Fix Your Encounter Tables!

We discuss the humble overland encounter table today. While most random encounters in games like Dungeons and Dragons feel arbitrary and flat, this method uses THE POWER OF MATH to help encounters feel like they are happening in a cohesive and living campaign world.
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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Joke Intro
0:19 - Knave Map and Introductions
2:12 - Start with a Map
4:42 - Faction Goals and Area Beasts
7:03 - 2d6 Encounter Type Table
8:37 - Alertness and Distance Tables
10:25 - Example Encounter
11:54 - Wrap Up
13:35 - Patron Thanks
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[@DungeonMasterpiece]

That's the most beautifully succinct definition of Fantasy Geopolitics I've ever heard. Thanks for the shout-out!!

[@mapcrow]

Hah!! Thank you!! I know I didn't really do the subject justice, but those videos give me a lot to think about as a cartographer!! Cheers!!

[@LaceSabatons]

Appreciate the shout-out. I'm glad my work has been useful for you. -Nick LS Whelan

[@mapcrow]

Heck yeah!! Blogs On Tape is such an incredible resource too!! Foundational for me!!

[@LaceSabatons]

@@mapcrow You are a sweetheart.

[@tagg1080]

I use random tables for two reasons. One is when i have literally no idea what could be in an area, the other is when i know what is there but want to randomize what they encounter. A lot of books and zines have the first, but the second practically requires me to handmake it for every area. Using this table to randomize how the local factions bleed into eachother is also how is use them, thanks for the video!

[@coreeclinton]

Wow, this is a really well designed idea! I like how dense it is with improv seeds, and how easily it generates interesting stories and factional play. I also like how specific the motivation improv is, as opposed to something like traditional Odnd reaction tables that can feel a little underdeveloped. I'm currently putting together a faction-based hexcrawl and this looks like a really good fit for my game!

[@mapcrow]

Thank you very much! I hope this video is generative for your own process, cheers!!

[@macoppy6571]

An astute observation.

[@Magic__7]

He's back ... ok everyone act cool

[@mapcrow]

Can’t keep a crow down for long! Haha

[@AxiomDelver]

oh sweet! a new video! welcome back, you were missed!

[@badlad5725]

This is an excellent tool! I love the ways the numerical thresholds conform to the roles of the encounters, like how the table encodes that outside factions can never be found resting in another faction's territory but will always be undertaking some kind of task there. Great design!

[@badlad5725]

And as soon as I post this I see another nuance: if they're searching for players, the players encounter them at a significant distance, producing tension; if they have their own goals, the players blunder into the confusion and the situation has more interesting stakes than a simple scrap! This thing is going on every DM screen I own.

[@jakoblogan777]

I love thinking about randomised encounters, this wait was worth it!!!!!

[@mapcrow]

Heck yeah!! I forgot to make a point of this in the video, but I think it’s important for a random table to allow for things that Don’t belong on it to show up too!

[@petsdinner]

Got my Monstrous and Knave 2e pdfs! Cheers Kyle!

[@mapcrow]

A Knave game prepped with Monstrous is on my list of things to do in 2024!! I gotta find some time soon!!

[@sentientwaffle535]

Welcome back! I used a 2d6 table last night and felt it was decent, but I definitely would love to hear another take on encounters!

[@mapcrow]

Noted! I think this would have to change for a small dungeon, but for a large on or a mega dungeon, I’d probably keep it as is. Cheers!!

[@Dithrandir]

I got Monstrous and it's amazing. Very creative, and a breath of fresh story-based air in the sea of predominantly mechanics-oriented monster books.

[@mapcrow]

Heck yeah!! Thank you so much!!

[@jackmoorhead5871]

HE’S BACK!

[@lorekendero]

Automatically liked on 0:11, 10/10.

[@rychat4687]

Welcome back friend!

[@SweatBread]

Quality as always, I'll have to use tables like these in 5 years when I can run a game again

[@Faiselle]

Baby ?

[@Doncergio]

Damn, that is a good system for random tables!

