I'm currently working on a future RPGPundit Presents supplement that's going to feature an encounter table of random Medieval-Authentic supernatural encounters.

Now, usually when I do an encounter table, it's largely just a list of monsters, something that can be reusable ad infinitum.

But in this case, to emphasize the medieval authenticity, it's going to be a list of 20 encounters that will have details, specific environments in some cases, and that will all pretty much be unique (for the most part), in the sense that it wouldn't make sense for the PCs to encounter the exact same scenario twice.

Would that interest you? Having a table that would be good for about 20 thematic encounters, even if it wasn't something that could really be reusable in the same campaign?

Thematic encounter charts are a MUST for me.

Its a great, quick and dirty method to show the unique factors of a setting.

"1D6 Bandits" doesn't tell me anything useful.

These days I find detailed/thematic vastly more useful in actual play, though generic tables can still be useful as a world-building mechanism. Generic tables are good for "Lewis & Clark - go cross North America to the Pacific coast" level of play where you have no idea what's out there. But 95% of the time PCs are travelling for a day or less along a known track or road, so detailed encounters with pilgrims, bandits, local wildlife, other adventurers, the occasional ruined manor etc are more likely than 30-300 orcs. And I greatly prefer having some NPC names & a few thematic details. I love the stuff the donjon.sh Fantasy - Roads random encounter generator comes up with.

I'd call that a "list of 20 thematic encounters" rather than an "encounter table". Assuming the nature of the thematic encounters were things that might happen in my games, yeah that sounds like valuable content I'd want.

But the term "encounter table" to me means a random table which represents the probability of encountering certain typical native things in a certain period of time for a certain place (e.g. terrain type, specific region of (or place in) a gameworld) possibly also broken down by weather, time of day, and/or season, and would all be generic encounters like "bears" or "highwaymen" or "caravan" or "zebras" or "long-distance travelers", some of which might be a possibility/prerequisite for a thematic encounter.

Ideally, I like thematic encounters that describe a situation or characters/creatures with modus operandi that then gets played out in any number of ways and doesn't rely on a lot of serendipitous circumstances.

Go for it.

I would want names.  

I can come up with a reason for 2d12 pilgrims to be on the road.  I can't come up with names.

Quote from: Spinachcat;1027960Thematic encounter charts are a MUST for me.

Its a great, quick and dirty method to show the unique factors of a setting.

"1D6 Bandits" doesn't tell me anything useful.

Same.  Also, the tables that Xanathar's list, with non-combat encounters (Like say an Obelisk with some sort of themed etchings) thrown in for just flavour.

I'm really digging these dynamic encounter tables:

http://www.welshpiper.com/dynamic-encounter-tables/

What do the rest of you mean by "thematic" encounters?

Quote from: Blusponge;1028085I'm really digging these dynamic encounter tables:

http://www.welshpiper.com/dynamic-encounter-tables/

Nice, except I'd prefer most of the results to be things the monster actually usually does, with appropriate odds of each, perhaps with a small chance of exceptional which could lead to the stuff they currently have in the Wants and Complications columns, (unless the GM wants stuff to be wacky).

Quote from: Blusponge;1028085What do the rest of you mean by "thematic" encounters?

I took RPGPundit as meaning descriptions of interesting situations that were so unique that a GM would never re-use them with the same players (because it would be implausible that the players would run into the same unusual situation). e.g. Some travelers followed by a posse chasing down some people, who when/if they catch them will bring them back the same way past the PCs... the posse has one story, the travelers have another, yada yada.

Quote from: Blusponge;1028085I'm really digging these dynamic encounter tables:

http://www.welshpiper.com/dynamic-encounter-tables/

What do the rest of you mean by "thematic" encounters?

I was just about to suggest something like that.  2 or 3 different random tables, one telling what you encounter and the other(s) telling the circumstances under which you encounter them.  Seems like a good middle ground between "unique/thematic" and "reuseable".

