Your failing forward causing encounters advice is absolutely the best. I use that all the time to great effect. Framing the scene as "do you make it up the rocks before the spiders come?" Is tense and great. Don't forget to describe success in that case as spiders still come but the party can either keep going or bait their former hunters into being prey!
Warehouse. A house that stores wares. Werehouse. A house that can transform into a humanoid under certain conditions. Wherehouse. A house that takes you places.
I got better at random encounters by not deviating from the tables in the ToA adventure. Once the players had gotten the same encounters multiple times instead of rolling again or using a different table or ignoring them, I started to frame each encounter in a different way. The creatures might be feeding and ignoring the party, but the party might have to waste time going around the area to avoid a fight. The creatures might be running from something bigger, and the players might need to run or get caught by whatever is coming (I had one where a bunch of axe beaks were running away from a group of velociraptors). The creatures might be dead, and there might be some useful information about what lurks nearby if the players stop and examine what happened. For non-combat encounters an NPC they met previously on a random might be captured by an enemy. A stash of gold might be getting looted by bandits. You can even roll twice and use that for an idea to combine the two, but try to avoid the players having to avoid fighting a double encounter by having one of the encounters subdued, non-hostile, or roleplay. I don't consider planned encounters to be random. I still enjoy rolling on tables because some really memorable moments come out of something neither I nor the players were expecting.
Another way to use random encounters is to encourage the players to do something about a growing threat. Goblins raiding a farming village? "Not our problem." say the players. So the goblins grow in number and now the PCs can't go three steps without running into a goblin raiding party. Suddenly it is their problem.
Yes! That's a great way to keep the players reminded about ongoing events. Another one of my viewers @MatthewCole suggested that you can have goblins you beat up last session return with larger numbers
Love the stuff about using encounters related to failing skill checks. This makes way more sense than the rogue "breaking the lockpick in the keyhole" every single time.
You make a great point about the emerging story. I love it when the players gain some knowledge or even an item that I never intended them to have. Sometimes this has completely changed the course of the campaign, which my players have noticed and really seem to enjoy.
I used my first real random encounter to fill in the haunted forest my party is going though. The banshee looked like an elf and when someone tried to detect thoughts, they heard her screaming the name of the Druid lich that did this to her. It was a good encounter that was 100% built on a random generator and a bad encounter roll.
sometimes, if the PC's have entered a large structure, I will have the planned encounters be in "flexible" locations. like, instead of assigning room 23 to be the kobolds sleeping room, it's the first room of 20x30' the PC's enter. and so forth. I also do this for overland travel quirks that hint at forgotten civilizations.
I love your take on random encounters. I have been a DM for about 5 years, altho I have had to take off a significant amount of time for health reasons. I love that I learn something from every DM I play with. It may be what not to do, but it always makes me better. This video was what to do. Very cool.
This is great! Why do you only have deadly and hard encounters? Why not give opportunities for the players to feel their strength through quick under leveled encounters?
I'd show the players power by having lots of low level monsters. Or, by having weak baddies as an obstacle to a goal other than kill-everything. I think, in general, encounters should be somewhat challenging because that increases player engagement. But, I don't *really balance encounters all that much anyway...it more like they should be able to take this on vs they could be able to take this on
Personally, even when I'm the player, anything easier than hard is boring. Like, if I was going to curbstomp them and rest as if the fight never happened, did it really? It also doesn't incentivize my character to use anything other than my best spell and/or my standard attack action when being challenged might allow me to hide or grapple or search. I want to use my obtuse spells that my players sworn that I couldn't find a use for and while I can try to force it, I really want it to feel like I was forced into it. Like I was prepared the perfect action despite the DM just being considerate.
Hi Zipperon! I have a question about using the calendar. How exactly do you do this? You have days and when something happens you write it there? Or do you have events prescribed on days that they are sort of waiting to happen? I did not get it perhaps because of my english but I think using calendar might help my game. Thank you :-)
Both. I start a campaign with pre-dertermined events on a calendar. Then I'll add others or modify the events as the story progresses, responding to the characters actions. Separately, I'll have events that I want to have happen *sometime* then, throw those in when a random encounter happens.
Thanks for sharing! I really liked what you said at 5:10 about "joy of discovery"! I've blended that with "foreshadowing" by intermittently presenting navigation choices that elude to which random encounters lie ahead. For example, as the PCs travel south along the river bank they come to a choice between the steep bluff with an aarakocra statue at the pinnacle overlooking the river OR the mist-shrouded valley trail with two emerald green lanterns glowing dimly within. Which way do they want to go?
Sure thing! I gotta update it from Tuesday's sessions, but the yellow block is the current day, the red text is events that will happen, and the seasons and holidays are on the left column. docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1v0R9gpHsN4Z6oXg7n6vyWKodT7IsJMz-9PRrv9YGarQ/edit?usp=sharing
Totally agree, it’s easy to frustrate players when they feel like an encounter is just spinning wheels. Really into the idea of progressing the world with each one but if a house teleported me away from the action without a plot reason I’d get annoyed tbh. Also what’s up with all the tie-dye?
