Making Sense of Wilderness Encounters in D&D

How do we make sense of seemingly random encounters?
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[@solomani5959]

The “you can’t fight them so why have them” is a very 5e/video game attitude. Commentary is spot on.

[@BanditsKeep]

We only learn by being shown or asking questions.

[@justinblocker730]

Well you can fight them, but you better have one heck of a plan!

[@yourseatatthetable]

Because some players fail to fully understand that not everything can be solved through violence.

[@RockinBobXYZ]

That attitude was even more pronounced in the 3E and 4E eras.

[@solomani5959]

@@RockinBobXYZ yes for 4e no for 3e. 3e still had teeth. The shift to super hero started in 3e but it still has a lot of 1e/2e death (slow healing, dead at negative 10 etc.). I know my players ran from combat in 3e they pretty much never did in 5e. YMMV.

[@TKDB13]

Funny thing, one of the most memorable moments in my first ever D&D campaign came out of an "encountering way too many orcs" scenario. It wasn't a random encounter (the DM was setting up an element of the living game world, letting us see the scale of the threat bearing down on the city), but on the way back from a dungeon crawl we came across an encamped army of several hundred orcs a few days' march from the city. The DM was not expecting us to engage with it at all, except perhaps to gather intelligence to report back and warn the city guard. However, we had just obtained a ring of invisibility in our latest adventure, and my sorcerer had just gotten the ability to fly when we leveled up. We also had a bag of holding, plenty of cash to spend, and knowledge that *dropping* items doesn't break invisibility. So we spent our loot buying as much alchemist's fire as our bag of holding could fit, and went back to stealth-firebomb the encampment. The fire spread quickly through the densely-packed tents, and the resulting panic in the camp combined with my flying high and invisible let us pull the raid off without a hitch. That little stunt wiped out the majority of the army and forced them to fall back and delay their planned attack on the city. We then got cocky, decided after that acheivement we could surely take on a dragon, and nearly wound up getting ourselves TPK'd.

[@veerkillerx]

absolutely amazing lmao

[@veerkillerx]

My party's cocky moment was when they convinced a demon king to pay 100,000 gp for 100 barrels of water from a Celestial Spring they have claimed. Now they have to figure out the logistics of transporting a massive amount of water across the dangerous desert, hiring caravan workers, mercenaries, and building a fort to defend their claim, with little down payment by the demon (which for some reason they completely trust at this point).

[@1shishin]

I one time ran a game that had only one player, my roommate at the time, and he was attacked by some orcs seeking retribution from his attack on their camp the night before. He was hold up in a lodge with an old hunter and a young dwarven boy who had just lost his father to a young white dragon that the adventurer was out to slay. I didn't have enough orc models to represent the Siege of the Lodge so I just sprinkled a bunch of tokens on the table and said, "Orcs." The following combat was one of the best combats I've ever ran in DnD. It took everything the player had, including marshalling the hunter and the young dwarf, a necklace of fireballs, multiple creative uses of shatter and animating undead on orcs. The lodge did burn down by the end of the fight but the player and the hunter managed to survive, and the young dwarf escaped riding a pig. The whole thing was a take on Falcon's Hunting Lodge from Dragon's of Icepire Peak, and used the same map.

[@KyleMaxwell]

Man, anytime I see that old Rankin-Bass stuff, I'm a kid again. Love it when people reference them and not just the (admittedly masterful) 2000s movies.

[@BanditsKeep]

Me too

[@kendiamond7852]

I sang along

[@AuthoritativeNewsNetwork]

Yeah, that "If the orcs are not in their lair there is a 20% chance they will be escorting a train of 1-6 carts and 10-60 slave bearers bringing supplies and loot to their chief or to a stronger orc tribe. The carts will hold goods worth from 10 to 1,000 gold pieces, and each slave will bear goods worth from 5 to 30 gold pieces. If such a train is indicated, double the number of leaders and assistants, add 10 normal orcs for each cart in the train, and a subchief with 5-30 guards will always be in charge." is quite the tasty target.

