Random Encounter Tables in RPGs & 5e Dungeons & Dragons - Web DM

Variety is the spice of life - and that's what makes random encounters so fun! Here are our tips on building random encounter tables, and some of our favorite resources. Don't forget to subscribe, comment & share. New episodes every Wednesday.
REFERENCES:
3:38 and 17:22 Rules Cyclopedia, TSR, 1991
8:06 Anomalous Subsurface Environment, Henchman Abuse, 2011
8:44 and 32:18 City-State of the Invincible Overlord, Necromancer Games, 2004
12:25 and 32:28 The Mother of All Encounter Tables, Necromancer Games, 2003
29:45 Net Libram of Random Magical Effects www.traykon.com/pdf/The_Net_Li...
31:19 Encounter Grid, The Retired Adventurer retiredadventurer.blogspot.co...
32:34 Wilderlands of High Fantasy, Necromancer Games, 2005
33:01 Yoon-Suin, Noisms Games, 2016
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5e Dungeons & Dragons is here to stay, and Web DM is here to help!!! Jim Davis & Jonathan Pruitt have been playing Dungeons & Dragons for a combined 30+ years, and on Web DM they demystify, dethrone, and defrock this Dungeon we call Dragons! Subscribe to our channel for weekly videos on 5e Classes, Monsters, DM Tips, and more! Join Pruitt & Jim as we kick down the door and talk some serious Dungeons & Dragons!

[@WebDM]

Thanks for watching! Need more Web DM in your life? Check out our podcast! patreon.com/webdm or our Twitch channel twitch.tv/webdm or our Live Play Archive kzbin.info Thanks for your support!

[@felixscully2476]

I can't find the master list. Can someone link it, please.

[@WebDM]

References are in the description, if that's what you're referring to?

[@ethanirving1313]

Please please do a episode on Modern 20. I can't find a good video about it and I want to lure my friends in with it.

[@karsonlennon3378]

I dont mean to be off topic but does any of you know a method to log back into an Instagram account?? I was dumb lost my account password. I would appreciate any tips you can offer me.

[@ottoduke8942]

@Karson Lennon Instablaster ;)

[@Thamer4life]

Waitress: What would you guys like? Pruitt: I'll have the chicken curry. Davis: Chicken curry! Waitress: Would you like chicken curry, too, sir? Davis: What? No. I'll have tikka masala. Pruitt, nodding in approval: Tikka masala. Waitress: Wait, are you changing your order, sir? Pruitt: Huh? I'm not. Waitress: ... Davis: I'm telling you, this is the best Indian place. Pruitt: Best Indian place.

[@pink3puppy]

Find you a man that will back you up like Pruitt backs up Davis and vice versa.

[@Xans13]

"If they have fire or acid, act tired and placid." -Troll

[@fhuber7507]

And get back in the cave before sunrise.

[@OldSchoolGM94]

"If they bring spears and clubs, they will feed the grubs"

[@rufflesandfalcor199]

I absolutely love listening to Jim pontificate about a campaign. It is like DM jazz. I always start writing after watching. You sir are my grain of sand.

[@comradeshmoo]

Agreed! Jim's riffing never fails to fill me with inspirado

[@caramonmajere447]

Dude's good, no doubt about it. Pruitt has some real genius too, except he obviously has real respect for Jim's expertise.

[@shymers]

장ㄱㅇㅇ

[@Freedom21stCenturi]

Why don't you take him out for a nice seafood dinner?

[@kief453]

DM Jazz, wow, that's exactly it!

[@nicolasdiaz1542]

I really like the idea of monsters having sayings and nursery rhymes that warn them about adventurers.

[@isaachaahr8691]

Monsters that cause saving throws might have one related to the appearance of certain classes

[@IAmTheStig32]

As the witcher, brave and bold Paid in coin of gold He'll chop and slice you Cut and dice you Eat you up whole Eat you whole

[@aliendingus1991]

1.) Don't eat shiny men till you get off shell... Shell no taste good... 2.) Funny talk men make big fire owie! Sometime other owies... 3.) Men wrapped in jerky tasting best! 4.) Eating horsies make men angry, but me eat em anyway... 5.) Elveses not worth trouble... Still hungry... 6.) Dwarveses full of gristle! Me like, chew all day... 7.) Snacks (all other small races), fun to eat if can catch...

