I am a fairly new DM and my travel or encounters go something like this: "You travel for 2 hours before..." "The Gnoll misses and hits the ground beside you" or "You travel for a few minutes in the hot desert until..." and so on. How do i make this better?
I've turned travel into a montage in a skill challenge by creating travel "roles" that a character needs to fill.
A Provisioner who hunts and gathers and makes sure the water is safe (Survival roll). A Navigator who makes sure the characters are oriented and actually heading to their intended destination (Survival roll). A Naturalist who minds the environment for things that are out of place or hidden dangers ("These aren't black bear tracks, they are owlbear tracks!") (Nature check). And Watcher, who's keeping an eye on everything for ambushes (Perception check).
Each character can only perform one role (juggling two is at Disadvantage for each), and two characters sharing a role grants the Help action benefits. I set the DC based on where they are (Provisioning is easy in a bountiful forest with plenty of streams, berries, and game, so maybe DC:5—Provisioning in a desert is much harder, so DC 20) and go with it.
Whenever someone rolls a natural 20, I give them a discovery that would otherwise be hidden. A stone pathway almost entirely covered over, heading off the main path into the mountains, the lair of a magical beast, etc. It is, in essence, the random encounter as a side quest.
I was inspired to do this by the Forbidden Lands RPG, but it's not an exact clone of their system.
For travel of great distances, I may call for a set of rolls once per week, etc., unless the players are really leaning into hex crawl ideas.
I am a fairly new DM and my travel or encounters go something like this: "You travel for 2 hours before..." "The Gnoll misses and hits the ground beside you" or "You travel for a few minutes in the hot desert until..." and so on. How do i make this better?
Add small things for them to experience, maybe a ruined carriage on the side of the road and they search it and find a ring that is totally not cursed(or any cool item) they could come across a trader being attacked by outlaws, maybe night is falling and they have to make camp and some times they are attacked, or they could have a prophetic dream if it helps boost the story
But some partys like instant travel, remember always ask your partys for feedback on what they like, some want to get to the action ASAP and others like to take time and smell the roses
I am a fairly new DM and my travel or encounters go something like this: "You travel for 2 hours before..." "The Gnoll misses and hits the ground beside you" or "You travel for a few minutes in the hot desert until..." and so on. How do i make this better?
I am assuming you are already using random encounter tables.
If so, expand the tables. This takes some prep work on your part, but will allow a game to flow seemlessly, and nothing is "wasted" as you merely hold onto the material is rolled and it can be used.
First off, have weather tables (for each season and terrain), and within those weather tables, effects that do actually impact the PC's. Brutally hot or equally cold weather, let alone summer storms, can have a major affect on movement, let alone physical affects on the PC's.
Not every "encounter" has to actually involve anything of interest. Imagine where the group is traveling overland and comes across an abandoned tower, that is falling apart. It can just as easily be filled only with birds, as it is with ogres. It does not have to have a dungeon.
So imagine you build a table where you as a DM rolls a d6, or d8, d12, or whatever you like, and that table might look like this:
1-4 Nothing happens
5. Weather event (now you reference a sub-table)
6. Terrain event (now you reference a sub-table)
7. Abandoned structure. (now you reference a sub-table, and that means having some maps to choose from ready to go)
8. NOT abandoned structure. (see immediately above)
9-10. Monster encounter (have a few monster options lined up, and roll randomly within that group)
11-12. Humanoid encounter. (same as a above, and many options could be non-violent, like a merchant caravan)
So, because you are rolling randomly, YOU, as a DM, are not even sure what is going to happen. This is the beginning of a sandbox.
Random encounters are generally bad, you want the encounters to feel planed, like they are doing something
All of the encounters i listed can progress the story in some way shape or form and random encounters just slow down the story but for some campaign's random encounters work but i would use them sparingly, like mabey 1 out of every 5 times a party travels
Use all five senses in descriptions. Each description doesn't need all five (you don't want to spend half your talking time on senses) but each description should have one, even if it is brief.
You travel for two hours, the dry smell of the desert filling your nostrils. Your blow fells the wolf, spraying bright red blood over the forest floor. The gnoll misses, and swears viciously in its strange high-pitched language. You pick the lock, its rust gritty on your fingers.
