What Makes Encounters Interesting?
4E Encounters are basically Players vs Monsters. Eventually, one side wins and the other side loses. Typically, only Players have Heals, and typically Players get rid of monsters one-after-another until there are only so few left, that Victory is a certainty and the rest of the fight is a Formality.
You've probably read this before. If you have, you probably know that altering a mix of Monsters, having interesting Enemies, memorable Terrain, adding a Second Wave of Monsters the works, all makes an Encounter more Interesting.
That's all true, but well, this post isn't about those topics. You will find plenty of references to those everywhere, from the DMG to the online Forums. Instead, we'll be covering the following notes over the next few Posts, tentatively 4 Parts.
Part I : Putting It Together
1) Settings & Encounters
2) Letting your Players In on Consequences
3) Motivations, Roleplay & Creating Empathy
Part II : Finer Details
4) Victory Conditions & Multiple Endings
5) Mechanics & XP Budget
6) Running the Encounter
7) Suggested Frequency
Part III : Live Examples
Part IV : More Live Examples
Live Examples are meant to be more practical and hopefully get your creative juices flowing. They may not just be sharing about Encounters I've Run (or tried to Run and failed miserably), but also about conceptualising ideas and turning them into Encounters, etc.
So without further ado, let's get started on this post proper - Putting It Together.
1) Settings & Encounters
The impact of a Setting on the Encounter should not be underestimated, and typically this may involve immediate concerns like raising the alarm, attracting wandering monsters, to more long term concerns like making an enemy of a noble or king, creating a reputation as a Heroic party, or as ruthless Mercenaries who leave devastation in their wake. And what if the Encounter is not much affected by the Setting? Then it is worth asking yourself - why run the Encounter at all? Just for XP?
Generally there are 2 kinds of "Overall" Location Settings : Wild and Civilised. Just about All Campaign settings use a Mix of this, and they both can impact creating Interesting Encounter Design. For example, in the default D&D 4E Points of Light Setting, the Civilised Setting would be within the "Day" Zone, Hammerfast, Nentir Vale, etc, and the Wild would be basically the "Night" Zone, Dungeons, etc.
In the Wild, Encounter Design would involve terrain, currents, traps, waterfalls, etc. In a Civilised Setting, Encounter Design can involve more elements, such as civilians, soldiers, constables, factions vying for power, hostages, etc. Neither are mutually exclusive, but that said, a Wild setting offers a lot less obvious options, and there are only so many times you can have the Heroes rescue an injured Humanoid before things get old. Plus, there is only so much Roleplaying and reasoning you can do when faced with large pack of beasts, as opposed to intelligent Humanoids with more on their mind than simply wailing on the Heroes.
Hence, I strongly prefer Civilised Settings for the wider range of Options, and I would advocate you consider likewise. It is good also intersperse travel to dungeons or covert operations that take a more "Dungeon Crawl" style even though it is in a Civilised Setting, with Consequences depending on what actions are taken at various parts of the Dungeon Crawl. For example searching some forgotten ruins under a city might at some point trigger a collapse, resulting in the City's Market Square above collapsing down, at least disrupting the City's activities, and at worse causing the deaths of many innocent people.
2) Letting your Players in on Consequences
It is relatively "easy" for a DM to determine that an Encounter has certain Consequences, be it for that Adventure Arc or a Campaign-long impact. In the above example, the Characters may come up with an ingenius way to try and collapse the ruined hallway onto their fearsome enemy, and the DM decides this will result in the aforesaid Market Square collapse. However, this is really only HALF of the story - the other, more difficult part is to impress on Players what the Consequences are, and let them decide which are serious enough not to ignore. Doing this without breaking the Fourth Wall or giving too much away is no easy task. In the above example, perhaps the DM might allow a free group History, Perception, Dungeoneering check for the Party to realize their location, and perhaps even hear the faint bustle of people going about their daily business right above them. In this way, the Players is less likely to feel that the DM is intentionally out to hurt them or discourage them from thinking of creative solutions, and if they fail the check and the catastrophe occurs, they don't feel that it was totally uncalled for.
So what are Consequences? They are incidental things separate from actually beating the Encounter, but which can impact a later part of the Adventure, or have a long term impact overall.
For example, Enemies might try to steal or destroy a mode of Transport that the Heroes have, perhaps a Rowboat which they are using to navigate the River. The consequences that would have to be impressed upon them is that the Rowboat would be important in helping them get to their Destination.