[@mapcrow]

Thank you!! Cheers!!

[@bmckelvy5717]

What a terrifying intro Edit: also hell yeah the Fortress Unvanquishable

[@mapcrow]

Love that story!!

[@macoppy6571]

Powerful design. Thank @mapcrow for your generous gift. I took notes in a blue 5x5 Quad Ruled notebook. Some experimental ideas to those brave enough to follow: To maximize the narrative of the roll, read Distance before Alertness. Example: 5 Blue + 2 Red = 7 LOCAL FACTION, SIGNS & TRACES, FIGHTING SOMETHING ELSE / HIGH ALERT. The pair of Distance and Alertness tables read naturally this way for all twelve entries. Reorder Distance 6 to "SLAIN / INJURED / RETREATING". Cross off each from left to right as the party advances (easy -> hard) for increasing tension. How do the FACTIONS treat their dead and wounded? Invert the order of just Distance and Alertness (i.e. Alertness begins with RESTING and ends with SEARCHING) for maximum whimsy and goofiness (e.g. 1 Blue + 1 Red = 2 FACTION LEADER, SLAIN, RESTING, or 6 Blue + 6 Red = OUTSIDE BEAST Vampiric Mists, AMBUSH, SEARCHING FOR PCs, a.k.a rocks fall). Invert the order of ALL TABLES presented as a nod to Gygaxian philosophy of low rolls representing a bane to the subject of the roll. Surprise Roll: "the NPCs are surprised on a 1d6 roll of 1 or 2." I am arguing that the best result a party can get is 6 Blue + 6 Red = 12 FACTION LEADER Graznak, AMBUSH, SEARCHING FOR PCs when the PCs are undoubtedly looking for Graznak to murderhobo for truth, justice, and loot. Does your party have justification for a bonus to the Surprise roll? If they roll high enough, they are also given the possibility of Stealthing out of the situation. The worst result a party can get in 1 Blue + 1 Red = 2 OUTSIDE BEASTS Hook Horrors, SLAIN, RESTING, because it means something worse is out there on the loose.

[@minimoose7890]

Woah, that's a fantastic and yet simple way to make immersive random encounters. Thanks so much, Kyle!

[@leviasin8379]

Always a good day when there's a Map Crow upload! I'm about to start a campaign which will have a lot of traveling around the same general area, and have been looking for engaging ways to fill that space. This is just perfect! Can't wait to get started writing up my own encounter tables.

[@mapcrow]

Heck yeah!! Have fun!!

[@juneiceshark]

Hi, I just started drawing city maps and found your channel. Your drawing content is amazing your voice is so calm. Also like your oc :D

[@ChristopherSalzman]

❤ glad to have you back!

[@mapcrow]

Thanks ole buddy!!

[@Zweihander_RPG]

Welcome back, my dude!

[@mapcrow]

Thanks! Good to be back! We’ll see how long it lasts.

[@kmoustakas]

I clicked like on the intro, good job. I've been playing since 1992 and I love hexcrawls!

[@spaced-cadet]

As a fledgling DM/Worldbuilder/Tinkerer, this is a subject I hadn't touched on yet but it gives me a lot to think about since I will be running an exploratory, vehicle-heavy custom system at some point in the near future. First session I've ever run will be this next Sunday (The 18th of Feb) so I've been gorging on the content you've produced where possible!

[@alienhoward2270]

I know it has very little to do with the video, but I love the questing beast.

[@mapcrow]

So do I!! I Ben's channel had an enormous influence on my gaming and my videos!!

[@aidenb1304]

Good to see you back! Great video as always!

[@MrCowabungaa]

The maths in this makes this triple-table-2d6 beautifully elegant. But... I am kinda bothered with the more results on the alertness/distance (or whatever one could personally use, like disposition instead of distance or something). It means that whatever you set on value 2 and value 12 would always be encountered in the same fashion. Even though those two results are less likely to happen, I'd still like there to be more variety there. Being able to take a faction leader by surprise sounds exciting! You could fix that by just rolling again for the other 2 tables?