[@williamozier918]

Mom, mom! There's an Adventurer under my bed!

[@johnbell17]

I write the Retired Adventurer blog. Thank you for the mention! Since I wrote that post a few years ago, I've continued to experiment with the system. One subtle difference to how I do it now is that ascending numbers bring you closer and closer to the monster (1 is Traces... 5 is the monster, and 6 is the Monster's Lair) vs. the descending scheme I originally laid out in the linked post. I did it so that I could use the wandering monster grid system more easily when PCs are trying to track down monsters or their lairs. I add bonuses to their roll based on time, resources, clever ideas, etc. as they try to trace the monster back to its lair. It makes hunting down monsters fairly fun and easy to adjudicate. Hope that helps!

[@caramonmajere447]

🤯🤯🤯

[@aliendingus1991]

I'd love to see an example of your new system.

[@Menzobarrenza]

I just checked out your blog. It would be awesome if you did more work on your psionics system. I was very inspired by the work so far.

[@altromonte15]

Realistic rumors charts: 1-90 Have you heard that some famous whatever-sport-they-play-here player is getting divorced? | 90-100 Did you know the planes are flat? Big portal doesn't want you to know.

[@tomspring213]

Ha

[@MisterJasro]

Why do I keep rolling 90+?

[@AGrumpyPanda]

Of course they're flat, that's why they're called planes :P

[@paulh3892]

dlollolb HAHAHAHA!!

[@qwertycal1707]

"You see those warriors from Hammerfell? They've got curved swords. Curved. Swords."

[@Teddybomb]

It's amazing how some stuff just lines up. You guys roll for a topic for the first time and it happens to be random encounters. That's amazing.

[@danreed4250]

Rinke.m that was the joke

[@MassiveEffect]

And you missed Rinke.m's joke...

[@youtubefuckingsucks]

dummy

[@meltingskeleton2082]

Thanks to you guys my skills as a DM have improved a good deal in my eyes, both reviving old ideas stored away in my head, to putting new ones in there with Jim and Pruits sage like advice .... You guys got me voted as the top DM in the lower WestBank Louisiana area by 30ish people( LOL) , only 10 are folks I would consider friends, the rest are just random people that happen to play or listen to a game I DMed. I was always decent at it, being that 13 year old in his group of friends that was "forced" to DM. After the first session I was hooked and seldom play games myself, fast forward nearly 2 decades later and I have friends ask me all the time why I don't write these games into books and spam them on reddit...with my old solid reason for not doing so, being a gigantic case of the dyslexia. XD But thank you again for keeping up with this great content.

[@grahamperkins6835]

Ay another Louisiana dm. Hard to find us

[@meltingskeleton2082]

Hell yes it is, Most people don't like that much reading/improvisation here I guess.

[@malkavian2]

When running sandbox adventures I find random encounters creates a feeling that the world is living and breathing

[@skatrash1747]

Sooooo.... Pruit.... how about them Spelljammer tables? hahaha great vid guys.

[@williamozier918]

Also, as a DM I fund using random tables helped keep the players engage. When I would have random encounter rolls I would have the players make them. That way it always made the players feel like they were keeping me on MY toes as well, and gave them that feeling of input into the game. So I recommen using them that way an it helps turn it from "your" game into "our" game when you play.

[@irontemplar6222]

I just noticed Gandalf the white is on the DM screen in this video

[@WebDM]

You bet he is!

[@CarburetorThompson]

Sometimes you have to make a random encounters table for those minis you never get to use, just so you can justify spending money on them.

