the planned encounters but I think thats too high. But don't want to go lower because I want random encounters to be a constant reliable threat as well.

That's way too high, and the conditions are odd. I'd be more inclined to have it trigger when the PCs do something that would attract attention, with a lower chance. That said, it looks like you're going for a dungeon crawler in particular, and for that Project Slaughterhouse (http://angrydm.com/2010/08/schrodinger-chekhov-samus/) is a pretty good resource. Make sure you read the later pages.

BWR
2014-11-04, 12:16 PM
IME, the best way to handlemost problems of random encounters is to remove the 'random' bit. Just plan ahead how many encounters and of what the PCs will have. Also, I have rarely come across players who think random meaningless combat in the wild is particularly fun or interesting. The only time REs are meaningful is in specific areas with predetermined encounters, say a dungeon with some groups of monsters wandering around inside.
If your PCs are just passing through an area, decide in advance what you want PCs to face off and just plan it all. Or just let the playeres fast forward to the real action, Maybe I'm just a bit fed up with DMs who have an annoying tendency to throw meaningless combat encounters at us in place of meaningful story ones, but I find it really annoying to play several sessions for only minor story advancement.

Verbannon
2014-11-04, 01:53 PM
My party actually likes random encounters as they provide side quest hooks, can be opportunities for old enemies to show up and large parts of my campaign are exploration based with random encounters making up close to the majority of all encounters, and honestly even most of te story encounters occur randomly because I am a completely off the cuff DM with zero preplanning. But thats besides the point as I didn't ask to have my DMing style judged.

I came here to ask for for some time and distance based random encounter charts. I am looking at that Angry DM site and can't find the tables not in the project and no where else on the rest of the site. I searched 'random encounter' in the search bar and nothing that popped up looked promising.

Knaight
2014-11-04, 03:50 PM
My party actually likes random encounters as they provide side quest hooks, can be opportunities for old enemies to show up and large parts of my campaign are exploration based with random encounters making up close to the majority of all encounters, and honestly even most of te story encounters occur randomly because I am a completely off the cuff DM with zero preplanning. But thats besides the point as I didn't ask to have my DMing style judged.

Random and off the cuff are not the same thing. I'm a heavily improvisational GM, and don't use actually random encounters to any extent. Unplanned, sure. Unrelated to greater goings on to some extent, definitely. Random, no.

As for the tables, read the later pages. It's not a random-encounter table per-se, but does provide a general method for pulling specific encounters out of places.

Verbannon
2014-11-04, 04:41 PM
Maybe random encounter doesn't mean the same thing to me then it does you. Doesn't really matter.

Its not what I need. I need something to control the encounter rates so they aren't being bogged down by a ton of encounters, but at the same time they encounters are neither rare or predictable. I don't need a way of generating the random encounters, that part I do myself without any rolls. Just a chart to decide 'when' the random encounter happens.

I'm going to have to assume there are no such thing as random encounter charts based on time or distance since all I'm getting are posts criticizing my desire for said charts.