[@BanditsKeep]

For sure

[@Xplora213]

Sets a really really firm tone for the orcs. I had orcs trying to enslave the goblins in two different adventures in the last campaign. Evil has no Allies.

[@horsebattery]

It's totally consistent with the source material. Most encounters with orcs in Tolkien consist of far too many to deal with at once. It's just more dramatic that way.

[@tagg1080]

D&D is not Tolkien... It is pulp...

[@horsebattery]

@@tagg1080 It's whatever you want it to be. You can play however you choose, in whatever setting you want. It is obvious, despite versions of Appendix N that exclude Tolkien, that there is a lot of influence there, orcs being one of the most obvious.

[@tagg1080]

@@horsebattery the fantasy supplement was partially taken from a fantasy tolkien set of skirmish rules. Other than that it was not a driving factor. If you don't read appendix N then a lot of d&d doesn't make sense. Let's not confuse things by saying you can do whatever you want. D&D had very specific influences.

[@horsebattery]

@@tagg1080 Orcs. We're talking about orcs. What source material do you think this conception of orcs comes from? D&D is, and has always been, a voraciously omnivorous adopter of elements from any and every literary and folkloric source possible, including a lot of Tolkien, Gary's disingenuous disavowal notwithstanding. Vance, Lieber, deCamp, Howard et al. didn't have underground complexes full of orcs, but these have always been central to the game. It's unavoidably a hybrid. Look at the cover of Mentzer Basic and there is an ersatz Conan taking on ersatz Smaug.

[@BanditsKeep]

True!

[@archersfriend5900]

Orc Battle hymn. I would fight 500 elves and i would fight 500 more, just to be the orc who fought a thousand elves for Gruumsh!

[@BanditsKeep]

Catchy!

[@wbbartlett]

Brings a whole new meaning to havering.

[@goyasolidar]

One thing I learned early on in my DMing career is to never use stock random encounter tables. Always curate your tables to reflect the specific types of creatures/hazards present in the region the adventurers are passing through.

[@macoppy6571]

DM: calls for perception check Ranger: 11 DM: As you approach the mouth of a box canyon, an Orc betrays itself by breaking wind loudly, roughly 60' away. A number of other orcs giggle their approval, revealing approximately 100 orcs waiting in ambush throughout the canyon. Before you can react, the sound of marching can be heard from behind. Ranger: What is behind? DM: You are between a warband of Skeletons armed with pikes and spears and an orcish ambush of about 100 each. What do you do?

[@BanditsKeep]

Run!!

[@vercingetorix721]

My favorite thing about old school Traveller is that if your luck is bad enough, your character can die during character creation 😂. I ran a game of modern Traveller a couple years ago, and one of my players was so unlucky that he failed out of college and military academy, got a crippling gambling addiction, got caught in an explosion, and started the game with over a million credits of medical debt. Such a wild game. I agree that the 100 orcs need to stay. There’s so many interesting ways that could play out. It’s all up to the players’ skill and creativity.

[@DIEGhostfish]

You also have to push your odds gambling for better stats to really have a chance of dying in creation.

[@Xplora213]

Traveller was pretty cool like that. Randomly generated backstories ftw 🎉

[@CaptCook999]

As we crested a hill, we saw in the valley below a huge encampment of orcs. This was how our random encounter began. We, us 6 adventurers of about 3rd level, were a bit shocked and unfortunately for us the orcs did see us on horseback as we came over the hilltop. After a brief discussion I told my friends, "I have a plan, trust me. Just look tough". So I shouted down in orcish "Have you seen a dragon flying around here lately? We are hunting a dragon that lives near here. So have you seen it lately"? The DM was a little shocked but figured out what I was doing. Would these orcs really want to attack a group of adventurers that were stalking a dragon? Well the stunned orcs told us that they had not seen a dragon. To which we replied simply thank you and went on our way. What great fun that night was and I got a few extra experience points for my quick thinking.

[@BanditsKeep]

Nice!