[@ICLHStudio]

My homebrew Pathfinder campaign has the party travelling through the Maelstrom (the chaotic-neutral outer plane) for a while, so I've just gone crazy with the over-the-top encounter/event/environment tables. I've got 100 events and 50 combat encounters (which can sometimes overlap) on top of tons of weird environmental options (such as mixing terrain with the pokemon types to get things like electric deserts, or flying forests, or psychic mountains; I like this terrain system because it lets me improvise interpretations, flavor, and even challenges on the spot while giving me interesting prompts for it). We haven't gotten very far into it yet, but even just coming up with the stuff has been a ton of fun.

[@razorboy251]

Tomb of Annihilation was a big hit at my table but I fast-forwarded through much of the hex crawl, instead abstracting the journey from one interesting location to another with the party deciding on a general heading and making a few survival, perception and saving throw rolls to find out how well they can traverse the jungles, swamps, mountains, etc., and how many resources they have to expend on doing so. Adventures in Middle Earth does this mode quite well IMO and make the journey the focus, not just a series of tedious random encounters and a lot of descriptions of camping and walking.

[@williamozier918]

I like to think of random encounter tables as "random inspiration tables".

[@tylordobey7543]

lol that camera smile from Jim Davis at the end of the intro made my day

[@Kugo]

Omg.....I'm not prepping enough troll baby nursery rhymes, IVE FAILED MY PLAYERS

[@jerelfontenot1]

For me, this is a very useful video that I will come back to watch many times over the next year.

[@DocFleg]

This video, combined with the Hexcrawl videos, are like absolute mana-fountains of useful information. I feel indebted to you fine fellows. Soon as I get a better job I'm gonna hit up your patreon. One love.

[@Vilis_Farthuk]

The DMG for D&D 5e has a decent set of tables included in it. I recent populated a vast forest with encounters by rolling percentile as to whether it was a mundane encounter, a magical encounter, or a combat encounter. After determining that, I turned to one of 3 tables in the book and rolled on those. What started as a hunt for a bandit ended up as a journey through long forgotten battlefields and stumbling across an undead servant of a notorious lich from the world's history. They also pissed off a Druid in his place of power, so that went well.

[@aliendingus1991]

That's the fun of random encounters... You never know where they're gonna lead you...

[@CleverPsuedonym1]

Troll mom: see them with steel, there is your meal See them with flame, and YOU are to blame

[@aliendingus1991]

Except they'd screw it up, & it'd be more like: Fire, oil, & acid hurt like shit! (More than likely, it wouldn't rhyme anymore)

[@derekburge5294]

I love random encounter tables and I make absolutely damn sure that 'sorcerer experiencing Wild Magic surge' is on it.

[@DeGreyChristensen]

I use random tables for everything. I have made pages and pages of tables to the point where I can do completely random adventures (and I have and they were really fun). I love how they inspire and keep me on my toes.

[@matthewsidewater6641]

can you post a link?

[@DeGreyChristensen]

@@matthewsidewater6641 Sure, here is the pdf. drive.google.com/open?id=1OlGpOTE6pAwajREFj2HFFqFFNMc31SS0 email me if you want an editable copy [e-mail]

[@JackKnifeJedi3419]

I'd love to see y'all do a look at several campaign settings, such as talking about an overview, unique things in the world, and what your favorite thing is about it or something that you'd like to try out in it. Standard ones like The Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk, but also maybe ones like Tal'Dorei.

[@ASH-xm1id]

Great source of inspiration and knowledge!!! Fantastic work Guys, much appreciated!!!

[@TheJasonian]

Another really great video! Really interesting for me personally as I love making Rolling Tables. Sometimes I end up spending hours thinking of table designs haha

[@Everetses]

Probably the most directly practical (for me) video I’ve seen from y’all and that’s saying something! I’m seriously gonna watch this again and take notes!

[@christiandelong6473]

Thank You for making this video, I love to come home from school and see a video which can help me find the skills I'm lacking in and how I can improve on them.

[@reidosarous]

Would love to have a show on how to properly do prison games.

[@chastermief839]

They're trying to build a prison!

[@reubenfromow4854]

A game that takes place entirely inside a prison and the whole campaign is about organising a prison break? Sounds like JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean!

