Random Encounters, Not Random Chaos: A GM’s Guide
Word up my peeps.
I finally broke the other day, I couldn’t take it anymore. I was sharing my (shameless plug) fantastic free Encounter Timer app online and I’d just heard the same myth being spewed out too many times by people that have misunderstood, been misinformed and consequently have mentally closed the door.
“I don’t use random encounters in my games, I like all my encounters to be woven into my story, and I don’t want to cause a TPK just because the BBEG turns up unexpectantly and wipes the party”
There are probably legitimate reasons for not wanting to use random encounters (“I am cripplingly terrified of improvisation” for example), but this one sucks, and I hear versions of it all the time online, and frankly it is toxic, because other people will read it and then a good chunk of them accept and internalise it and then they go on to miss out too.
Perhaps this goes without saying, but Random Encounters are chuffing awesome. They make your world feel proactive and alive instead of this stale place that only seems to respond to the players presence, we create a convincing illusion of greater activity without burning ourselves out prepping to the Nth degree. Random encounters drive action and interesting situations. Use random encounters, but use them properly, and don’t use them exclusively - there’s nothing wrong with some set pieces.
Anyway, where was I? Oh yea, So this objection is like an onion, there’s so many layers to unpack here, wish me luck.
D&D is not a story, it’s a game
The first part to address is the easy one: “I like all my encounters to be woven into my story…“.
GM’s, there’s no delicate way for me to say this: It’s not ‘your story’.
Two things, firstly there is no “story” until after the fact. The story is what happened, not what will happen. If you find yourself controlling what will happen to the extent that the idea of a random encounter ruins your day, then you have too tight a grip on your game. In fact, I’d hesitate to even call it a game at this point - it’s more like you’re asking your ‘players’ to act through your screen play. You need to chill my dudes, embrace a little bit of improvisation and give the players, and even the dice some agency, they will thank you for it (not the dice though, they’re gits).
Point two: If this after-the-fact story belongs to anyone at all, then it belongs to everyone at the table, not just the GM. The GM’s role is not to pre-write a story to control how the adventure pans out (this is video game mentality), the GM’s role is to present interesting conflicts so that the players can resolve them, and then the GM reacts to those resolutions with fair consequences.
Rince & repeat, this is the core gameplay loop of TTRPGs, and it is what makes them unique and special.
Honestly - understanding and accepting this is the key to solving like 50% of all your GMing woes: be a bit more loosey goosey and roll with the flow, baby.
How to use Random Encounters
Rather than worrying about random encounters not fitting into your Lizards-Ate-My-Toast approved, predefined story beats, consider instead the current zeitgeist, a mood, a vibe specific to what is going on this session. If the players are currently investigating ‘The Crypt of the lich king, Misinformedarex’, then it absolutely wouldn’t make sense if an Aboleth rocked up and bust down the door to interrupt a long rest.
So, what do we do about this?
Simple: the Obi Wan Kenobi’s of the GMing world curate their random encounters. We don’t just pick a literal random creature from the Monster Manual, or an online generator - No! In our prep for the session, we spend 5 minutes building a d6 table of encounters that makes sense, so now nothing throws us a curve ball and we’re calm like prescient Jedi Masters.
To Darth “I don’t want to cause a TPK just because the BBEG turns up unexpectantly“, I say, if you don’t want this to happen, don’t put your BBEG in your random encounter table! Rocket science, it ain’t!
Trust your Players to Play
My dear reader, I know I just said don’t put your BBEG in your random tables buuuuuut I have a curve ball for you. A Wrigley worm of a caveat that I’m just dying to wave tantalisingly in front of your snouts. Go on, nibble it.
You shouldn’t be afraid to put something cataclysmic in your random table. Why not?
Mines of Moria. You know what the coolest thing about the Mines of Moria was? It was when the Fellowship are all making a successful run for it and they’re almost home free, and then Peter Jackson rolled a 2 on his Random Encounter check, followed by a 6, and he whipped out a mother trucking Balrog. The players knew that they were no match, so they chose to retreat, but Gandalf rolled high on his insight, and knew they wouldn’t make it without him buying them some time…
He was all like “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!“, and the Balrog was all like “ROROAAAGAHGHAGHH”, one minor quake spell, followed by a bitch whip slap and we just had the best moment of the movie so far, son.
How cool was that?! Think how much weaker that chapter would have been if the Fellowship just escaped because Peter Jackson kept fudging hundreds of his To Hit rolls on those Goblin archers, just to ensure the sanctity of his precious story?
Not all Random Encounters are combats
Wait there’s more! (Holy cow, it’s a second curve ball!!) You should use Reaction Tables hand in hand with your random encounters (but only when it’s not patently obvious what the reaction should be):
d6 | Reaction
1 | I hate your face and will rip it off and wear it as a loincloth
2 | I am grumpy as chuff and have a short fuse
3 | Halt! Who goes there?!
4 | Ahoy!
5 | Oh sure, I can help you with that
6 | You have my sword! (And my Axe!)
The deal here is that the higher the dice roll, the friendlier the disposition on the thing you’ve encountered.
This way, all of a sudden not every encounter is a fight. Mixes it up, keeps players on their toes. If your curated encounter table tells you it’s a Banshee, but also you get a middling 3 on your reaction table, that’s where you have some quick thinking to do.
Maybe the Banshee is sad, inquisitive players might notice this and assuming they are cool with her, she opens up to them and tells them that she wants to be released from undeath to be with her lover, and the only way to do it is [insert clue about the dungeon boss here]. Wait - Holy smokes, did we just enrich the “Story” with a random encounter??!
Encounter Clues!
A triple curve ball! This post is like a whirlwind! Brace yourself, here it comes:
Not every encounter needs to be: “Bam! Thing, in your face, go!”
Good people of Earth, behold! I have a third table for you which modifies the encounter again, let’s call it a Perception Table:
d6 | Perception
1 | Shhh, they’re sleeping
2 | I can hear them talking in the next area
3 | I can hear them approaching, unaware of us
4 | Bam! Thing in your face, Go!
5 | They know we’re here and by the thunder of their feet, they’re coming!
6 | Ahhhck, where did they come from!
What’s the point of this? It gives the players options, they could hide, they could set up an ambush, they could reroute a different way, they could set a trap… I’m sure the list goes on.
The point is, it adds layers of interesting conflicts for your players to resolve - and remember, that is literally the game.
Conclusion
Random encounters are a powerful tool to create interesting conflicts, not something to be feared. Let go of your controlling grip, embrace improvisation. Oh, also, go back to my other post and checkout my Encounter Timer app!
If you still don’t believe me, that’s OK. I hope at least I made you smile. If I didn’t even manage that, then please accept my humblest apologies and maybe I’ve not lost you forever :)
Hey, thanks for reading - you’re good people. If you’ve enjoyed reading this, it’d be great if you could share it on your socials, and maybe think about subscribing to the Mailer of Many Things! Either way, catch you later.
