Wednesday, January 19, 2011

So, How Long Until the Next Random Encounter?

Frank made a suggestion at my Secret Door post, that a similar chart could be used to determine WHEN the party will have it's next random encounter.

I know that some of you are happy rolling a d6 each turn to to see if an encounter happens (I like that too) but sometimes I just know that I want to throw something at the party -- the question is WHEN.

This little handy dandy chart solves that.  Roll % and the clock is ticking...

I know this won't suit everyone's style, but I like it and I think I'll be trying it out during my next adventure.  

I tend to keep track of time in the dungeon using little circles (capital "O's") pre-printed on a sheet of paper.  When I roll this, I can just make a little mark in an "O" and when the party gets to that "time" in the dungeon -- the random encounter happens.

Time Log:
OOOOOO     OOOOOO     OOOOOO     OOOOOO    OOOOOO    OOOOOO
OOOOOO     OOOOOO     OOOOOO     OOOOOO    OOOOOO    OOOOOO
OOOOOO     OOOOOO     OOOOOO     OOOOOO    OOOOOO    OOOOOO
OOOOOO     OOOOOO     OOOOOO     OOOOOO    OOOOOO    OOOOOO
OOOOOO     OOOOOO     OOOOOO     OOOOOO    OOOOOO    OOOOOO
OOOOOO     OOOOOO     OOOOOO     OOOOOO    OOOOOO    OOOOOO

YMMV.  Let me know if this is helpful and thanks again Frank for the great idea!

3 comments:

James said...

I like that. It gives the DM something to look forward to. :)

Anonymous said...

It seems like a cool idea but I'm on the fence about trying it. If you do give it a go, please report your thoughts on it.

JMiskimen said...

I like the premise of this, but the %dice leave me cold. maybe just a d10, adding a "right now!" result for the 0 digit. Technically, you could use any die. My d12 seems so lonely in the bag, perhaps I'll find another use for it here.

The time log is a great idea that ties this together nicely. I will be implementing this into my next game.