[@mapcrow]

Yep! It's just a spring board. It's supposed to be flexible. And these are just the random encounters, not the only encounters. Presumably, if the players wanted to seek out a faction leader, they wouldn't be rolling on a table at all. I think of the snake eyes situation like Darth Vader showing up in Cloud City. Darth Vader is way less cool if Han Solo spots Darth Vader in the check out line at Ace Hardware. But that's just my opinion. Haha!!

[@macoppy6571]

Try making separate Surprise Rolls, or inverting the order of all the tables. Making the AMBUSH imply advantage to the PCs opens up more gameplay options.

[@mapcrow]

Hmm, I think I would rather give players the option of setting an ambush themselves if they spot an enemy they wish to face with low guard, but to each their own.

[@jasonpfirman2881]

This is great and so useful ! Thanks and keep up the great work

[@bonkposting]

This is beyond useful and practical, thank you!

[@user-dc3bc1gx4w]

hey, map crow, your videos are very interesting and fun, and i would really like to see a video series of you making your own monsters that dont already exist in dnd

[@TronHammer]

Great to have you back, awesome first video of the year and beautiful art as always :D

[@mapcrow]

Thank you so much!!

[@Hooskin]

MAP CROW IS BACK !!!

[@matthew_thefallen]

Glad to see one of your videos again! :D

[@yochaigal]

Thank you for pronouncing my name correctly!

[@mapcrow]

I sure tried! It’d be embarrassing after all the episodes of your podcast I’ve listened to if I got it wrong! Cheers!!

[@euansmith3699]

That's a lovely looking map.

[@mapcrow]

Thank you so much!!

[@undead_mole6809]

Nice to see you back!

[@DankDungeons]

Awesome encounter system! I definitely want to try it out. Glad to see you back with a new youtube vid!

[@mapcrow]

Thank you!!

[@hafle794]

loved this episode! thank you

[@Aikolon]

Great short video 😊 Liked it

[@baydenwoodland1235]

Awesome idea. Inclined to borrow it.

[@jordancabe732]

It's great to see you back! I like the Fortress Unvanquishable next to the volcano, it gives me Larn Warrior of Ice and Fire vibes.

[@mapcrow]

Ha!! I didn’t think of that!! What a wacky old movie!

[@BannersglareTheDreamWriter]

Fortress Unvanquishable is an homage to Lord Dunsany, the grandfather of modern fantasy as we know it.

[@jordancabe732]

@@BannersglareTheDreamWriter What is it in? I've read "The King of Elfland's Daughter" but none of his other works.

[@mapcrow]

It's in The Sword of Welleran and other Stories.

[@jordancabe732]

@@mapcrow Awesome! Thank you so much!

[@denisnadeau865]

Verry interesting ! I've been using something similar : I have encounter tables by region, and 3 tables that use for every encounter: distance, situation and reactions. I feel that rolling a prompt for what is happening and seperatly roll the mood of the encountered creatures is more interesting. So I may get a fleeing creature having fun making it's pursuer mad or a ficherman angry at everything, for exemple.

[@zzlord4309]

That's so awesome, What I feel can be added to this on top of that is something such as a counter saverety roll, What are the monsters doing during the random encounter, players stepping in the middle of a faction war or a monster camp site

[@mikekelly9668]

I love This! I’m excited to work on my next map

[@bolicob]

Sweet video

[@mapcrow]

Thanks!

[@baydenwoodland1235]

I am now populating some tables using this idea-- excitingly, I am also blending this with the categorization of combatants from your "learning combat from Baldur's Gate" video. This means I'm making sure to come up with creatures with lots of different ability sets. I am excited to finish and have this for my game.

[@SanJacintoArtGuild]

I love using encounter tables and loot tables using 2d6 and 3d6 to denote common, uncommon, rare, and unique results.

[@leilahamm8597]

Gaznak in his unvanquishable fortress. Nice.