[@SpiritWolf1966]

I enjoy all of Bandit’s Keep videos

[@veerkillerx]

were you born in 1966?

[@jamesstern9578]

Another point to consider with the potentially huge size of encounters in ODnD is the tagline: "Rules for Fantastic Medeival *Wargames* Campaigns." While it was understood to be a wholly new type of game, ODnD is a direct descendent of wargaming, meaning large armies clashing on the battlefield. Sure 100 orcs sounds like a lot, until you remember that it wasn't uncommon to have 1 or 2 dozen people playing at once, each controlling 1 or maybe more characters, each of which potentially having 1-3 classed retainers, and who knows how many men at arms, porters, etc. It would be easily conceivable for a low-level party to be wandering with a warband of 2-4 dozen characters/troops, and for there to be warbands numbering hundreds of troops for high level parties (high level Clerics AUTOMATICALLY attract 50-300 mixed men at arms when they found a stronghold, not to mention mercenaries hired or levies made by Lord-level Fighting-Men from their baronies).

[@BanditsKeep]

That is certainly one way to play, I can’t say I’ve ever played in such a large group - but it would be fun!

[@ironocy496]

I have ran a session where the theme was "100 Orcs". Literally, a warband of 100 orcs were pillaging a town and the party of level 5 characters chose to defend it. The orcs came in waves of like 5-10 of varying power level and specialty that were timed to "spawn" every round. The party chose a spot to defend and on came the waves of orcs. There were also townsfolk that would either fight or flee the party could choose to help or not. The final wave had the war chief and elite warriors. It was quite memorable and fun.

[@BanditsKeep]

Nice!

[@EpicEmpires-pb7zv]

I'm a huge fan of asking the question 'What are the monsters doing?' as you mention in your video. I think a random table like that should really be part of any bestiary. Fighting every monster you encounter can be fun for newbies but most experienced players are looking for something where they can use their creativity and have experiences they haven't had before. If all your encounters are: You run into 5 orcs, roll for initiative...that is just dull after the fist 2 or 3 times. Also in D&D basic you're supposed to roll on a reaction table to see how the monsters react and even if you run into 100 orcs their reaction probably won't be to fight you. The reaction table is one of the coolest tools in D&D if you use it with some creativity. 100 orcs has so many possibilities. You came up with some cool ones like: They're coming back from a battle loaded up with loot and prisoners. Some more: Reaching the top of a hill or mountain and seeing 100 orcs attacking a village. Running into the scouting party of the orcs. The orcs are part of some kind of evil ritual the party sees from a distance. The orcs are coming through a portal and there are still more of them to come through. Ultimately though I'm thinking at some point the party gets chased by 100 orcs. But that's just my idea of fun.

[@michaelwest4325]

For rolling random monsters I have a motive table too. Evading something/party, tracking or searching..., running from..., etc. So my 100 Orcs have a purpose and direction. That might modify their reaction or allow for role play versus combat only. Or not!

[@BanditsKeep]

Nice

[@RealNemo235]

This is good stuff. Especially the idea that you don’t have to fight everybody. I don’t know where people got the idea that is what classic games are about. Throw in a reaction roll for everyone you meet and there’s no telling where each encounter will go. Maybe you get a good reaction for the troop of orcs you meet. You might travel with them and meet another troop, or word spreads to other local orcs, and you might get at least neutral reactions from other orcs.

[@israelmorales4249]

Hi Daniel! 100 Orcs, that sounds very well to mrching army, and for changing ome thngs on the "hex" 'You have discover a new Orc Army Outpost in construction" Great video, thx for the advice!

[@finnfish5418]

I'm requisitioning this :)

[@BanditsKeep]

For sure

[@artistpoet5253]

I don't ever recall coming across a warband of any monsters in my games but there were more than a few 'run away!' type of encounters.

[@pickpocketpressrpgvideos6655]

Great video and appreciate the shout out Daniel!! :D

[@tubebobwil]

This is such a good video. Love the idea of 20 orcs fighting 80!

