Creating a Biologically Logical Random Encounter Table

In D&D in general, you are more likely to encounter less powerful monsters than higher powered ones.  This is a reflection, in part, of the typical food web pyramid used in biology.  Food web or food chain hierarchies show that stable ecosystem follow the same pattern in which producers and small herbivores far outnumber top-level predators.  There are reasons such a hierarchy may not exist in a D&D world, but let us assume, for the purpose of this activity, that this is generally true for D&D monsters as well as lions, gazelles, and grass in Africa.  Even if you don't buy the biology argument, you can, no doubt, see the value of creating such a table for epigenetic character progression. There are ways to represent this likelihood in a D&D encounter table by which adventurers and dungeon crawlers are far less likely to encounter a red dragon rather than a kobold, many of which my readers are, no doubt, passably if not intimately familiar.  In this post I share my own method.

Line 'Em Up
The first step is to create a way in which monsters can be consistently and objectively ranked and categorized by difficulty.  Hit Dice is one such way, but, for me, fails to take into account important monsters characteristics.  To that end I have created my own method for determining relative monster difficulty, which I then equate to experience.  My Constant Readers may very easily use their own ranking method and progress to the next step.

The Next Step
After ordering the monsters by power, distribute them around the median of a dice roll outcomes range in which  more than one of the same die is used.  Doing this creates a table in which monster power is correlated with its likelihood of encounter.

Two Thoughts on Railroad/Sandbox

Thought 1:  Pure sandbox role-playing games cannot exist because of the subjective nature of role-playing games.  This is not to say sandbox games don’t exist at all, but such examples exist outside the games of focus here, i.e., D&D, etc.  Pure railroad role-playing games cannot exist because player choice exists.  This is not to say railroad games don’t exist either, but those examples also exist outside the games of focus here.

Therefore, role-playing games can have different degrees by which players may affect an imaginary world.  This is characterized by more and less, not either/or.  What, then, is the relationship between these two characteristics?  If one aspect is changed, is there a necessary change in the other?

Thought 2:  Random tables are not enough to create a good sandbox game because they represent independent probabilities.  Sandbox design requires dependent random tables, otherwise the world is a mishmash of what-have-you and the sandbox game becomes a matter of algorithms playing themselves out and players playing the odds instead of interacting with an immersive world.  This last bit, an immersive world, is, for me, the point of playing these games and is why this issue deserves a closer analysis.

Sans Minis

A well-painted nasty.

I just got back from my regular Dark  Heresy game, of which, miniatures are a ubiquitous participant.  Tonight, however, was unusual in that we didn't use miniatures at all.  Oh, I still took a few minutes prior to game play to peruse my GM's ever-growing collection, but the battle mat didn't come out once.  Even though we did have a few small-scale skirmishes.

During the game I'm normally sitting in a chair, facing the table mat and analyzing battle situations as displayed by the minis.  Tonight I sat back on the couch and found that I was visualizing the scenes far more vividly than I have before.  I don't think the story tonight was any better than any other.  Currently, we're two adventures into the Mara campaign, so we're marooned on an ice-ball of a planet with only a single abandoned penal colony in way of structures.  Of course, there is something dark and warped at it's core.

My point is:  I found myself enjoying both the flow and immersion of the game more than usual.  Now, I have mentioned these thoughts before, so I seriously doubt I'm being very objective.  However, it IS a game after all and I'm here to have fun!

I made sure to compliment the GM and gave him, briefly, my two cents.  Will he abandon minis?  Hell no.  He loves to paint and plot and all that.  But, and here is where I hope it's a big butt (uh... never mind), I hope that begins to use them more sparingly.

After giving this whole mini thing a lot of thought I've decided that if I ever find a group desperate enough to let me DM them in my D&D campaign, I will not use miniatures.

Random Table Organization Question

My current project has characters trapped in a haunted house and trying to either escape alive or destroy the evil entity entirely.  In various rooms, and triggered by various function, the GM consults a random table.  I have this adventure module set up in the traditional method, i.e., a keyed map with each room numbered and described numerically by room.  Sometimes a room has a unique random table and, at others, uses a random table shared with another room or rooms.

