I’ve been talking with my D&D 4th Edition DM over the last couple of weeks. After trying to bring my DM to The Mad Adventurers Society and The Angry GM blog, in an attempt to bring the perverbial horse to water, we were discussing how the two of us envisioned a 5th Edition campaign. He wanted to wait for the 5th Edition DMs guide and delve into its depths before he was willing to run a new adventure. The biggest reason he gave for this was his memory of the DMs guide from Advanced Dungeons and Dragons with tables upon tables of things that can be rolled on. He was describing why this was a great thing, but there are some concerns when it comes to random encounters as a base for a campaign.
Randomness is Lazy
Random tables offer a safety net for a GM who has inventive players when that GM is attempting to create something interesting for the group to go through. By giving a list of ideas for GMs that are setting appropriate, a random table gives a little bit of structure to the world that a new GM might not have read elsewhere, while at the same time providing odd possibilities to an experienced GM reading them.
Relying on the uncertainty of a die roll to determine if something happens on the way to grandma’s house is horrible encounter design. While using random tables can work for giving out small items and adding variety to rewards tables, they are not something that should be used at the table to create an encounter on the fly, especially for new GMs.
Any table or other support that is giving ideas, or plot hooks, needs to be rolled on before the GM ever sits at the table. Getting the idea that an Eton will ambush the party is great, but it needs to be fleshed out more than just “A Wild Eton Appears.” All that using a random encounter table does is create padding for your adventure. If the adventure is too short because there isn’t enough ‘good stuff’, then it’s too short and you need to work on it more.
Horrors
This exact occurrence is the problem with act three of the “Lost Mines of Phandelver”. You are given a night and day random encounter table that you are to roll on once each per day. This is ludicrous. Some of this is referencing back to the lazy adventure design of old. Creating a few short (up to one page) encounters that have a setting, a motivation for the NPCs to be there, and descriptors for the NPCs allows for something to actually be fought against and not just slain.
This is especially egregious since this is supposed to be for first time GMs. The very first encounter of the adventure is essentially one of the listed random encounters, but fleshed out and with guidance on how to do it. The next time this is encountered the GM finds a result of ‘1D6+3 Goblins’ are encountered while traveling for the day. One has bearing on the direction of play and how the players deal with the overall adventure; the other is a pit stop for them to clean their swords after.
Encounters have to have more flesh on their bones to engage the players than just a stat block. Creating an environment for the encounter needs to be thought out — even the simple placing of a cross roads in a forest can have some interesting uniqueness to it. Creating a difference to the pattern of movement to a group of goblins, or the trap ridden lair of a kobold horde allows for something to discuss after.
Maybe?
The one exception for using random encounter tables is as a timer. While looking through act four of the “Lost Mines of Phandelver” low and behold there is a second random encounter table staring out at the new GM. The only thing about this that doesn’t catch my ire is the verbiage “If the characters spend a long time in a given area, you can check for wandering monsters by rolling a d20.”
This is decent, but the reason it is still silly to use a random table for this is that you can end up with something that isn’t a serious threat to the party and just a nuisance. Using a grouping of setting specific monsters that would be challenging to a group higher level than the players is a better stick to use.
Making it Better
In every adventure you should have a few small encounters with no more than 2 NPC stat blocks and two setting sentences following The Angry DMs’ guidelines. By creating these you have something that will continue a mood or a theme for the night while still providing useful length to the adventure.
A random encounter isn’t necessarily bad; the problem comes in when the GM has no idea what the underlying cause of the encounter is, making it unnecessary filler. Taking the encounter that was rolled on the table and making it your own is what makes it a part of the story. Making use of the goblins from the table mentioned earlier you could have the following blurb:
Reaching a fork in the road you hear the high pitched cry of four goblins charging from behind a nearby upturned wagon. Standing atop the wagon is another goblin holding a parchment in hand yelling out “It’s them! Yes! It’s them — right there! It’s that big pinky one! That’s the one the King wants!” Two more goblins step out from behind the wagon and loose arrows from their short bows.
What do you think of random encounter tables? If you use them, what do you do to make them fit into your campaigns and adventures?
