Could you share books, weblinks, or your own content for improved rules for generating random encounters, and making camp?
What I’m looking for are expanded resolution mechanics usable with 5e, in particular ...
- A way of checking for random encounters that goes beyond “roll d20 once per day and once per night; then consult terrain-specific table”. Ideally, I’d like a resolution mechanic that requires hourly checks, takes into account how cautious/quickly the party is travelling, time of day, vision/visibility depending on terrain, and generates not just encounters that amount to “combat with x monsters of type y” but a wider range of “events” that may or may not be resolved with combat.
- Some way of generating “circumstantial detail” for wilderness encounters – distance between parties, who sees/surprises whom, tables that specify what kind of cover there may be etc.
- Rules for how extreme weather affects how combat resolves – snow, wet ground, wind, fog, extreme heat etc.
- A mechanism for finding a campsite in the wilderness, something that involves a trade-off for time spent searching vs. type/quality of campsite found. The campsite selected should in turn influence frequency and kind of encounters, or influence ways of resolving them.
- Rules that specify how effective a rest is, depending on the quality of the campsite and the weather – i.e. sleeping under a tree in the rain, vs. tents and a cooking fire.
... and a pony.
Any pointers welcome.
J.
Quote from: Jorunkun;786366Could you share books, weblinks, or your own content for improved rules for generating random encounters, and making camp?
What I'm looking for are expanded resolution mechanics usable with 5e, in particular ...
- A way of checking for random encounters that goes beyond "roll d20 once per day and once per night; then consult terrain-specific table". Ideally, I'd like a resolution mechanic that requires hourly checks, takes into account how cautious/quickly the party is travelling, time of day, vision/visibility depending on terrain, and generates not just encounters that amount to "combat with x monsters of type y" but a wider range of "events" that may or may not be resolved with combat.
I would reserve hourly checks for special areas that are especially heavily and densely populated. Checks that frequent tell me that there is
something in the area contributing to these encounters not being so random.
As to the nature of such encounters that is up to you as the DM, and the players. If you want some possibility for interaction encounters then create some that do not start with something attacking or trying to sneak into the PCs camp.
Quote from: Jorunkun;786366- Some way of generating "circumstantial detail" for wilderness encounters – distance between parties, who sees/surprises whom, tables that specify what kind of cover there may be etc.
Older D&D editions will serve you well here. TSR D&D both AD&D and Basic/OD&D included surprise and encounter distance rules. For 5E you can modify these factors based on the watchfulness of the party, their travel pace, and for terrain type.
Quote from: Jorunkun;786366- Rules for how extreme weather affects how combat resolves – snow, wet ground, wind, fog, extreme heat etc.
It shouldn't be too hard to come up with something given the handy CON save and the exhaustion rules. Play with it a bit and you may come up with rules that you like.
Quote from: Jorunkun;786366- A mechanism for finding a campsite in the wilderness, something that involves a trade-off for time spent searching vs. type/quality of campsite found. The campsite selected should in turn influence frequency and kind of encounters, or influence ways of resolving them.
I think the mechanism is already in place. Its called the survival skill. All you need to do is assign the DCs required to find a quality campsite perhaps with reduced distance covered in a days travel granting advantage on the check representing spending more time looking.
Quote from: Jorunkun;786366- Rules that specify how effective a rest is, depending on the quality of the campsite and the weather – i.e. sleeping under a tree in the rain, vs. tents and a cooking fire.
J.
There may be some optional rules for tweaking rests like this in the DMG. In the meantime don't be afraid to make house rules. You can allow for certain classes such as barbarian & ranger to be less affected by these factors and perhaps also certain backgrounds. A noble would certainly be put out sleeping in the rain than an experienced soldier/scout.
Quote from: Exploderwizard;786369Older D&D editions will serve you well here. TSR D&D both AD&D and Basic/OD&D included surprise and encounter distance rules. For 5E you can modify these factors based on the watchfulness of the party, their travel pace, and for terrain type.
I came to it late, so I may still have the zeal of a new convert, but I am a big fan of the old AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide. Purple prose and all, there's a lot in there that was never duplicated in later editions.
Quote from: Jorunkun;786366- ...and generates not just encounters that amount to “combat with x monsters of type y” but a wider range of “events” that may or may not be resolved with combat.
- Some way of generating “circumstantial detail” for wilderness encounters – distance between parties, who sees/surprises whom, tables that specify what kind of cover there may be etc.
Its not exactly what you're looking for, but note that the old 2d6 reaction roll used with traditional random encounter check gets you part way there. If you get "uncertain" or "friendly" for a band of orcs, then the GM is prompted to come up with a reason why. Maybe the uncertain orcs are making off after a successful raid, or the friendly orcs want to trade. But its improv rather than being spelled out for you.
I think reaction rolls, encounter distance, surprise, and morale rolls in combat are all part of a comprehensive package with traditional encounter checks. The whole is really more than the sum of the parts there, so I would look at pulling that whole set of rules out of AD&D or B/X.
http://louisvillednd.com/archives/359
Some overland movement/hex clearing stuff but they have a section on camping near the bottom.
Some more good ideas here: http://recedingrules.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-d-campsite.html
Simple solution on how to change daily encounter checks into hourly checks: Roll for daily encounters, then roll 1d24 (or 1d2 x 1d12 sans weird DCC dice) to determine when it strikes.