Here’s my question:  Should I create a master list of random tables at the back of the entire module, or should I include the needed random tables within each room description? 

The advantage of the former is an overall simplicity and reduction of physical pages needed.  The downside is possible problems/confusion from locating and using several pages of tables at different times.

The advantage of the later is ease of access to the needed table, but a considerable increase in overall page count as tables are repeated through the text.

Right now, I’m using the first method (organizing all of the tables in the back) and totaling ten pages.  If I use the later method the entire product clocks in at twelve or thirteen pages. 

What would you recommend?

Anyone Know This Game?

click to enlarge

I remember this ad from Dragon Magazine.  Can anyone tell me anything about it?  Cursory Google searches have yielded nothing substantial.  Apparently, it was made by Game Systems Inc based out of a PO Box in Miami, Florida.

Inn Name Generator

Thank you, reader, for contributing to my recent Inn Name Generator.  What started as a two column table of twenty-three values has surpassed sixty!  I have now closed editing on the spreadsheet and have embedded it permentantly in my "products" tab at the top of this blog.

If you need the name of an Inn, roll on the the two tables and fill in the blanks.

THE __________(table A) ____________(table B)

or

The ___________(table B) & _____________(table B)

Do You Mini? (part 2)

Yes, most of you.  Below are the results to my poll about mini use in tabletop games.

click to enlarge

I predicted that "rarely" and "usually" would be the two largest bars.  That, in general, there are players who use them and those who don't.  I discovered, however, that most of my respondants use them.  At least some of the time.  I am genuinely surprised.

I still wonder about the affects of miniature use on game immersion and flow.  Do miniatures diminish the creative element of role-playing, much like literature differs from cinema?  Does miniature maitenance (organizing, placing, moving) break game flow?

[Your Blog] Here

• Here is a link to a live open-sourced spreadsheet of role-playing blogs.  There is a good chance I already have yours listed, but if not, please add your title, link, and number of followers.  If you’re not sure how to do that, send me an email at hartwell602 at gmail dot com.*
• My poll regarding miniatures closes in four days.  The more responses I get, the more reliable the data for inference, so please vote.  You can find it on the top right-hand side of the blog.  If you’re accessing this blog via cellphone or a reader service, you probably won’t see it.
• I continue to get positive responses to my beta adventure, Out Where The Buses Don’t Run.  If you’re interested in playtesting or editing, email me at hartwell602 at gmail dot com.
• My open-source Inn Name Generator is still available for your contributions.  I'll close it down in one week and add it to the "Products" tab above.

*Why do something like this when Google Reader and blog alliances can do the same thing?  Google Reader (and other such programs) allow you to analyze what you already have, but can only give you a rudimentary start on finding new blogs.  Blog alliances can be difficult to join (I know this from personal experience) and can't be organized alphabetically for easy searching.  I select the number of followers as a data point because post and hit numbers are not reliable.  Open-source projects are hit-or-miss by nature, so we'll see how this goes.

Inn Name Generator

Ok, Ok.  I know we've all done this from time to time.  And, frankly, mine is not that much different than yours.  Take a look.  If you need the name of an Inn, roll on the the two tables and fill in the blanks.  A few of my favorites include:

The Farting Nun

The Ugly Princess

The Naked Orc

The Horny Wizard

The Bleeding Ass

The Sword & Armpit

THE __________(table A) ____________(table B)

or

The ___________(table B) & _____________(table B)

To make it a little more interesting I'm embedding the live Google document and am opening up editing to anyone.  Care to add something?  Please do!

The image above is what I started with.  Click to enlarge.

Below is a window into the live document that will change over time.  

If you want to make a contribution, click on the link at the top of the post.

OSR: Optional System (for) Ruling

Lately I've given a lot of thought to bringing non-players into role-playing.  Mostly because I want more people with which to rpg.  More so role-playing than roll-playing, though the second is an important part of the former.  People like my wife and neighbors enjoy the occaisonal trivia or board game with me on the weekend (especially if I pop a few corks), but if I mention "role-play" or "D&D" or any of the other common nouns we Grognards casually throw around, there is an immediate and negative reaction.  I wonder, however, if this negative reaction is to the surface or the associations of table-top role-playing rather than the gameplay and if so, how can I get them past the affect or associations?