Also... Welcome to this side of the GM screen! We have cookies.
Random encounters are generally bad, you want the encounters to feel planed, like they are doing something
All of the encounters i listed can progress the story in some way shape or form and random encounters just slow down the story but for some campaign's random encounters work but i would use them sparingly, like mabey 1 out of every 5 times a party travels
No, random encounters are good. D&D is not story-time where the players and their PC's are in some novel the DM has written. D&D is not a railroad. And god knows how many plot hooks are generated out of random encounters.
They are good for some campaigns, and in a sandbox campaign the DM will generally create a few quests that can go broadly But if characters are traveling they are likely already trying to do something and that random encounter slows them down, however a thought out encounter can provide for a better story
i most likely should of said Random encounters are Sub Par when compared to thought out encounters that match the story, any slightly experienced DM in my opinion should be able to make planed travel encounters that fit the situation
Edit: Also D&D Can be a railroad, what if the players join a army, they are not generals, they cant decide were the army goes, however they can always jump off the train by leaving the army
Random encounters are generally bad, you want the encounters to feel planed, like they are doing something
All of the encounters i listed can progress the story in some way shape or form and random encounters just slow down the story but for some campaign's random encounters work but i would use them sparingly, like mabey 1 out of every 5 times a party travels
No, random encounters are good. D&D is not story-time where the players and their PC's are in some novel the DM has written. D&D is not a railroad. And god knows how many plot hooks are generated out of random encounters.
As far as I'm concerned, random encounters are just making yourself a lot of extra work. They offer nothing that picking from a bunch of premade encounters doesn't get you -- you need to prep more encounters, and the randomizer is sometimes going to give you encounters that don't work in the circumstances the PCs are in.
And, if the players are traveling with purpose, a deliberately chosen sequence of encounters is even less work and gives you more customization. It's no longer "an orc raiding party" -- it's "when they try to cross the river, there are orc bandits waiting to ambush vulnerable travelers".
But if you like random encounters, do random encounters. As long as you do the work to cycle out the used-up ones, it'll work fine.
What doesn't work fine is pre-printed random encounter tables. They're lazy, and won't fit the world you're running.
Random encounters are generally bad, you want the encounters to feel planed, like they are doing something
All of the encounters i listed can progress the story in some way shape or form and random encounters just slow down the story but for some campaign's random encounters work but i would use them sparingly, like mabey 1 out of every 5 times a party travels
No, random encounters are good. D&D is not story-time where the players and their PC's are in some novel the DM has written. D&D is not a railroad. And god knows how many plot hooks are generated out of random encounters.
As far as I'm concerned, random encounters are just making yourself a lot of extra work. They offer nothing that picking from a bunch of premade encounters doesn't get you -- you need to prep more encounters, and the randomizer is sometimes going to give you encounters that don't work in the circumstances the PCs are in.
And, if the players are traveling with purpose, a deliberately chosen sequence of encounters is even less work and gives you more customization. It's no longer "an orc raiding party" -- it's "when they try to cross the river, there are orc bandits waiting to ambush vulnerable travelers".
But if you like random encounters, do random encounters. As long as you do the work to cycle out the used-up ones, it'll work fine.
What doesn't work fine is pre-printed random encounter tables. They're lazy, and won't fit the world you're running.
This man just made a very good point and a great addition to what i was saying
It's not necessary that travel be interesting, or always interesting. Sometimes y'all just need to get to the new place. Sometimes the travel is very much part of the story and adding to the adventure. If you think of something like the old Oregon Trail game, the randomizers create events that range from interesting to deadly, and you don't know how it will go. JustaFarmer's advice is a great way to do that, with weather and random encounters.
On the other hand, sometimes you just need the party to get from one place to another. You have a story in mind, the next part takes place at the next town. You want or need the next thing to happen right away for it to make sense in game time (the NPC in mortal danger won't be able to wait for you to explore ruins you find on the way). You may have a schedule to keep (in game or IRL) or you may be wanting to do this next part of the story while all the threads are top of mind for everyone. It's okay in that case to move travel along quickly and uneventfully, just as you might have a timeskip of a few weeks while nothing happens except some plot element is ripening in the background.