You could also go for a pool system to determine encounters, and add one die to the pool per hour spent. For determining when exactly during this time an encounter strikes if it is relevant, use a random method as above.
You're totally asking for TSR DMGs. Even 2e DMG has all that contextual detail to: frequency by blocks of hours, time of day, and terrain; surprise modifiers for both parties; lighting issues; distance ranges, affected by surprise; reaction ranges, altered by party first impressions (stances); etc.
What I learned from another forum's articles (I forgot which one & pardon if I don't comb through my bookmarks right now) that I also like for encounter contexts. In fact, I built it into a funny acronym, what I like to think of as the GM Rap Wizard, L.L. WAND:
Lighting - self explanatory, limits of what can be 'seen'. makes atmosphere.
Location - terrain, density of space, etc.
Weather - self explanatory, nature's environment dynamics
Access - limits of what can be reached. often heights, or hazards, but not always
Notice - any dynamic subjects/object available (or hidden)
Distance - important one I've learned. sets the pace of responses and postures.
(... I need to find an excuse to add the letter J. at the end.)
What do you have already and what are you looking for?
Great stuff, thanks. On my way to work now, but just to clarify:
The reason I'm looking to do hourly checks is not to swamp the party with random encounters. On average, they may well amount to one or two encounters per day - but you never know.
I dislike that, with the old system, the party knows that they have, at most, one encounter per day and one per night, so they burn all their resources on it.
More later. And keep it coming!
On a related note, I had a question about D&D 5e's travelling rules. What scale of hex would make sense when making maps?
For context, fast travel covers 30 miles, normal is 24 and slow is 18.
Quote from: Jorunkun;786503I dislike that, with the old system, the party knows that they have, at most, one encounter per day and one per night, so they burn all their resources on it.
Only if you told them.
You can break them of their assumptions by arranging two encounters one night within a couple hours of each other.
After that you can roll for encounters behind the screen as often as you like. Most of the rolls might just be for shits & giggles but the players won't know which checks are real.
Then you make the actual check frequency whatever makes sense for the area and your players remain on edge. ;)
Quote from: Necrozius;786504On a related note, I had a question about D&D 5e's travelling rules. What scale of hex would make sense when making maps?
For context, fast travel covers 30 miles, normal is 24 and slow is 18.
I use 6 mile hexes. They divide cleanly into those numbers and you can zoom into them just as easily.
Hydra's grotto makes a good case for them: http://steamtunnel.blogspot.com/2009/12/in-praise-of-6-mile-hex.html
BX D&D suggested one check per day, no more than 4 per day.
Chance was based on terrain the group was passing through and is was the DMs call when the encounter, if any took place.
You rolled a d6 and had an encounter on the target number, Forest was a 5-6 for example. Swamp was a 4-6.
AD&D had up to 6 checks in a day based on terrain. Swamp was the worst with 6 checks total, Mountains were the easiest with only 2 checks. The rest were usually 3 checks. The chance though was based on how civilized the area was. Wilderness was a 1 on a 10, while civilized lands was a 1 in 20. Travelling on roads and general populated regions was a 1 in 12.
As for hex size. I used to go 20 or so miles a hex. Which is the oft quoted distance one can travel on foot in a day. But later I switched to 6 mile hexes as the PCs can just see the edges from the center, and it maps to 18 miles per day travel. 21 if they push it a little. This also maps well to older AD&D encounters per day checks if the PCs are only covering 3 per day on average.
Re details of the camp site/immediate area - for minis games I find having a big stack of Paizo wilderness flip mats extremely helpful, I can choose (or roll) one of them and use the detail on it. They're often very reuseable by changing orientation and the details of what particular terrain elements signify, or the location of the camp on the map, or by blocking out particular elements. I do the same for urban encounters with their city flipmaps.
Frequency of encounters is a function of how much there is to encounter. Of course, that depends on where we set the threshold of interest. "Look, another little brown job on a branch" might not make the cut.
The wilderness survival guide has more crap about fatigue, movement rates, camping, effects of hot weather , cold rain etc that you could ever need.
Re encounters I would totally go the whole hog if I was going to bother and have encounter tables specified for each region of the map with frequencies of checks based on time of day. Might even have a day table and a night table
Depending on the set up of the party they may never even know about some encounters. If you are a caravan train and you get an encounter with 2 wild lions, they will run away so you never even know about it unless someone spots their tracks. If you have a large camp and you get an encounter with 2d6 goblins they may run away or they may attempt to barter something of avalue they have witht eh caravan. If you have 2 travellers on their own then the lions and the goblins are going to be much more interested.
Quote from: Jorunkun;786503Great stuff, thanks. On my way to work now, but just to clarify:
The reason I'm looking to do hourly checks is not to swamp the party with random encounters. On average, they may well amount to one or two encounters per day - but you never know.
I dislike that, with the old system, the party knows that they have, at most, one encounter per day and one per night, so they burn all their resources on it.
More later. And keep it coming!
The simplest way would be to roll a die after the encounter that tells you how much time elapses before the next check. Roll a d20, and if you get a 1 the next check is within the hour, a 20 would be the 20th hour. Vary the die based on terrain or other criteria.