Yes, you as the DM might know the Rowboat is important, but if you are going to affect the Players' actions in the Encounter, they would probably have to know. Preferably in advance by the NPC who sent them on the Quest, so that at worse you would only have to remind them what was said earlier.
To be honest, I've run Encounters where I knew the Consequences of their Actions, but I did not make it clear to the Players. As a result, the Encounter was not as fulfilling or riveting, because the Characters took actions as if it was a regular Encounter.
That said, do not CHEAT the Players. If they do not know the consequences, make it known to them, and let them decide. If you have to, give the Player(s) a free Perception or Insight check to realise what they are doing. It is in Very Poor Taste to have the Players work for Months (real-time) towards an objective and simply fail at the last moment because they decided to do something for self-preservation, which none of them have any chance to know would completely destroy their Objective.
In context of the earlier example, imagine if the Characters let the Rowboat get hijacked / drift off, only to find their Quest has immediately failed. The Players could get very irritated with you.
As a separate note, I personally consider that to mislead Players into working for their Enemy WITHOUT them ever having a chance to realise it is also somewhat in poor taste. Sure, the Enemy may be a Supra-Genius, but then there is no sense of ownership since "We don't know and can't do anything about it." Without the Chance to make Meaningful Choices, Players eventually lose interest in the Campaign. The keyword here is CHANCE, which may include viable alternatives presented.
So as part of conceptualising a compelling Encounter :
a) Create Consequences for Actions other than simply beating up all their Enemies
b) Make Sure that the Players are Aware of these Consequences.
3) Motivations, Roleplay & Creating Empathy
There's 2 general kinds of Motivation among the Players
a) Why the Player(s) comes to play D&D
b) Why the Character(s) get into the Encounter
Ideally, both would be similar, and even much better if everyone playing has the same motivations, but that doesn't happen all the time. Of the two, I would still say Player Motivations matter more in an Encounter.
In my experience, the most compelling Encounters are those that touch the Emotions of the Players, and that is where Roleplaying comes in. Yes, I'm talking about those Detractors who say that 4E has no Roleplaying. Reality is that it has as much RP as we decide to put in, and the most common place to display is in the course of an Encounter.
A simple Example would be a Hostage situation. This is ideal in early Heroic, where there will probably not be immensely complicated Rituals that will destroy cities, and massive arcane traps might not make sense when you're sneaking into a barbarian chieftain's hut. Roleplay comes in depicting the Hostage, the struggles they make, the fear in their eyes, what not. The words of the Villain(s) as they threaten the Heroes and try to make good their Escape. The screams of helpless agony from the Hostages as they are gutted. And how the Heroes react to all of that, of course.
Note that Encounter Details that appeal to Player Motivations and their emotions do NOT NEED to have great consequences involved, but it can lead to Roleplay. Success can lead to Decorations, Reputation, etc.. but if it does not succeed, then it is just that, an unfortunate tragedy. No one need necessarily blame the Heroes, although if the Hostage was important enough, the Hostage's family might abhor them.
This is also ideal when you're first trying out these sorts of Encounters, as they are relatively forgiving when Characters fail to rescue the Hostages in the course of dealing with Villains. Of course, things can be quite different if the Characters were sent to Rescue rather than deal with Villains. The Encounter might even shape the Characters outlook, or more importantly, how the Players see their own Characters. Would they feel obliged to be more Heroic next time, or would they feel indifferent to the deaths of those around them, so long as they win?
Note also that NPC Motivations should also count, and most intelligent NPCs are hardly spoiling for a dangerous fight, especially if it looks like they might get defeated and killed. If the Heroes push all the right buttons making peaceful overtures during the battle, and have taken care to appear peaceful by intentionally knocking out enemies instead of killing them, it may be perfectly fine to let them bypass or to cut short an otherwise violent encounter. That said, the more advantageous numbers and terrain the NPCs have on their side, the less likely they are to simply "Surrender". So go with the flow, reward Roleplay by your Player Characters, and don't be afraid to give up on the idea of making it a Combat Encounter.
For Part II
We'll be moving on to the following, somewhat more technical topics, more specific ideas and recommended guidelines to run such Encounters.
4) Victory Conditions & Multiple Endings
5) Mechanics & XP Budget
6) Running the Encounter
7) Suggested Frequency
Trust this has been a helpful Post for you guys, or for veteran DMs, an interesting post to get your creative juices flowing.