My favorite games have done a mix of both within the same campaign. Sometimes we get right to the place, sometimes there's opportunities to be waylaid, or incidental monsters we might fight if the dice so decide.
You can have a think around your party's abilities too, especially their less used ones. Your ranger that can help the party through their favored terrain has a chance to shine, or that spell that someone took but has never been used, a language, or a racial ability - it's really fun for me as a player when a unique ability I have is suddenly useful. And rolling dice is always fun.
Those random events are tailored for Oregon trail and they all make sense, so while random they feel like they belong, unlike random encounters in dnd if you are decent at DMing with a healthy amount of experience i would suggest that you stop using random tables and plan encounters for certain roads or encounters for while the party is camping
Improv and roleplay. If you have a NPC following the party, use them as a sort of DM insert to start up roleplay. Play the character and ask engaging questions that will get the party started. Develop the characters by having them engage in conversation. Let them know that this is a roleplay opportunity so they will know to try to get into the minds of their characters.
If you do use random encounter tables, I'd suggest rolling them before the game, and then thinking
1) How can I make this encounter interesting? Terrain quirks, weather, sneak attacks, interesting treasure that they won't know what to do with....*
2) Can I make this relevant to mhy storyline? This doesn't have to mean as part of the plot, this can be to foreshadow that once prosperious citiy land is now in ruins, lesser monsters fleeing before bigger ones (the campaign boss), a treasure such as a map that will be useful later, monsters seeking revenge for the players previous victory, monsters who will escape to show up again later, or other ideas.
You won't be able to do both, always, but either one will help.
* I am writing a blog to create interesting battles, although I'm mostly aiming for especially big, epic battles, more suitable for a boss fight than for a random encounter. Still, I am covering every single monster, from weakest to strongest, and I provide plenty of short ideas as well as big ones. You can check me out at https://dragonencounters.com/ if interested.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM, writer, and blog master of https://dragonencounters.com/ a blog dedicated to providing unusual, worthwhile encounters for each monster, making each one unique.
Also, suggestions for which monsters might be found together (for people tired of dungeons full of one humanoid race, and perhaps a few beasts and undead.)
That random Orc could be a male looking for help for his very pregnant female giving birth. Or the female is looking for help for her hurt male.
Not every encounter has to be a hack and slash moment or even push the plot further along, but......... Your party helped the orcs and now your party (the ones who smell like daisies and pork fat) are Ok. They are good. The party need not even know of this detail.
Or that hobo they did something with or too could be a god in disguise and is willing to reward the party for what they did to him. Good or bad.
I think putting interactions adds color to travel, be it a lone Warhorse covered of green-pulsing blood, an abandoned military backpack full of various equipment including a sealed scroll, a dead Raven with a carried message or other travelers moving in the same / opposite direction or sidelined due to a problem of some sort, a trio of hanged bodies or a drifting prismatic wall are all things bound to entice your party to stop and interact with it in some way, investigate further or add new adventure seed.
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I am a fairly new DM and my travel or encounters go something like this: "You travel for 2 hours before..." "The Gnoll misses and hits the ground beside you" or "You travel for a few minutes in the hot desert until..." and so on. How do i make this better?
Spells: My spells. Races: My races Monsters: My monsters Magic items: My items
I've turned travel into a montage in a skill challenge by creating travel "roles" that a character needs to fill.
A Provisioner who hunts and gathers and makes sure the water is safe (Survival roll). A Navigator who makes sure the characters are oriented and actually heading to their intended destination (Survival roll). A Naturalist who minds the environment for things that are out of place or hidden dangers ("These aren't black bear tracks, they are owlbear tracks!") (Nature check). And Watcher, who's keeping an eye on everything for ambushes (Perception check).
Each character can only perform one role (juggling two is at Disadvantage for each), and two characters sharing a role grants the Help action benefits. I set the DC based on where they are (Provisioning is easy in a bountiful forest with plenty of streams, berries, and game, so maybe DC:5—Provisioning in a desert is much harder, so DC 20) and go with it.
