How I'm doing random encounters right now
Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2019 6:13 am
In case anyone found it useful, I thought I'd share how I'm running random encounters in my ED4 campaign.
Personally, I like random encounters. They're fun for me as GM- something that's even a bit of a surprise for me, and a challenge to my creativity. Also, I think it's a useful tool to illustrate that things are happening in Barsaive that aren't about the lives and current goals of the PCs.
First, I borrowed a technique from Savage Worlds. For each 3 days of travel (you can determine your own increment if you want more or less encounters), I draw a card from a standard playing card deck. 2 through 10 means no encounter. Jack through ace means the party has a random encounter. You can also adjust this for more or less dangerous areas (e.g. The Wastes get encounters on 9+, only Kings and Aces near Bartertown).
The higher the card drawn, the more severe the encounter: Jacks are "easy" and Aces are "difficult". The suit determines the nature of the encounter. Spades are combat encounters- a perfect chance to use one of the roughly 200 monsters statted out for ED4 so far. a Jack would be an easier challenge for the party, while an Ace might require the party to flee. Hearts are neutral or friendly NPC encounters. I like to have higher cards be friendlier and/or more useful NPCs. Diamonds are treasure. The higher the card, the more valuable. The treasure shouldn't be laying out in the open. It should require some work to first find and then acquire. Don't be afraid of letting the PC walk past or fail to get it. If you don't let on too much about this being a major encounter, they won't feel like their missing out. You can just move on. Clubs are obstacles. This is a chance to delay or put the PCs in some amount of danger without combat.
Lastly, if you draw a joker, you can draw 2 more cards and look at the suit, combining the result. I drew a diamond and club today, and the PCs found a crashed airship at the bottom of a chasm they had to cross.
Anyway, that's what I'm doing right now. You can just roll dice instead of drawing cards. Let me know what you think, and I'd love to hear what you'd do differently.
Personally, I like random encounters. They're fun for me as GM- something that's even a bit of a surprise for me, and a challenge to my creativity. Also, I think it's a useful tool to illustrate that things are happening in Barsaive that aren't about the lives and current goals of the PCs.
First, I borrowed a technique from Savage Worlds. For each 3 days of travel (you can determine your own increment if you want more or less encounters), I draw a card from a standard playing card deck. 2 through 10 means no encounter. Jack through ace means the party has a random encounter. You can also adjust this for more or less dangerous areas (e.g. The Wastes get encounters on 9+, only Kings and Aces near Bartertown).
The higher the card drawn, the more severe the encounter: Jacks are "easy" and Aces are "difficult". The suit determines the nature of the encounter. Spades are combat encounters- a perfect chance to use one of the roughly 200 monsters statted out for ED4 so far. a Jack would be an easier challenge for the party, while an Ace might require the party to flee. Hearts are neutral or friendly NPC encounters. I like to have higher cards be friendlier and/or more useful NPCs. Diamonds are treasure. The higher the card, the more valuable. The treasure shouldn't be laying out in the open. It should require some work to first find and then acquire. Don't be afraid of letting the PC walk past or fail to get it. If you don't let on too much about this being a major encounter, they won't feel like their missing out. You can just move on. Clubs are obstacles. This is a chance to delay or put the PCs in some amount of danger without combat.
Lastly, if you draw a joker, you can draw 2 more cards and look at the suit, combining the result. I drew a diamond and club today, and the PCs found a crashed airship at the bottom of a chasm they had to cross.
Anyway, that's what I'm doing right now. You can just roll dice instead of drawing cards. Let me know what you think, and I'd love to hear what you'd do differently.