[@raff3486]

That intro had me laughing! Go Map Crow, Go! Great video.

[@mapcrow]

Glad you enjoyed it!! Cheers!!

Great video! Definitely going to try this out. I had to watch the example more than once, because you said the distance 3 is Nearby when in fact is Not far (11:04).

[@mapcrow]

Ah, I see, I got confused with those extra numbers I wrote on the sides.

[@sean-michaelcarter-alexand2365]

Papa Crow 🖤

[@benjaminloyd6056]

Howdy Mr. Crow, long time no see!

[@Ech_The_Sentiant]

What an awesome video! How do you feel so comfortable just straight up drawing with a just micron?

[@mapcrow]

Thank you!! I am actually embellishing over my blue pencil sketch with the micron, so I’m not going straight to micron first. Haha

[@Ech_The_Sentiant]

@@mapcrow Oooh. I must be blind then :/

[@marklindsey4112]

Damn Mr Martino, you made your return with an absolute banger! Having a think of how I can adapt this to our games of Cyberpunk. A city block by city block table, full of competing gangs, corpos and criminals. I think that might just work. Thanks for the inspiration!

[@mapcrow]

Thank you!! Yeah, this kind of structure would work well for any space of sufficient size, or several areas next to each other. Cheers!

[@davidneuschulz3464]

Sooooo, for clarity's sake... correct me, here if I misunderstood something... There are five die rolls in this video. The first is extraneous to this little encounter subsystem, but is used to pick a random hex to use for the subsequent example. After that, the four key rolls for this subsystem are: (1) A roll using 2D6 to determine what category of encounter (faction, beast, npc and local/outside) to use. (2) A roll using a D6 to determine which specific encounter for the region. (3) Another roll using a D6 to determine alertness. (4) Another roll using a D6 to determine distance. I would have used two yellow D6 to determine hex. And added a green D6 so you aren't "reusing" a die. Which is okay, I guess, in practice; but I'd go without the shortcut for an example. Tiny tweaks.

[@mapcrow]

Sure, whatever makes sense to you. I didn’t throw in an extra d6 because I didn’t know if I was going to roll on a beast table or not. For factions, I probably wouldn’t have a table for regular troops or leaders, I would just pick what sounded interesting to me in the moment. The 2d6 roll is rolling on the 1d6 alertness and 1d6 distance at the same time. Maybe it makes more sense to you to call that 3 different rolls, but I think of it as just one, which is how I explained it.

[@mapcrow]

I don’t know how you would use d6s to generate a random hex because it’s a 12 by 8 hexgrid. But that is kinda a different feature that is specific to that hex map in the video.

[@thedeaderer8791]

Awww I was hoping for that top 10 list lol 😂

[@mapcrow]

Ha! Nah nah, ain't happening!

[@weaurufu389]

I love this method! On a side note, I’ve never seen a pencil sleeve as big or comfortable looking as the yellow one you have! My hands cramp up often when I draw, so I’d love one like it. Are they easy to find, or do you have a website you buy from?

[@mapcrow]

Thank you! Actually, I have a link in the description! Cheers!

[@weaurufu389]

@@mapcrow Wonderful! I’m sure you’ve gotten the same question multiple times before so thank you for taking the time to respond. I just found you through Bluesky

[@perkinsdearborn4693]

Thanks for the video. As a long-time DM, I have tended towards slow, story game-style D&D (2e, 3e, 5e) with a mixture of linear, branching, and sandbox elements. Recently, I have come across the OSR and more modern RPG's. And the "desire" to enable players to create the world in partnership with the DM. My DM style is more "DM creates everything world-related. Players only control the actions/behavior of their characters". Have you done a video on the more modern collaborative style of play, e.g. Dungeon World, Burning Wheel, MouseGuard? My experience (probably caused by my DM style) is players being passive, failing to explore or engage the world, and focused on min/max character development. I am getting wistful for a regular group of players. And I want to continue to grow as a DM. Thank you for all the content!

