Let me just get this out of the way up front:
If you use random encounters, you suck.
With that said, I’ll elaborate a bit. There are a few occasions when using a random encounter table is appropriate. But very few. Because no encounter should be truly random.
This is part of the ongoing opinion series “Chief Yells at Clouds”. LP’s Curmudgeon in Residence, Shawn Stanford (call him ‘Chief’), takes issue with everything that isn’t exactly the way it was when he started playing D&D on papyrus and clay tablets.
…a random encounter occurs.
Random environmental encounters – especially while journeying – are a tradition from the earliest days of DnD. I’ve seen them used to give lowbies XP, useful items, and money while they traveled to the next part of the adventure. But mostly they were used because the DM’s Guide told you that when players traveled in wild places, the GM should roll random encounters every so often. That was bad advice.
Bad advice which is also included in the current DM’s Guide immediately after telling you not to create encounters that way.
What the hell, WotC?
Random encounters are like the worst part of a sandbox campaign combined with the worst part of a railroad campaign.
Random encounters are like the worst part of a sandbox campaign combined with the worst part of a railroad campaign. Like a sandbox, there’s no overall point to these encounters. They happen in a story vacuum, what happened before has no bearing, and they don’t affect what happens after. And like the dreaded railroad, there’s no choice; they’re going to happen if the players want them or not.
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
– The Sphinx, ‘Mystery Men’
Preparing encounters before a session isn’t railroading or removing agency, it’s being a good GM. All encounters should be planned in advance and should advance the story. If an encounter doesn’t advance the story, it shouldn’t happen.
It’s acceptable to add some randomness to encounters. When the combat is critical but the opponent is not, the opponent can be chosen at random from an encounter table. However, this ‘random encounter’ is still planned and designed ahead of time.
If your players like to fight critters or talk to people while journeying. These shouldn’t be randomly rolled during play; plan them ahead of time. While you’re planning these encounters, figure out a way to use them to move the story along. Is there an item the players need? A bit of information? A hook for a side quest? Then make that happen, don’t just roll ‘a pack of wolves’ off some table and leave it at that.
Not only does a random encounter force the players to confront something, the randomness means that the encounter may be something for which they – and the GM – are unprepared. If the encounter is properly planned and designed, the GM builds it so that the players have a fair chance to succeed, and to consider what will happen to them and the story if they don’t succeed. In a random encounter generated during play, the GM has no time to do so, and may have to resort to poorly ad-libbed action or ham-fisted deus ex machina in order to not destroy the story.
Random encounters are also suggested as a way to add flavor and tone to a region or campaign. There are random encounter tables that describe environmental things. But DnD adventuring is so trope-based that using random encounters in this way isn’t helpful. If your dungeon or jungle or city is different in some way from those with which we’re all familiar, then introduce some custom flavor, not some randomly-generated generic scenery.
Many random encounter tables are loaded with things to fight, and combat encounters are great. Combat is when the dice come out, when the players get a chance to flex their characters’ skills and abilities, and when some of the most exciting, significant, and entertaining moments in DnD happen. But a GM should never generate a random combat because he has nothing else for the players to do. If you’ve got something meaningful for your players to do, then have them do it. If you don’t have something meaningful, then get to work on your story.
It’s the Story, Stupid
Every session should advance the story, and every encounter should advance the session. To ensure they advance the session – and therefore the story – encounters must be planned and designed in advance. If an encounter doesn’t advance the story, it shouldn’t happen.
If you’re in a situation where you can’t work through your main story – perhaps a player or two couldn’t make it, or you’re just not quite ready for the next session – then at least have the courtesy to find a side quest. Involve your players in a story – even a small story – rather than hitting them with meaningless random encounters.
The DM’s Guide tries to help, and provides tables of random encounters with suggestions on how they can influence your story. But what WotC has done here isn’t so much provide a set encounters as much as a set of hooks. For instance:
“Companion. One or more characters are approached by a local who takes a friendly interest in the party’s activities. As a twist, the would-be companion might be a spy sent to gather information on the adventurers.”
That sounds like a great idea, but good luck integrating it into the story if you’re rolling this at table. That’s the kind of thing that needs to be planned out if it’s going to work. It’s up to the GM to determine how to fit encounters into the story, and make them matter.
Maybe you’re the kind of GM that can pull an entire adventure out of your head given a one-sentence idea and ten minutes of preparation. But most GMs are not you; it takes them time and effort to put together a cohesive and enjoyable adventure for their players. If you’re most GMs, then you absolutely have to put in the time to plan and design encounters that are appropriate and useful.
Relying on random encounters instead of preparing them is a terrible way to run a session.