Here's to a Better Game!
4E Encounters are basically Players vs Monsters. Eventually, one side wins and the other side loses. Typically, only Players have Heals, and typically Players get rid of monsters one-after-another until there are only so few left, that Victory is a certainty and the rest of the fight is a Formality.
You've probably read this before. If you have, you probably know that altering a mix of Monsters, having interesting Enemies, memorable Terrain, adding a Second Wave of Monsters the works, all makes an Encounter more Interesting.
That's all true, but well, this post isn't about those topics. You will find plenty of references to those everywhere, from the DMG to the online Forums. Instead, we'll be covering the following notes over the next few Posts, tentatively 4 Parts.
Part I : Putting It Together
1) Settings & Encounters
2) Letting your Players In on Consequences
3) Motivations, Roleplay & Creating Empathy
Part II : Finer Details
4) Victory Conditions & Multiple Endings
5) Mechanics & XP Budget
6) Running the Encounter
7) Suggested Frequency
Part III : Live Examples
Part IV : More Live Examples
Live Examples are meant to be more practical and hopefully get your creative juices flowing. They may not just be sharing about Encounters I've Run (or tried to Run and failed miserably), but also about conceptualising ideas and turning them into Encounters, etc.
So without further ado, let's get started on this post proper - Putting It Together.
1) Settings & Encounters
The impact of a Setting on the Encounter should not be underestimated, and typically this may involve immediate concerns like raising the alarm, attracting wandering monsters, to more long term concerns like making an enemy of a noble or king, creating a reputation as a Heroic party, or as ruthless Mercenaries who leave devastation in their wake. And what if the Encounter is not much affected by the Setting? Then it is worth asking yourself - why run the Encounter at all? Just for XP?
Generally there are 2 kinds of "Overall" Location Settings : Wild and Civilised. Just about All Campaign settings use a Mix of this, and they both can impact creating Interesting Encounter Design. For example, in the default D&D 4E Points of Light Setting, the Civilised Setting would be within the "Day" Zone, Hammerfast, Nentir Vale, etc, and the Wild would be basically the "Night" Zone, Dungeons, etc.
In the Wild, Encounter Design would involve terrain, currents, traps, waterfalls, etc. In a Civilised Setting, Encounter Design can involve more elements, such as civilians, soldiers, constables, factions vying for power, hostages, etc. Neither are mutually exclusive, but that said, a Wild setting offers a lot less obvious options, and there are only so many times you can have the Heroes rescue an injured Humanoid before things get old. Plus, there is only so much Roleplaying and reasoning you can do when faced with large pack of beasts, as opposed to intelligent Humanoids with more on their mind than simply wailing on the Heroes.
Hence, I strongly prefer Civilised Settings for the wider range of Options, and I would advocate you consider likewise. It is good also intersperse travel to dungeons or covert operations that take a more "Dungeon Crawl" style even though it is in a Civilised Setting, with Consequences depending on what actions are taken at various parts of the Dungeon Crawl. For example searching some forgotten ruins under a city might at some point trigger a collapse, resulting in the City's Market Square above collapsing down, at least disrupting the City's activities, and at worse causing the deaths of many innocent people.
2) Letting your Players in on Consequences
It is relatively "easy" for a DM to determine that an Encounter has certain Consequences, be it for that Adventure Arc or a Campaign-long impact. In the above example, the Characters may come up with an ingenius way to try and collapse the ruined hallway onto their fearsome enemy, and the DM decides this will result in the aforesaid Market Square collapse. However, this is really only HALF of the story - the other, more difficult part is to impress on Players what the Consequences are, and let them decide which are serious enough not to ignore. Doing this without breaking the Fourth Wall or giving too much away is no easy task. In the above example, perhaps the DM might allow a free group History, Perception, Dungeoneering check for the Party to realize their location, and perhaps even hear the faint bustle of people going about their daily business right above them. In this way, the Players is less likely to feel that the DM is intentionally out to hurt them or discourage them from thinking of creative solutions, and if they fail the check and the catastrophe occurs, they don't feel that it was totally uncalled for.
So what are Consequences? They are incidental things separate from actually beating the Encounter, but which can impact a later part of the Adventure, or have a long term impact overall.
For example, Enemies might try to steal or destroy a mode of Transport that the Heroes have, perhaps a Rowboat which they are using to navigate the River. The consequences that would have to be impressed upon them is that the Rowboat would be important in helping them get to their Destination.
