Random encounters in the wilderness?

[Drake M]

My DMG says all kinds of things about random encounters in a DUNGEON, but very little in the way of how to determine random encounters in a wilderness setting. Deserts, swamps, forests, mountains, hills.

The problem i get is not WHAT to encounter, i can make an encounter table pretty well.

My problem is how FREQUENTLY things should be encountered.



For example:

I've been running a campaign through a swamp that is densely populated by creatures.
So far, I've been rolling a d20 every hour. Rolls below a 15 are encounters, 15 or higher means smooth sailing.

It works well enough, I suppose.
Are there actual rules to decide this? If so where?

 

[Jasperak]

Your way implies very dense populations.

In the sandbox I am creating I am using a slightly modified version of the BECMI encounter rates. Each hex is 3 miles and I roll once for each hex. In grasslands/plains/inhabited hex, 6 on a d6 results in a random encounter, in forest or hills a 5-6 on a d6, and marsh or mountains a 4-6 on a d6. If the hex has a special site (entrance to a dungeon, ruins, etc...--if applicable,) it will be found on a 6 on the d6 regardless of terrain type.

NOTE-The Expert book says one should check once per day and may make additional checks, to a maximum of 3 or 4 per day. Because of the layout of my map, I would expect 3-4 rolls per day.

The standard party on foot could traverse 4-6 clear hexes a day, 3-5 forested or hill hexes a day, or 2-3 marsh or mountain hexes a day. Because the map has different terrain throughout I found it easier to base the chance on distance traveled (hex) than time but I think either way would be fine.

I think it works out to 1 in 6 chance per hour traveled with higher probabilities in more difficult terrain. Note that this is for encounters in which I expect the PCs to engage in combat. I will often sprinkle in "random" encounters of caravans or pilgrims on roads (for example) whenever I feel like.

Hope it helps.

 

[Drake M]

Your way implies very dense populations.

In the sandbox I am creating I am using a slightly modified version of the BECMI encounter rates. Each hex is 3 miles and I roll once for each hex. In grasslands/plains/inhabited hex, 6 on a d6 results in a random encounter, in forest or hills a 5-6 on a d6, and marsh or mountains a 4-6 on a d6. If the hex has a special site (entrance to a dungeon, ruins, etc...--if applicable,) it will be found on a 6 on the d6 regardless of terrain type.

NOTE-The Expert book says one should check once per day and may make additional checks, to a maximum of 3 or 4 per day. Because of the layout of my map, I would expect 3-4 rolls per day.

The standard party on foot could traverse 4-6 clear hexes a day, 3-5 forested or hill hexes a day, or 2-3 marsh or mountain hexes a day. Because the map has different terrain throughout I found it easier to base the chance on distance traveled (hex) than time but I think either way would be fine.

I think it works out to 1 in 6 chance per hour traveled with higher probabilities in more difficult terrain. Note that this is for encounters in which I expect the PCs to engage in combat. I will often sprinkle in "random" encounters of caravans or pilgrims on roads (for example) whenever I feel like.

Hope it helps.

That does help a lot.

What book do you mean by "The Expert book"? Are there any other books that give insight on this?


I like the concept of hexes a lot. I may implement them. An average person walks at 3 miles an hour on flat ground, so how I've been doing it isn't a crazy amount different, it should be easy to switch it.

I was sort of aiming for a very densely populated jungle/swamp, but by your description I may want to lower the density a bit.

Thanks for the input.

 

[Jasperak]

It's from the Mentzer blue book from 1983 from the 5 box BECMI set on pg. 42. Similar information can be found on pp. 124-125 of the Labyrinth Lord PDF which can be downloaded for free from Goblinoid Games.

3.5e has the chance of a random wilderness encounter on pg. 95 based on the civilization level of an area.

Desolate/wasteland 5% chance per hour
Frontier/wilderness 8% chance per hour
Verdant/civilized 10% chance per hour
Heavily traveled 12% chance per hour

But then goes on to describe generating a wilderness encounter table that seems to primarily list monsters. Seems a little backwards to me.

1e has the chance for encounter differently on pg. 47 of the original Player's Handbook as follows:
relatively dense 1 in 20
moderate to sparse/patrolled 1 in 12
uninhabited/wilderness 1 in 10

The frequency is based on a chart that I do not know how to format here but it breaks down by terrain and time of day. For example if the PCs were in any terrain but hills in the morning you would roll, at noon in forest/hills/marsh you would roll.

OSRIC isn't completely clear on pg. 140, but implies 3 checks with a base chance of 1 in 12 and leaves it to the GM to adjust the frequency according to the density of the terrain. It seems to match the 1e chances.

4e doesn't seem to mention random encounters other than choosing the difficulty and some other things.

My 2e books are buried somewhere so I cannot check them. Hope this helps give you some ideas.

 

[Jasperak]

BTW, one of the reasons I have the chance for encounter so high is because this is for a wilderness hex crawl and I think it is more fun to have more encounters.

The percentages seem to set one random encounter per day regardless of terrain (6 grassland [1 in 6 x6, 4 forest/hills [2 in 6 x 4], or 2 mountain [3 in 6 x2]) and with the number of hexes (255) I figure it would take two to three game months to explore not counting when the PCs find any set pieces nor returning to base to rest. That would be an average of 60-90 encounters by the time the entire 2,300 square mile area is explored. Just exploring will net the PC's about five experience levels.

The difference between my way and most of the other books is that my encounter lists include more chances for possible non-combat encounters. There are alot of chances to find normal creatures (for food) and people (for interaction) to deal with as the PCs see fit.

 

[Jasperak]

See the map I am using in the following post

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/276769-cantgetmymaprightitis.html#post5182485

 

[Drake M]

See the map I am using in the following post

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/276769-cantgetmymaprightitis.html#post5182485

I had never used hexes before, mostly just free-formed terrain. I've played with a lot of "less rules is more" RPers, so its never been a large issue.

I started making a hex map, and the first thing i notice is that, assuming north is up and south is down, going due east or due west would get confusing. They don't line up that way.


So, why hexes and not squares?

 

[Jasperak]

I had never used hexes before, mostly just free-formed terrain. I've played with a lot of "less rules is more" RPers, so its never been a large issue.

I started making a hex map, and the first thing i notice is that, assuming north is up and south is down, going due east or due west would get confusing. They don't line up that way.


So, why hexes and not squares?

Hexes have their roots in wargaming from which D&D derived, and tradition holds heavy sway in our hobby. But from a more scientific view, if I am not mistaken, hexes are the geometric forms with the most sides that exist that allow entering directly into another. For example, I toyed with an Octogon form of grid in the past but they left small diamond sections at the NW, NE, SW, SE corners that lay outside those forms. Draw it out on a piece of scratch paper and you'll see what I mean.

In my experience, hexcrawls work because they organize the exploration albeit in an artificial manner. I have seen excellent maps created like the one by Weem in the thread I linked through earlier, but it would be very difficult to systematically explore it. Hexes are a balance between free-form and realistic movement.l

 

[Drake M]

Thank you for all the information btw, it's cleared up a lot of questions and smoothed out the game a good bit already.

 

[Jasperak]

No problem, glad I could help.