First, a quick note about the site and then on to this weeks column.

It’s been a week since I posed the question to you dear readers and I got 5 hits to the site (three of which were from my ip) and exactly one comment from a miss lesbian buttocks who was reading about character generation when they felt compelled to comment. (At least I am guaranteed to generate more traffic now that I have a url and searchable text stating, lesbian buttocks… but that is not really what I am after.) I posted a comment over at Jonathan Drain’s blogfoolery stating my own reasons for not enjoying the 4th Edition D&D rules (good for a rank or two ;) but in the end I don’t really care that much. My concern is keeping the home fires stoked with action packed adventure fantasy roleplaying! And to that end, I have removed the ‘preview edition’ material and will resume development of the Take20 SRD (OGL) and determined to take the admin panel by the reins and direct folks to where the action is.

Here.

As a busy house holder, I am hard-pressed for time to prepare 2-3 hour-and-a-half sessions per week, the kids are smart with have high expectations, so I have to keep the story moving along.

This week I’ll reveal some of the techniques I use to build adventure encounters quickly. Using a few tools available for free on the web, I’ll demonstrate easy ways that randomness can cut prep time considerably for the GM while also fueling the imagination.

Generating A Scenario And Encounters

One of my favorite tools is the Random Moldvey Encounter Generator, and I would love to extend upon this in the future. It is based upon the tables in the Moldvey edition old D&D which just oozes old-school flavor. I set the form to six rooms and pressed submit and these were the results.

Output 1:

SCENARIO -  #8 Rescuing Prisoners: Valuable and important persons are being held prisoner by bandits, a tribe of orcs, or an evil magic user. The party sets out to rescue the prisoners because they have been hired to (for an expected reward), for a debt of honor, or for some other reason. Sometimes the player characters are only hired to guard an individual who is talking over the demands for ransom.
SETTING - #5 Ancient temple

ENCOUNTER #1
CONTENTS - Empty
TREASURE - Yes (Roll of 1)
Unguarded Treasure
200 silver pieces

ENCOUNTER #2
CONTENTS - Monster (Roll of 2)
3 Gecko Lizards (Neutral, AC 5, Damage 1d8, Morale 7)
HP: 19 22 22   XP: 150
TREASURE - Yes (Roll of 2)
U

ENCOUNTER #3
CONTENTS - Special (Roll of 4)
Talking statue
TREASURE - Yes (Roll of 2)
Unguarded Treasure
600 silver pieces
20 gold pieces

ENCOUNTER #4
CONTENTS - Monster (Roll of 1)
3 Bandits (Neutral/Chaotic, AC 7, Damage 1d6, Morale 8)
HP: 2 3 5   XP: 30
TREASURE - No (Roll of 4)

ENCOUNTER #5
CONTENTS - Special (Roll of 4)
Shifting block to close off corridor

TREASURE - Yes (Roll of 2)
Unguarded Treasure
300 silver pieces

ENCOUNTER #6
CONTENTS - Special (Roll of 4)
TREASURE - No (Roll of 4)
Room turns or sinks while the door locks

Let’s see, ancient temple rescue, shifting doors and secret chambers, there is even a talking statue to provide some roleplaying opportunities for the GM - so far so good!

Output 2:

SCENARIO -  #4 Destroying an Ancient Evil: The evil is usually a monster or NPC (the exact type not known by the players). Sometimes the evil has been deeply buried and reawakened by recent digging. This theme is often used along with others; for example, an ancient evil may have to be destroyed before some ruins are resettled.
SETTING - #4 Crypt or tomb

ENCOUNTER #1
CONTENTS - Monster (Roll of 1)
6 Acolytes (Any Alignment, AC 2, Damage 1d6, Morale 7)
HP: 1 1 5 1 1 5   XP: 60
TREASURE - Yes (Roll of 1)
U

ENCOUNTER #2
CONTENTS - Monster (Roll of 1)
4 Acolytes (Any Alignment, AC 2, Damage 1d6, Morale 7)
HP: 5 6 4 1   XP: 40
TREASURE - Yes (Roll of 1)
U

ENCOUNTER #3
CONTENTS - Monster (Roll of 2)
3 Orcs (Chaotic, AC 7, Damage weapon, Morale 8)
HP: 6 6 3   XP: 30
TREASURE - Yes (Roll of 1)
D
6,000 gold pieces

ENCOUNTER #4
CONTENTS - Special (Roll of 4)
Magic gate to another part of the dungeon
TREASURE - No (Roll of 5)

ENCOUNTER #5
CONTENTS - Special (Roll of 4)
Trap door to tunnels
TREASURE - Yes (Roll of 2)
Unguarded Treasure
200 silver pieces

ENCOUNTER #6
CONTENTS - Monster (Roll of 1)
7 Killer Bees (Neutral, AC 7, Damage 1-3 + poison, Morale 6)
HP: 3 2 2 3 1 4 1   XP: 42
TREASURE - Yes (Roll of 2)
Special: Honey

Examining the Output

I have generated 2 scenarios/settings and 12 encounters thus far and already see a few possibilities emerging. In my campaign, I consider gaining a level, skill, power, and so forth, around every ten encounters, so at least two of these will get the axe. I also have ’special’ encounters of ‘a magic portal to another part of the dungeon’ (Output 2 - Encounter #4) and a ‘trap door to tunnels’ (Output 2 - Encounter #5) so I can possibly expand the adventure into more levels. This is handy as I’ll demonstrate later. For now, I will leave it at that and turn my attention to finding the common themes in the output and trim off parts that don’t seem immediately useful or cohesive. The idea is to treat the pieces as atomic modules and not necessarily use them in the order generated.

At this point pause and review the output. Think of ways that you might weave them into a storyline that fits into your campaign world. Where in the world is it? Who are the potential villains or NPCs? Is there an obvious tie in to any previous or current threads you in your ongoing storyline or plot?

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Next week I’ll show how I choose to weave these same elements into an ongoing campaign that I run for my children on Tuesday and Thursday nights.

Stay tuned!

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