Yes, you as the DM might know the Rowboat is important, but if you are going to affect the Players' actions in the Encounter, they would probably have to know. Preferably in advance by the NPC who sent them on the Quest, so that at worse you would only have to remind them what was said earlier.
To be honest, I've run Encounters where I knew the Consequences of their Actions, but I did not make it clear to the Players. As a result, the Encounter was not as fulfilling or riveting, because the Characters took actions as if it was a regular Encounter.
That said, do not CHEAT the Players. If they do not know the consequences, make it known to them, and let them decide. If you have to, give the Player(s) a free Perception or Insight check to realise what they are doing. It is in Very Poor Taste to have the Players work for Months (real-time) towards an objective and simply fail at the last moment because they decided to do something for self-preservation, which none of them have any chance to know would completely destroy their Objective.
In context of the earlier example, imagine if the Characters let the Rowboat get hijacked / drift off, only to find their Quest has immediately failed. The Players could get very irritated with you.
As a separate note, I personally consider that to mislead Players into working for their Enemy WITHOUT them ever having a chance to realise it is also somewhat in poor taste. Sure, the Enemy may be a Supra-Genius, but then there is no sense of ownership since "We don't know and can't do anything about it." Without the Chance to make Meaningful Choices, Players eventually lose interest in the Campaign. The keyword here is CHANCE, which may include viable alternatives presented.
So as part of conceptualising a compelling Encounter :
a) Create Consequences for Actions other than simply beating up all their Enemies
b) Make Sure that the Players are Aware of these Consequences.
3) Motivations, Roleplay & Creating Empathy
There's 2 general kinds of Motivation among the Players
a) Why the Player(s) comes to play D&D
b) Why the Character(s) get into the Encounter
Ideally, both would be similar, and even much better if everyone playing has the same motivations, but that doesn't happen all the time. Of the two, I would still say Player Motivations matter more in an Encounter.
In my experience, the most compelling Encounters are those that touch the Emotions of the Players, and that is where Roleplaying comes in. Yes, I'm talking about those Detractors who say that 4E has no Roleplaying. Reality is that it has as much RP as we decide to put in, and the most common place to display is in the course of an Encounter.
A simple Example would be a Hostage situation. This is ideal in early Heroic, where there will probably not be immensely complicated Rituals that will destroy cities, and massive arcane traps might not make sense when you're sneaking into a barbarian chieftain's hut. Roleplay comes in depicting the Hostage, the struggles they make, the fear in their eyes, what not. The words of the Villain(s) as they threaten the Heroes and try to make good their Escape. The screams of helpless agony from the Hostages as they are gutted. And how the Heroes react to all of that, of course.
Note that Encounter Details that appeal to Player Motivations and their emotions do NOT NEED to have great consequences involved, but it can lead to Roleplay. Success can lead to Decorations, Reputation, etc.. but if it does not succeed, then it is just that, an unfortunate tragedy. No one need necessarily blame the Heroes, although if the Hostage was important enough, the Hostage's family might abhor them.
This is also ideal when you're first trying out these sorts of Encounters, as they are relatively forgiving when Characters fail to rescue the Hostages in the course of dealing with Villains. Of course, things can be quite different if the Characters were sent to Rescue rather than deal with Villains. The Encounter might even shape the Characters outlook, or more importantly, how the Players see their own Characters. Would they feel obliged to be more Heroic next time, or would they feel indifferent to the deaths of those around them, so long as they win?
Note also that NPC Motivations should also count, and most intelligent NPCs are hardly spoiling for a dangerous fight, especially if it looks like they might get defeated and killed. If the Heroes push all the right buttons making peaceful overtures during the battle, and have taken care to appear peaceful by intentionally knocking out enemies instead of killing them, it may be perfectly fine to let them bypass or to cut short an otherwise violent encounter. That said, the more advantageous numbers and terrain the NPCs have on their side, the less likely they are to simply "Surrender". So go with the flow, reward Roleplay by your Player Characters, and don't be afraid to give up on the idea of making it a Combat Encounter.
For Part II
We'll be moving on to the following, somewhat more technical topics, more specific ideas and recommended guidelines to run such Encounters.
4) Victory Conditions & Multiple Endings
5) Mechanics & XP Budget
6) Running the Encounter
7) Suggested Frequency
Trust this has been a helpful Post for you guys, or for veteran DMs, an interesting post to get your creative juices flowing.
Here's to a Better Game!
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