Whenever someone rolls a natural 20, I give them a discovery that would otherwise be hidden. A stone pathway almost entirely covered over, heading off the main path into the mountains, the lair of a magical beast, etc. It is, in essence, the random encounter as a side quest.
I was inspired to do this by the Forbidden Lands RPG, but it's not an exact clone of their system.
For travel of great distances, I may call for a set of rolls once per week, etc., unless the players are really leaning into hex crawl ideas.
Add small things for them to experience, maybe a ruined carriage on the side of the road and they search it and find a ring that is totally not cursed(or any cool item)
they could come across a trader being attacked by outlaws, maybe night is falling and they have to make camp and some times they are attacked, or they could have a prophetic dream if it helps boost the story
But some partys like instant travel, remember always ask your partys for feedback on what they like, some want to get to the action ASAP and others like to take time and smell the roses
I am assuming you are already using random encounter tables.
If so, expand the tables. This takes some prep work on your part, but will allow a game to flow seemlessly, and nothing is "wasted" as you merely hold onto the material is rolled and it can be used.
First off, have weather tables (for each season and terrain), and within those weather tables, effects that do actually impact the PC's. Brutally hot or equally cold weather, let alone summer storms, can have a major affect on movement, let alone physical affects on the PC's.
Not every "encounter" has to actually involve anything of interest. Imagine where the group is traveling overland and comes across an abandoned tower, that is falling apart. It can just as easily be filled only with birds, as it is with ogres. It does not have to have a dungeon.
So imagine you build a table where you as a DM rolls a d6, or d8, d12, or whatever you like, and that table might look like this:
1-4 Nothing happens
5. Weather event (now you reference a sub-table)
6. Terrain event (now you reference a sub-table)
7. Abandoned structure. (now you reference a sub-table, and that means having some maps to choose from ready to go)
8. NOT abandoned structure. (see immediately above)
9-10. Monster encounter (have a few monster options lined up, and roll randomly within that group)
11-12. Humanoid encounter. (same as a above, and many options could be non-violent, like a merchant caravan)
So, because you are rolling randomly, YOU, as a DM, are not even sure what is going to happen. This is the beginning of a sandbox.
Random encounters are generally bad, you want the encounters to feel planed, like they are doing something
All of the encounters i listed can progress the story in some way shape or form and random encounters just slow down the story
but for some campaign's random encounters work but i would use them sparingly, like mabey 1 out of every 5 times a party travels
Use all five senses in descriptions. Each description doesn't need all five (you don't want to spend half your talking time on senses) but each description should have one, even if it is brief.
You travel for two hours, the dry smell of the desert filling your nostrils.
Your blow fells the wolf, spraying bright red blood over the forest floor.
The gnoll misses, and swears viciously in its strange high-pitched language.
You pick the lock, its rust gritty on your fingers.
Also... Welcome to this side of the GM screen! We have cookies.
We'd better have cookies… *glares at players*
No, random encounters are good. D&D is not story-time where the players and their PC's are in some novel the DM has written. D&D is not a railroad. And god knows how many plot hooks are generated out of random encounters.
They are good for some campaigns, and in a sandbox campaign the DM will generally create a few quests that can go broadly
But if characters are traveling they are likely already trying to do something and that random encounter slows them down, however a thought out encounter can provide for a better story
i most likely should of said Random encounters are Sub Par when compared to thought out encounters that match the story, any slightly experienced DM in my opinion should be able to make planed travel encounters that fit the situation
Edit: Also D&D Can be a railroad, what if the players join a army, they are not generals, they cant decide were the army goes, however they can always jump off the train by leaving the army
As far as I'm concerned, random encounters are just making yourself a lot of extra work. They offer nothing that picking from a bunch of premade encounters doesn't get you -- you need to prep more encounters, and the randomizer is sometimes going to give you encounters that don't work in the circumstances the PCs are in.
And, if the players are traveling with purpose, a deliberately chosen sequence of encounters is even less work and gives you more customization. It's no longer "an orc raiding party" -- it's "when they try to cross the river, there are orc bandits waiting to ambush vulnerable travelers".