[@BanditsKeep]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@BanjoSick]

Great tips, man. Bandit being the best as usual. Had my kids encountering a Lamia in the wild and always try to reason what made this encounter happen.

[@nickhayley]

I love the much improved audio quality. Thanks!❤

[@link090909]

Loved the part about “too many hooks”. I’m new to running sandbox style and second guess how many different random things I should be throwing at my party, but I think if I didn’t then the world would feel empty and artificial

[@JohnStrain-eu6eu]

Orcs over the number of 35 (or 20) means trouble brewing held in check by all strong leader... last time a human advent group ran into said number, massive fight occuured, orc lead died and an epic chase happened! The surivors spent 30 days chasing the advent group...

[@BanditsKeep]

Awesome

[@johnhansen4794]

Old 'dragon' magazines have some awesome articles about 'who is on the road' or 'in the woods' Awesome video as usual. I started a campaign with "this village is being overrun." once. also I have to add that my favorite is the 'fish friends' type of orc squad. In the distance orcish voices are heard singing, but these are not orcish war songs. Listening closely reveals the words, " oh we are the orcish friendship society.. Orcish knights with good honor who want to be friends with thee.'' One could attack them, or one could parley and camp with them and everything would be fine until somebody said something stupid about Grumish. lol.

[@johntheherbalistg8756]

Our group (most of us are both players and DMs) is no stranger to stuff too big to fight. We have a sort of understanding that almost no encounter is "kill or be killed." We leave stuff open to creative solutions like talking, sneaking or setting fires and walking away

[@SmileyTrilobite]

I find when the monsters are also people, you have a factional dimension, and encounters can go in even more directions, which is fun for me as a DM. Even animals have an ecological dimension, like, “All the fire beetles left this area, so now the grues that like the dark come out,” or with people: “With the dragon in the mountains, the orcs have fled into the valley, and the kobolds want them gone.”

[@Enders1315]

Just started the video and id like to add an experience of mine from the current AD&D campaign I'm playing in. We were travelling along an ancient trade road to get into a mountain range and it was known that there were orc warbands coming to the area. We encountered a mounted orc scout and it redulted in us having to evade a warband of close to 300 orcs. It took us off our path a bit and ended up resulting in some cool emergent narrative moments. I like these kinds of unbalanced encounters. They really make you think about how to solve the problem. It's not just about killing the enemies.

[@BanditsKeep]

That’s. Awesome

[@alexcothren5103]

I love it. I ran a scenario where a nearby coast town was taken over and everyone captured. They followed the lone survivor to the town of the aggressors only to find 100 buliwugs and a froghemoth " god" they worshipped. That's the day they learned that not everything I present to them is winnable at their level. They have spent a few months collecting strong weapons and leveling up, and I think they're going to go back for a rematch next session or so. Even though no PCs died, after having to retreat, they not only learned a valuable lesson ( not everything is balanced) , but made it their mission to " win back their honor" .

[@johnstuartkeller5244]

Your topics are great and well presented. I always look forward to your content, insightful and helpful. And your thumbnails rock, boss! The campaign I am running (which was never intended to be an ongoing campaign, but now they're establishing a castle and starting to attract followers) has come across the innumerable-odds situation a couple of times. Discretion usually proved the better part of valor, though that was a hard pill for the Knight of Holy Shielding to deal with (and he is now a Cleric of St. Cuthbert, too, thanks to reincaenation.) One of the first adventures involved the last of the Wolf Nomads fleeing the pursuing forces of Vecna (commanded by Warduke), and the PCs' brilliant idea to buy them time was to set the autumn-dry grasslands on fire to cover the exodus south. Smoke lingered and darkened the skies of the Flanaess for about year ...

[@TheDungeonmaster-ec2ee]

Spot on! exaclty how ive run my moldvay for 40 years. Love your content and point of view. cheers!

[@Xplora213]

I just realised that the first adventure of the last campaign was in fact a randomly generated orc village. Every single scout and guard was part of the randomly generated 110 orcs. Party picked them off little by little and slowly wore them down. There just isn’t a need to actually create everything from scratch. The tables work.

