Encounters: Better, Stronger, Faster

By J.W. Grace

Encounters are the lifeblood of any role-playing game.  Where world-building is your setting and campaigns are your plot, encounters are the events of your story.  They each represent a scene where the players interact with some part of the world, so this makes them vital to immersing your cast of characters into a living, breathing world.

There are many types of encounters: roleplay, investigation, combat, skill challenges, research, and other interactions.  Your players are likely to have preferences of the types of encounters they enjoy so you may want to ask them during your session zero.  That way, you can focus on the kinds of encounters that will make them excited and keep them engaged in the game.  

To have a successful encounter there are several things to keep in mind.  First, you need to establish a clear objective for the encounter.  The players may not know this objective or they may have a different one than you, but it is vital to have this firm in your mind because it will drive how the situation unfolds and how it leads to future encounters. The story should flow from one event to another in a way that is hopefully organic and believable.

Secondly, although you will have a good idea of what happens if they accomplish the objective, you also need to consider what will happen if they fail, or if they’re somewhere in between. Players will sometimes even go in a different direction than you anticipate and avoid the encounter entirely.  Sometimes, the dice rolls don’t work out in their favor, so you need to be prepared for what to do in these instances.  If the plot you have planned requires them to succeed, then don’t make failure an option. Instead, have them make skill checks to determine the degree of success or how long it will take.   There can be consequences for not succeeding, but halting the progression of the story should not be among them.

As an example, the players are searching a corrupt city official’s house to get information about where an ally is being held.  Not getting the information means they won’t be able to move on to the next location to rescue their friend.  The whole party makes investigation checks and instead of failing in their search, the highest check succeeds and finds the information. Even if no one rolls well, they should still accomplish the task, but possibly guards heard them and are moving in to investigate.  A new challenge can begin to escape the house with the information they discovered.

Here are many ways to make your encounters more interesting:

1. Be descriptive.  When telling the players about the scene, include multisensory details beyond just what they see.  In the example above, they might hear floorboards creaking or shudders slamming against the windows as a storm rages outside.  They might smell wood polish or old tobacco smoke in the study or feel a cold chill from an open window.  All of these details bring the scene to life.
2. Don’t overuse skill checks.  Making players inspect every single door for traps or rolling stealth checks every time they turn a corner slows down the gameplay and breaks the immersion.  It can also be extremely frustrating to test over and over for the same thing.  Many games incorporate a “passive” set of skills or abilities.  Use these to give out clues to the players who have high ranks in the applicable skills.  Checks should only be done when they really matter.
3. Ask what players do before they make a check.  Rather than someone saying “I want to make a stealth roll”, encourage them to describe what they’re doing.  “I’m moving slowly to test for creaking floorboards and staying in the shadows of the hallway.”  Instead of saying, “I want to make an investigation check”, they should describe what they want to examine more closely and what efforts or precautions they’re going to take.  This puts them more in an active story-telling role.
4. Start low and work up.    Every time someone rolls, something should happen, even if they don’t roll well.  Describing failures can be just as interesting as successes.  In our clue-finding example, the person rolling lowest might see the general layout of the room and spot the most obvious details: furniture, lighting, the cat sitting on the desk, etc.  The next highest roll might notice a faint smell in the room or the contents of the shelves and writing table.  The highest roll might spot a book on the shelf that’s out of place or the odd wear on the floorboards next to the shelf.  A really high roll might help a character spot that the cat is looking at them very intently and could be more than it seems.  Giving everyone some detail can be more rewarding and interesting, and really brings the scene to life.
5. Focus on what is interesting.  This one may seem obvious but when reading or listening to the description of what is going on during an encounter, nothing is more boring than someone rambling on about inconsequential details.  Call out the most important things and leave some things to the players’ imaginations.  If they show interest in something, give them the details they ask for.  Spotting these items can add a feeling of accomplishment and encouragement and can help move the encounter along.

Beyond these specific guidelines, there is one last thing to consider.  You will never think of every possible outcome for an encounter so try to do as little scripting as possible.  Players can tell when you’re reading a pre-written description or reciting a pre-written outcome for something they’ve accomplished.  Keep your notes only as detailed as you need to in order to paint an interesting picture and know what goals you have for the encounter.  If you spend too much time in predicting their actions, you’ll never see the chaotic creativity that inevitably stems from a party of adventurers. 

About the Author:

Jim “Argentwind” Grace has been playing and running TTRPG’s for almost 40 years in dozens of systems from AGE to Hero and every edition of D&D along the way.  He is the Tavern Owner of the Tumbled Tankard Discord server and a primary content contributor for the Tumbled Tankard YouTube channel.