But if you like random encounters, do random encounters. As long as you do the work to cycle out the used-up ones, it'll work fine.
What doesn't work fine is pre-printed random encounter tables. They're lazy, and won't fit the world you're running.
This man just made a very good point and a great addition to what i was saying
It's not necessary that travel be interesting, or always interesting. Sometimes y'all just need to get to the new place. Sometimes the travel is very much part of the story and adding to the adventure. If you think of something like the old Oregon Trail game, the randomizers create events that range from interesting to deadly, and you don't know how it will go. JustaFarmer's advice is a great way to do that, with weather and random encounters.
On the other hand, sometimes you just need the party to get from one place to another. You have a story in mind, the next part takes place at the next town. You want or need the next thing to happen right away for it to make sense in game time (the NPC in mortal danger won't be able to wait for you to explore ruins you find on the way). You may have a schedule to keep (in game or IRL) or you may be wanting to do this next part of the story while all the threads are top of mind for everyone. It's okay in that case to move travel along quickly and uneventfully, just as you might have a timeskip of a few weeks while nothing happens except some plot element is ripening in the background.
My favorite games have done a mix of both within the same campaign. Sometimes we get right to the place, sometimes there's opportunities to be waylaid, or incidental monsters we might fight if the dice so decide.
You can have a think around your party's abilities too, especially their less used ones. Your ranger that can help the party through their favored terrain has a chance to shine, or that spell that someone took but has never been used, a language, or a racial ability - it's really fun for me as a player when a unique ability I have is suddenly useful. And rolling dice is always fun.
Those random events are tailored for Oregon trail and they all make sense, so while random they feel like they belong, unlike random encounters in dnd
if you are decent at DMing with a healthy amount of experience i would suggest that you stop using random tables and plan encounters for certain roads or encounters for while the party is camping
Improv and roleplay. If you have a NPC following the party, use them as a sort of DM insert to start up roleplay. Play the character and ask engaging questions that will get the party started. Develop the characters by having them engage in conversation. Let them know that this is a roleplay opportunity so they will know to try to get into the minds of their characters.
If you do use random encounter tables, I'd suggest rolling them before the game, and then thinking
1) How can I make this encounter interesting? Terrain quirks, weather, sneak attacks, interesting treasure that they won't know what to do with....*
2) Can I make this relevant to mhy storyline? This doesn't have to mean as part of the plot, this can be to foreshadow that once prosperious citiy land is now in ruins, lesser monsters fleeing before bigger ones (the campaign boss), a treasure such as a map that will be useful later, monsters seeking revenge for the players previous victory, monsters who will escape to show up again later, or other ideas.
You won't be able to do both, always, but either one will help.
* I am writing a blog to create interesting battles, although I'm mostly aiming for especially big, epic battles, more suitable for a boss fight than for a random encounter. Still, I am covering every single monster, from weakest to strongest, and I provide plenty of short ideas as well as big ones. You can check me out at https://dragonencounters.com/ if interested.
DM, writer, and blog master of https://dragonencounters.com/ a blog dedicated to providing unusual, worthwhile encounters for each monster, making each one unique.
Also, suggestions for which monsters might be found together (for people tired of dungeons full of one humanoid race, and perhaps a few beasts and undead.)
That random Orc could be a male looking for help for his very pregnant female giving birth.
Or the female is looking for help for her hurt male.
Not every encounter has to be a hack and slash moment or even push the plot further along, but.........
Your party helped the orcs and now your party (the ones who smell like daisies and pork fat) are Ok. They are good. The party need not even know of this detail.
Or that hobo they did something with or too could be a god in disguise and is willing to reward the party for what they did to him. Good or bad.
I think putting interactions adds color to travel, be it a lone Warhorse covered of green-pulsing blood, an abandoned military backpack full of various equipment including a sealed scroll, a dead Raven with a carried message or other travelers moving in the same / opposite direction or sidelined due to a problem of some sort, a trio of hanged bodies or a drifting prismatic wall are all things bound to entice your party to stop and interact with it in some way, investigate further or add new adventure seed.