That thought in mind, I developed this simple ruling method.  I suppose one could refer to it as a "mechanic" or a "system", but it is both very simple and complicated depending on your involvement.  I've tried to take the bulk of the necessary work, move it to the shoulders of the GM (herein referred to as the "referee" until I get a better noun) and place the equally rewarding and difficult, but wholly optional work into the hands of the players.  I simply want six common adjectives that non-gamers know and use on a daily basis and apply a specific meaning for the referee.

That's it.  Everything else is moved into the mind of the referee.  Encumbrance, armor class, horror factor, spell duration, and range all become quick calculations in the referee's consideration as they announce the difficulty by using one of the terms listed in the first column in the table below.  Players need zero mechanical knowledge and can focus on role-playing exploration and interaction.

Clearly, the referee will make or break such a system.  With the crunch gone, there must be an emphasis moved to description and, frankly, story telling.  This, however, is intentional as it may encourage the players (i.e., non-gamers) to become immersed.

There is more to this and I will share when I've finished.  For example, I have players use a d6 for rolls when they are healthy, but when they are "hurt" (no HP either), I simply take their D6 and hand them a D4.  The implications, then, become clear.

I also created "Luck" points represented by pennies and allowing players to re-roll, which non-players intuitively grasp and like.  They can become bargaining tokens and powerful reward to good playing as measured by either the referee or perhaps by a group vote.

Characterization is also important and I will address that in future posts.  In the meantime, I've included the rough draft sketch of this system, which I will add to all my future modules.  In fact, the idea for OSR evolved through my current project, "Out Where The Buses Don't Run".  Which, by the way, I've finally totally finished the rough draft and am releasing to friends in beta for edit and playtest.  Drop me a line if you're interested.

Below is the draft located within my upcoming module, though I have replaced "referee" with "Storyteller".

This module [Out Where The Buses Don't Run] can work well with many established role-playing systems.  However, the system outlined below is simple and will work well with a creative storyteller.  It is specifically designed for the first-time role-player.  The storyteller describes all environments using all the senses.  The storyteller also assumes the role of monsters and describes events, sometimes randomly rolled, in a way that encourages player interaction.  The other players assume the roles of various characters that either they have detailed, or the Storyteller has created for them.

If a player attempts an action that is not routine, the storyteller announces whether the action is “easy”, “medium”, “hard”, “very hard”, or “near impossible”.  To successfully perform an “easy” action, the player must roll at least a two.  To perform a “medium” difficulty action, the player must roll at least a three.  This trend continues as illustrated in the table below.

The module [Out Where The Buses Don't Run], at times, suggests various difficulty levels for different actions, but it is the Storyteller who determines the relative difficulty since he has to take numerous and changing factors into consideration.

Difficulty	Meet or Beat	D6 Probability	D4 Probability
Routine	1	100%	100%
Easy	2	83%	75%
Medium	3	67%	50%
Hard	4	50%	25%
Very Hard	5	33%	0%
Near Impossible	6	17%	0%

Players may spend a luck point to re-roll any action roll.  The number of luck points each player gets is up to the storyteller.  Luck points are symbolized by pennies.  The storyteller may also give players Luck points (pennies) as a reward for desired play.

If a player takes damage they are “wounded” and must give the Storyteller a Luck point or their d6 and use a d4 instead.  If the character has a d4 and takes damage, they can spend a Luck point if they have one, or die. 

Optional Luck Rule 1:  An optional rule allows characters to give other players Luck points.

Optional Luck Rule 2:  Any character that can name the movie inspiration earns a Luck point.

Optional Luck Rule 3:  Each character rolls 1d6 for their starting Luck points.

Do You Mini?

I've written about miniature use in old-school gaming before, but I'm curious what you think, constant reader. I have a poll on the top right-hand side of the blog. Please vote!

In one year of blogging, this is the second poll I've created. I plan to leave it up until the 16th of September, at which point I will publish the results and include a little commentary.

Thanks!