[@mapcrow]

Right on! No, ya know, I haven’t done a video on GMs collaborating with players. I tend to focus GM stuff, design, and art. But it might be a good topic idea! Cheers!!

[@KingGurke98]

Yo, this guy from Matt's chat makes videos!

[@mooderino]

I was following along fine until the part where he puts 2-7, 3-8 etc next to the 1-6 tables. Why are those there and how do you use them?

[@mapcrow]

Those are the ranges of numbers that can roll that result. You don’t use them on the table, it was just a way to talk about how the table is weighted. Sorry if it was confusing. Haha

[@mooderino]

@@mapcrow Thanks for clearing that up, I get it now. Only 2d6 from 2 to 7 can have a 1 in the roll etc.

[@mapcrow]

Yep! Now you're on the trolly!@@mooderino

[@macoppy6571]

🤯9:24 On 2d6, only the range 2 - 7 can contain a 1 in the roll, only the range 7-12 can contain a 6 in the roll.

[@Gmorktron]

I love the 2d6 system and its bell curve. But i struggle with what to do with the critters after i roll them. Your secondary tables look like they would be good for that. I have been using some tables that "d4 caltrops" put together called OSE encounter activity tables. It has helped me in running the hexcrawl i DM.

[@mapcrow]

Heck yeah!! So a big part of that encounter table for me is knowing what my factions are doing and why, so when they show up from the encounter roll, it's easy to spin up the scenario. Orcs are raiding and digging for buried treasure, Ganak is demanding tribute and kidnapping people to randsom, etc etc

[@deviousdelibird]

Hey Kyle!

[@mapcrow]

Hey!

[@mattslaton]

What Pen grips do you use?

[@mapcrow]

Check the description. ;)

[@jakoblogan777]

Question, is there any way to get the physical edition of Monstrous in the UK?

[@mapcrow]

You can preorder a copy from our Etsy, if you follow the link in the description. Just keep in mind that we don’t control the shipping cost. Haha

[@jakoblogan777]

Thanks! @@mapcrow

[@renansoares272]

When roll for encounters?

[@mapcrow]

If your game system has hex map travel in it, then it’ll have rules for when to roll for encounters too.

[@NeonDripKitty]

I miss read Encounter Table as Enchanting Table WAY too many times

[@j.n.-fr5uh]

when you mentioned "knave", "shadowdark", and a third thing by a guy im not gonna try to spell out, you said "links in the description", but i dont see em 😔😔

[@mapcrow]

Sorry, lost track. There were a lot of links. I've added links for Shadowdark and Cairn to the description. Sorry about that.

[@dilsonzanardi9820]

Great overland encounter table! Can someone give me advide in making a localized encounter table that works in a similar fashion?

[@mapcrow]

Thanks! What do you assume would be different about a local table? I think you could roll on this for a dungeon just as easily. Maybe weight it more in favor of local factions and creatures, but that’s about the only change I would make.

[@dilsonzanardi9820]

@@mapcrow yeah, the biggest change would be the probability, and maybe some Improv on distance. It is really versatile actually! Will put on my GM Screen :v

[@jaybakata5566]

What the heck is that around your writing implements?

[@mapcrow]

Check the description;)

[@shanevonknuth]

What's the big gripper for? Looks like you're practicing tattooing.

[@mapcrow]

Sure! Check the description! ;)

[@harmen4750]

I would be very interested in your top 10 list of KZbinrs who can go f.. ;)

[@mapcrow]

Ha! It's just a jab at clickbait drama that has already dominated this year of DnD KZbin.

[@harmen4750]

Hehe I know, you made me laugh out loud!

[@mapcrow]

Haha!! Yes!! @@harmen4750

[@Dorian_sapiens]

As much as I'd love for someone to name the names of the stinkers in the D&D youtube space, the Top Ten list format is just awful. So, I'm glad that was just a joke.

[@mapcrow]

Haha!! Yeah, the joke is this is just a normal video about encounter table structure instead of fomenting drama. Haha