But a 1D20 table of unique/thematic encounters is pretty neat too.

Another vote for thematic from this guy. Especially, Pundit, because your setting is so specific and evoking it is part of the job of any material.

Better Than Any Man had a random encounter table with encounters much like you are describing.

I'll also point anyone who will listen to the terrific Hot Springs Island, which has encounter tables much like those Bluesponge linked to above. They are less specific but can be used several times over. But they fold creatures/factions into encounters involving activities that are very dynamic and alive... but also built to fit the environment they are found in. This allows the encounter tables to be re-used again and again, but also allows the table to be built along thematic lines specific to the setting. (Here is a twenty page sample from the GM's book which includes sample tables.)

My favorite tables are a mix of generic for the area and thematic, with some of the items thus obviously repeatable and some not.  That's the way I do my own tables.  Though sometimes I make that into effectively two tables--the first generic one, with appropriate odds for something thematic, with all the thematic entries prompting rolls on secondary tables to see the type of thematic encounter.  

In fact, my go to table for any adventure area I write myself is almost always some variation on this structure, which with a modest amount of thought I can fill out in 15 minutes.  Then my real effort goes into the specials:

Roll 1d6, +2 at night:

1. Day time special encounter.  (Roll 1d6, 1d8, etc. on separate table.)
2. Signs of something in the area (see separate table).
3. A few patrolling of whatever dominant tribe/creatures are in the area.
4. A bigger group of same.
5. A slightly more off-beat group of the same, with special magic, leaders, or similar.
6. Competing creature(s).
7. Different competing creatures(s).
8. Night time special encounters (see separate list, as before).

If the area is underground, replace day/night cycles with something else appropriate for the ebb and flow, or just switch to a d8 all the time, or chop the last two entries off.  

For a published product, what I would generally prefer is some version of that for each area, which then referenced the thematic tables, and which dedicated some of the themed entries to something specific to the area.  So you might have 1-16 thematic "traveling" entries that could be found anywhere in the greater region, and then each smaller area would fill out entries 17-20 with something very pertinent to that area.  Besides saving a great deal of space, while still maximizing the options, it also makes it easy to remember, because "local" and "special local" always end up on the same rolls.

I like pretty much every kind of encounter and event table. Generally I think of encounter tables as being very vanilla generic, usually based on terrain examples include things like the OD&D and AD&D encounter tables or the encounter tables for Flashing Blades.

Something more customized would tailor the tables for specific locations. A little more customized still would include a sub-table with named individuals. But all of these are reusable encounters. In my Honor+Intrigue campaign I did that for the Neighborhoods for the City of Orleans see blog post here or sample table here.

For me thematic encounters would tend to be things that aren't really reusable for the same set of characters either because they are a one-time event or sufficiently unique that repeating it for the same players/characters would feel highly improbable and peculiar. Examples include the Runequest 2 supplement Griffon Mountain which had special encounters that would show up (usually) only once for any given setting or something like "While cutting through a nearby alley to get to the local tavern, a panicked man in a cloak throws an unopened scroll in a PC's hands. Whispering, "Tell no one" the cloaked man dashes out of the alley only to be pursued by the local guards, all disappearing into the crowds, leaving the PCs with a mystery.

Thematic encounters might also mean encounters or events that fit a theme like those tables for 100 encounters in an inn, 20 encounters in a temple, 1001 encounters in a city, etc.

Quote from: Spinachcat;1027960Thematic encounter charts are a MUST for me.

Its a great, quick and dirty method to show the unique factors of a setting.

"1D6 Bandits" doesn't tell me anything useful.

Sounds like this will be a product you'd like then. It won't have anything like 1d6 bandits.

Quote from: Skarg;1028013I'd call that a "list of 20 thematic encounters" rather than an "encounter table".

Well, it's a "table" in the sense that there's 20 entries, so you could roll a D20 to determine it.