[@BanditsKeep]

For sure

[@HeWhoEatsCereal]

I like hearing about old school DnD, thanks!

[@BanditsKeep]

Thank You!

[@AndyReichert0]

totally agree. part of what gives a setting some realism is the ability to say no to things. so much of a real world is deciding what you do and don't care about it.

[@BanditsKeep]

Indeed

[@zensuufu]

Thanks Daniel.

[@BanditsKeep]

My pleasure!

[@doomhippie6673]

This is awesome. I wish I had realized this back in the days. So cool. Thank you for this video, one of the best I've seen on the net.

[@BanditsKeep]

Thank You!

[@the3rdgray]

I could see an orc band thinking of the heroes as small fish, or as not their problem. Maybe the orc chief asks some questions, and politely informs them that in these parts, it's customary to bring gifts when meeting a chieftain (and, oh, what a nice gold chain you have, Mr. Cleric). The players might do the smart thing and comply today, but congratulations, your campaign has a new BBEG. Or, riffing off the 80v20 orc battle idea, maybe the player characters witness the smaller side’s heroic last stand, only to see one orc champion escape the slaughter and be pursued by the victors. Maybe they have an opportunity to help the fleeing orc? Lot of possibilities spring to mind.

[@BanditsKeep]

For sure!

[@mikeb.1705]

I'm with you. Not everything has to cater to the parties abilities ~ meaning: yes, 100 orcs is fine, even for a L1 party to encounter "randomly" in the wilderness. That being said, I don't believe in truly random encounters. I may generate the encounter randomly, but I prep all of my "random" encounters in advance. So if I know my PCs are traveling during the next session I will roll or noodle out something(s) they might possibly encounter. Then I will noodle out why that encounter is there (100 orcs?? They must be there for a reason... perhaps they are traveling to the annual Orc-moot where they will trade and ally with other orc tribes). Then I'll work out details of those 100 orcs (who and how many leader-types, and what treasures they may have, and how many pack animals or worgs, or guard-demons they might have, etc). So then when the PCs are presented with the encounter it will be up to them to decide exactly how to handle that encounter. A snaking train of 100 orcs plus guard-demons and worgs? Hmm... do you want to hide from them, attack, or perhaps parlay? The choice is theirs. Great video, as always, Daniel!

[@tunin6844]

It seems to be hard to keep in mind that an encounter isn't necessarily something that requires direct conflict. Having single powerful creatures on encounter tables can be quite similar to the 100 orcs or 300 kobolds. Why would a dragon disrupt a camp in the night with illusions or just making noises around the camp of a low level party? Well, they don't have anything the dragon wants, but "dragon is bored". Or maybe the dragon joins their camp and they don't know (at least in the short term) that they encountered a dragon. Thinking every encounter needs to be direct and total war would certainly lead to a whole lot of dead adventurers.

[@andrewhaldenby4949]

Wonderful Daniel ty. Let the dice decide. Reaction rolls and morale rolls also very important. Our party routed about 70 pirates due to two lucky morale rolls

[@BanditsKeep]

Nice!

[@nigelfindley3104]

So helpful, thank you!

[@BanditsKeep]

Thanks!

[@FlintFireforge]

All great advice for DMs and sandboxes. Once the context is set the game is afoot.

[@BanditsKeep]

Thank You!

[@Vegas7.62]

I feel that with older DND its much more important to parlay with encounters or otherwise role play around it. I usually do as you mentioned, and create a faction based off the 100-300 orcs or whatver and have them become a part of the story. Then, i can divide up that warband into what ever is themeatically important to the adventure. Some at camp, some raiding some in a new dungeon or whatever

[@BanditsKeep]

Cool

[@billyg.personaltraining]

I like the Low Fantasy Gaming/ Tales of Argosa system for encounters. The world isn't balanced. Just have escape and chase rules ready.

[@BanditsKeep]

For sure

[@worldbigfootcentral3933]

I like the 300 orcs option

[@BanditsKeep]

Me too!