Are you familiar with the AngryGM? I find that you two agree on a lot of points. Not saying either one is plagiarizing the other, but you might find some other intersting ideas on his blog, seeing how a lot of your content already coincides with his.
@@ZipperonDisney He talks about what should be random about random encounters, how you can use them to tell stories or use them as dramatic tension, i.e. as a 'set back' and ties it together with a time tracking system where in stead of rolling on a certain time interval, he builds up a pool of dice visible to the players at that rate and rolls it either when the pool is full or when the Players do something that attracts attention to them. If any of them turn up as a 1, he runs a premade encounter. He uses d6s but there is no reason to not just use your d12 system for very similar odds. This makes wasting time something very tactile and shows players how the stakes increase over time. His articles are a bit wordy but this one is definitely worth a read. EDIT: Grammar and link: theangrygm.com/redesigning-random-encounters-1/
God the inclusion of random monster table for random encounters is the biggest issue with the communities perceptions of random encounters. Making "random" situations occur is a much better idea. Just like you said, they expose things about the world that people who sit in town and behind the safety of civilization couldn't know. Now the party are the ones speaking rumors and they can effectively trade information with other folk who wander the uncivilized places of the world.
@@ZipperonDisney its really fun to have my parties trade little tidbits with an npc adventurer and get a story of a beast that the adventurer had to flee from in return. Allows the players to go chase that characters failed quarry and feel more badass!
Your failing forward causing encounters advice is absolutely the best. I use that all the time to great effect. Framing the scene as "do you make it up the rocks before the spiders come?" Is tense and great. Don't forget to describe success in that case as spiders still come but the party can either keep going or bait their former hunters into being prey!
Describing success as avoiding an encounter is GREAT! Thanks for that!!
Warehouse. A house that stores wares.
Werehouse. A house that can transform into a humanoid under certain conditions.
Wherehouse. A house that takes you places.
part shack, part shark
I got better at random encounters by not deviating from the tables in the ToA adventure. Once the players had gotten the same encounters multiple times instead of rolling again or using a different table or ignoring them, I started to frame each encounter in a different way. The creatures might be feeding and ignoring the party, but the party might have to waste time going around the area to avoid a fight. The creatures might be running from something bigger, and the players might need to run or get caught by whatever is coming (I had one where a bunch of axe beaks were running away from a group of velociraptors). The creatures might be dead, and there might be some useful information about what lurks nearby if the players stop and examine what happened. For non-combat encounters an NPC they met previously on a random might be captured by an enemy. A stash of gold might be getting looted by bandits. You can even roll twice and use that for an idea to combine the two, but try to avoid the players having to avoid fighting a double encounter by having one of the encounters subdued, non-hostile, or roleplay.
I don't consider planned encounters to be random. I still enjoy rolling on tables because some really memorable moments come out of something neither I nor the players were expecting.
This is a really good technique, framing the encounters differently. Thanks for sharing all the examples!
Another way to use random encounters is to encourage the players to do something about a growing threat. Goblins raiding a farming village? "Not our problem." say the players. So the goblins grow in number and now the PCs can't go three steps without running into a goblin raiding party. Suddenly it is their problem.
Yes! That's a great way to keep the players reminded about ongoing events. Another one of my viewers @MatthewCole suggested that you can have goblins you beat up last session return with larger numbers
Love the stuff about using encounters related to failing skill checks. This makes way more sense than the rogue "breaking the lockpick in the keyhole" every single time.
I'm gonna bring up that point in my Oct. vid too! Keep an eye out for it :)
You make a great point about the emerging story. I love it when the players gain some knowledge or even an item that I never intended them to have. Sometimes this has completely changed the course of the campaign, which my players have noticed and really seem to enjoy.
It really makes things come alive and create a vibrant world :)
You deserve millions of subscribers
I truly mean that - thank you for the effort you put into these videos
Wow, thank you!
Zipperon Disney you got it man - keep up the good work
I used my first real random encounter to fill in the haunted forest my party is going though. The banshee looked like an elf and when someone tried to detect thoughts, they heard her screaming the name of the Druid lich that did this to her. It was a good encounter that was 100% built on a random generator and a bad encounter roll.
sometimes, if the PC's have entered a large structure, I will have the planned encounters be in "flexible" locations. like, instead of assigning room 23 to be the kobolds sleeping room, it's the first room of 20x30' the PC's enter. and so forth. I also do this for overland travel quirks that hint at forgotten civilizations.
I like that approach a lot!
I love your take on random encounters. I have been a DM for about 5 years, altho I have had to take off a significant amount of time for health reasons. I love that I learn something from every DM I play with. It may be what not to do, but it always makes me better. This video was what to do. Very cool.
Thanks! I like this one a lot too - randomly timing when scenes happen is one thing I wish other folks would try more often
This is great!