[@LokisLair]

This was really thought-provoking. I think a lot of DMs struggle to contextualise things on the spot.. I definitely do sometimes. The idea of 100 orcs is actually really interesting but you never see it in many newer books; I did run an encounter a year or so ago where the party came across 30 skeletons, and that ended up actually being a really cool moment for the players. Thanks for the video.

[@mokane86]

There is no such thing as unbalanced if you provide the opportunity to escape somehow!!!! 😈 Or if your encounter was too weak, a sudden second wave.

[@BanditsKeep]

Indeed

[@johnandrewbellner]

Once again, a great video on a great subject. I'm sharing it with others now. Thank you!

[@BanditsKeep]

Awesome, thank you!

[@TaintedBalance]

Thanks to digital rollers these days (or just being able to whip my own up in a spreadsheet or whatever), I just tend to roll 3-5 for any given encounter roll and go with whichever one tickles my brain right in the moment. And sometimes that is the level 2 party seeing the green dragon (roll 2) currently feasting on the unfortunate orc hunting party (roll 4), and sometimes said party is now part of the feast and rerolling characters.

[@amyeasler2086]

One of my fav things to do is start a campaign with a huge threat for my players that they have to either escape from or use environmental hazards to kill, but if they go head first they wont win because lvl 1 os to squishy

[@BanditsKeep]

Nice

[@Galanthos]

I'm reminded of returning to The Valley Of Mines in Gothic 2. At the point you're going there, handling 2-3 orcs at once is a challenge, but is doable. You reach the Valley of Mines, and find a castke besieged by hundreds of orcs. If you try to fight you will be engaged by at least 3-5 orcs. You might also be unlucky enough to get the attention of an Orc Elite (much more difficult fight, with you probablt only able to do chip damage) Orc Shamans (able to easily kill you with spells while you try and kite the other orcs) or a pack of Wargs. Your first time here, the mission is just to find a spot in the siege through which you can run to the castle. You come back later in the game though, and at that point, you can fight 100 orcs. (If you do it carefully)

[@tagg1080]

1. Traveller is also based on chainmail. 2. D&D is a wargame, random encounters are adding more factions and interactions. It isn't about the individual PCs. It is about the world. 3. Modern players are tainted by Skyrim and final fantasy that everything in the wilds is purely for them to fight mindlessly. 4. Acks breaks down monsters in gangs/packs/warbands whatever. Extremely useful for dividing up monster lacks. 5. The large encounters in od&d line up perfectly to chainmail size battles at 1:10 or 1:20 scale. Which the PCs should be traveling with a small army anyway...

[@BanditsKeep]

Indeed

[@dougmartin2007]

I will try to preroll random encounters. That way I have some time to think about why are there 100 orcs, or what is the red dragon up to? I also use this time to figure out how the party will first know about this encounter. Will they hear the orcs singing the marching song, or see smoke from many camp fires? Will the red dragon first appear in the sky with a roar, only for the party to see it breathe fire down on something else hidden behind the trees? I always have an easier time when I have this stuff figured out, so it can seem like something part of the world instead of something, well, random.

[@BanditsKeep]

That makes sense

[@Xplora213]

The older I get, the better this seems like a good plan. Having a dozen pre rolled random encounters can combine with the non random encounters, it just throws a lot of stuff up into the air. Having monsters found hurt (low HP?) or fighting each other will help the meta too. Having the two dire wolves fighting so you can escape seems more interesting.

[@gritgrimdark]

I always thought encountering 100 orcs is what the charisma stat is for lol

[@BanditsKeep]

It can certainly help!

[@uwtartarus]

I purposefully stuff my game full of plot hooks, "side quests" in order to compel my players to make choices, and whatever they skip and decline to pursue, develops without their input, which creates a living world instead of a video game where the side quest just sits and waits for their engagement.

[@BanditsKeep]

Cool

[@ericjome7284]

Simply put, not every monster is meant to be confronted directly. Sometimes, avoidance is the best you can achieve.

[@BanditsKeep]

Agreed

[@JosephHeller-el8zo]

Now I want to make an adventure with 100 orcs!