Why do you only have deadly and hard encounters? Why not give opportunities for the players to feel their strength through quick under leveled encounters?
I'd show the players power by having lots of low level monsters. Or, by having weak baddies as an obstacle to a goal other than kill-everything. I think, in general, encounters should be somewhat challenging because that increases player engagement. But, I don't *really balance encounters all that much anyway...it more like they should be able to take this on vs they could be able to take this on
Personally, even when I'm the player, anything easier than hard is boring. Like, if I was going to curbstomp them and rest as if the fight never happened, did it really? It also doesn't incentivize my character to use anything other than my best spell and/or my standard attack action when being challenged might allow me to hide or grapple or search. I want to use my obtuse spells that my players sworn that I couldn't find a use for and while I can try to force it, I really want it to feel like I was forced into it. Like I was prepared the perfect action despite the DM just being considerate.
Hi Zipperon! I have a question about using the calendar. How exactly do you do this? You have days and when something happens you write it there? Or do you have events prescribed on days that they are sort of waiting to happen? I did not get it perhaps because of my english but I think using calendar might help my game. Thank you :-)
Both. I start a campaign with pre-dertermined events on a calendar. Then I'll add others or modify the events as the story progresses, responding to the characters actions. Separately, I'll have events that I want to have happen *sometime* then, throw those in when a random encounter happens.
@@ZipperonDisney Thank you for clarification :) I wish you the best!
Thanks for sharing! I really liked what you said at 5:10 about "joy of discovery"! I've blended that with "foreshadowing" by intermittently presenting navigation choices that elude to which random encounters lie ahead. For example, as the PCs travel south along the river bank they come to a choice between the steep bluff with an aarakocra statue at the pinnacle overlooking the river OR the mist-shrouded valley trail with two emerald green lanterns glowing dimly within. Which way do they want to go?
That's a good idea too!! I've never heard that put into words before -thanks for sharing!
Would you be willing to post your full excel document? I like the idea, but I'm having trouble formatting one for myself in a way that makes sense.
Sure thing! I gotta update it from Tuesday's sessions, but the yellow block is the current day, the red text is events that will happen, and the seasons and holidays are on the left column. docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1v0R9gpHsN4Z6oXg7n6vyWKodT7IsJMz-9PRrv9YGarQ/edit?usp=sharing
Another awesome video THANK U
Glad you like it :)
Appreciate the tips. Coming from a long term DM, you're tips are not something that I would've thought of as a new DM
That's what I aim for!!
I honestly just did random encounters to give players XP and they love it
I use XP too! That is another benefit in my game of random encounters
Nice video. Any plan on doing another 5e classes evolution videos? In the line of "Evolution of the Fighter: DnD Next to 5e"? I really enjoyed!
I liked doing them too, but they take a lot of time to research! I think once part 2 reaches 1000 views I'll do another.
Less than 3 minutes in, and already I’ve gotten gold from it!
Hey, where'd your USMC bling go?
I change the background in every video!
Totally agree, it’s easy to frustrate players when they feel like an encounter is just spinning wheels. Really into the idea of progressing the world with each one but if a house teleported me away from the action without a plot reason I’d get annoyed tbh.
Also what’s up with all the tie-dye?
Oh yeah, I wouldn't do that every time. But as a one-off as part of a session exploring a drug distribution ring it was a lot of fun :)
Are you familiar with the AngryGM? I find that you two agree on a lot of points. Not saying either one is plagiarizing the other, but you might find some other intersting ideas on his blog, seeing how a lot of your content already coincides with his.
I've read a few of his blogs, he has great insights. Never seen his on random encounters, can you share the one you're thinking of?
@@ZipperonDisney He talks about what should be random about random encounters, how you can use them to tell stories or use them as dramatic tension, i.e. as a 'set back' and ties it together with a time tracking system where in stead of rolling on a certain time interval, he builds up a pool of dice visible to the players at that rate and rolls it either when the pool is full or when the Players do something that attracts attention to them. If any of them turn up as a 1, he runs a premade encounter. He uses d6s but there is no reason to not just use your d12 system for very similar odds. This makes wasting time something very tactile and shows players how the stakes increase over time. His articles are a bit wordy but this one is definitely worth a read.
EDIT: Grammar and link: theangrygm.com/redesigning-random-encounters-1/
God the inclusion of random monster table for random encounters is the biggest issue with the communities perceptions of random encounters. Making "random" situations occur is a much better idea. Just like you said, they expose things about the world that people who sit in town and behind the safety of civilization couldn't know. Now the party are the ones speaking rumors and they can effectively trade information with other folk who wander the uncivilized places of the world.
"Now the party are the ones speaking rumor"
That is genius!!
@@ZipperonDisney its really fun to have my parties trade little tidbits with an npc adventurer and get a story of a beast that the adventurer had to flee from in return. Allows the players to go chase that characters failed quarry and feel more badass!