[@BanditsKeep]

Do it!

[@raff3486]

Where there's a whip, there's a way 🎵

[@BanditsKeep]

🎼

[@TheEricthefruitbat]

I think many players tend to be "completionists". They are compelled to do everything available in game. Maybe that is a result of video games, maybe not. As a game master, I would be likely to have adventures that are mutually exclusive in some way: you can take care of the giant in the east or the dragon in the west, but the kingdom needs both dealt with right away.

[@BanditsKeep]

For sure

[@claytongriffin3558]

Add a second table to roll on to determine if they are marching, camping or in their village.

[@BanditsKeep]

Yup!

[@tabletoptaproom]

An orc, a goblin, and a gnoll walk into a bar, who wakes up in bed the next day in bed with an ogress?

[@BanditsKeep]

Not me!

[@EruditeDM]

The Hobgoblin! 😂

[@noobztvgaming]

100 orcs on warband March to sack villages, you could lay traps in there path on way to try thin them out ,find set animal attacks then play as animals Like giant rats wolves etc trying to thin numbers out.

[@johnmagowan6393]

Traveller is one of the most fun games even if you never leave character creation! I've made 100s and 100s!

[@BanditsKeep]

It does seem that way

[@johnmagowan6393]

@@BanditsKeep You can die during character creation. It's kind of a solo game unto itself. I used to run them up to age 50 so I would have all sorts of stuff and skill. Now that I am actually 50 I realize those characters would just want to stay home.

[@Marcus-ki1en]

Per the AD&D MM there are leaders, assistants and guards that come out of that total. A random encounter with 100 Orcs doesn't mean they are lined up in battle formation and waiting for that initiative roll. "The players crest the hill or approach the clearing and see a camp with X orcs broken into smaller groups". Or what if they come across a previous battle with many of the Orcs already dead and the survivors looting the battlefield. Don't turn every random encounter into a slug fest. Be creative and add flavor to the adventure.

[@usapatriot4163]

Thumbs up!

[@BanditsKeep]

Thank You!

[@soldierprincess8422]

Cause back then, DND had a sense of realism and not a Saturday morning cartoon like today !!!

[@BanditsKeep]

Orcs are real?!?! 😉

[@yourseatatthetable]

It's my opinion that many players and GMs fail to understand that some encounters are about avoiding combat. 300 Orcs marching through the valley is one of those...

[@scottmarsh2991]

Players may need to be told that encounters are randomly generated, lest they think the Judge is just antagonizing them.

[@BanditsKeep]

Not the judge, the world 😊

[@krispalermo8133]

If the players PC fall to the troll lord, then they can PC orcs making raids on the troll lord themselves. Troll lord is some guy in a get up costume pulling a hustle on the orcs.

[@BanditsKeep]

Maybe

[@MrSteveK1138]

*whip crack* Where there's a whip...

[@BanditsKeep]

🎶

[@dantherpghero2885]

100 orcs walk into a bar? An iron bar? I guess they didn't see it. I hope they;re alright.

[@BanditsKeep]

😂

[@Andre99328]

Everything is balanced now and straight to the story in 5e. However, as a player and as a dm, I enjoy random encounters and I enjoy very difficult/ unwinnable encounters as well as very easy encounters occasionaly. It shows you can't win everything and you are not unstoppable, or in the last case it shows you are powerfull and can easily handle low level monsters. Why leveling up when you can't slaughter some goblins here and there.

[@BanditsKeep]

Indeed

[@Pomale69]

Awesome advice, thank you! This is how I resolved to run things when setting up my first B/X campaign, so it's vindicating to hear you describe what I consider to be one of the greatest strengths of the old-school wilderness encounter tables.

[@BanditsKeep]

Awesome

[@gritgrimdark]

Play Traveler and experience character death in character creation lol

[@BanditsKeep]

Oh yes I plan on it

[@whangbar]

You could have done a little singing. Come on, now.

[@BanditsKeep]

Ha ha, maybe next time