[@MisterJasro]

Prison RolePlaying Games Oops, I dropped your soap.

[@aliendingus1991]

Or are you talking about how to play roleplaying games while in prison? Lol...

[@davidhollowelljr949]

@@chastermief839 for you and me to live in

[@Whichendup]

The honorable 2nd edition of Ninja Burger has grid tables similar to what Jim was talking about. I don't know if it's a PDQ thing or just this game. But they have you roll 2d6, but instead of adding the dice together the dice are nested creating a d36 table. The tables are split up into columns of various things. And the book suggests for quick generation just roll your 2d6 and determine one row straight across, but for more varied generation, roll for each column. An example is the Ninja clan generation table. It has 4 columns "Color" "Action Verb" "Animal" and "Matter of Honor". A D&D adventure rumor table could be created in a similar manner. Your table might be "And the rumor going around is..." the columns could be (a) "monster" is/are "verb"-ing at "location. "And the rumor going around is trolls are patrolling at the black forest" or "And the rumor going around is a dragon is sleeping at the bottom of a sunken wizard's tower."

[@aliendingus1991]

Or you could even change the first part to be more specific, such as: "I overheard 'so & so' say..." Or "'so & so's' payin coin to find out about..."

[@Licjr]

If ever you're in doubt about what to put on your random encounter table, play Fallout or Skyrim and take a look at the random stuff you come across. "You come across a surprisingly well dressed and well-spoken ogre. He has wares to sell"

[@Mystakaphoros]

I really like this, especially the stuff about having positive random encounters.

[@davidhollowelljr949]

Thank you for making this. This'll be super helpful making some leveled random tables in Theros.

[@JesperAndersen]

Brilliant video - lots of great plug-and-play information for our games, thank you :-)

[@orrex111]

Thanks for the shout-out, guys!

[@TheNerdySimulation]

This whole video was great, wonderful coverage of Random Tables in a way that I certainly haven't seen before and all that praise, but I'm gonna jump to that stinger. Pruitt, as funny as the joke about it was, I definitely can't blame you for not having stuff to present for Spelljammer-related tables or what have you (even though I'd really love something like you described). My problem with not being able to make one as you described, is that I have a few projects on my plate that limit my time spent crafting things specifically for Campaigns and so I tend to seek out other resources for my games. The problem with Spelljammer-related content is it is hard to find! All Spelljammer fans probably share in that knowledge/pain, so I don't need to delve into that too much. All I can say is that I appreciate you even just starting on it and clarifying further on the subject. If/When you get the chance to make something of that sort, I will certainly be chomping at the bit to have it, but you focus on what your game needs more, man! :D

[@emophobe]

Rolled on the table and got a new WebDM video!

[@deplorablemecoptera3024]

Random encounter tables are one of those things which give you great mileage for your work. They're the opposite of world building in my mind, they never go bad, and the players interface with them in a direct manner, whereas world building is great fun, but the players won't interact with most of it.

[@smaspa8627]

That intro was chefs kiss good.

[@mussante]

11:24 I was waiting for this important Why use random encounters. I am not a DM or even pen paper player. But this seems to be an important counterbalance for really slow overly-careful party that searches everything, spends tons of times preparing, and using 10min rituals in a potentially hostile locale. Keep up the good work, love your videos. Inspiring me to organize my unitiated friends who are interested in DnD to have our first adventure.

[@chrisporter2912]

I'm in the middle of planning my first ever campaign. I've only played one game of DnD back in 3.5. I've bought all the books and I'm the only one in my group of friends who is willing to DM so I've been binge watching every video on your channel and as much Critical Role that I can get in my life so I have some inkling of what I'm actually doing. Thanks so much for all of the info you guys dole out.

[@WebDM]

Woooo! If you do Facebook or Twitter, you should check in and let us know how it goes!

[@chrisporter2912]

I definitely will!

[@Neckret]

i freaking love these Intros

[@general0ashnak]

There was clearly not enough time for this episode! More discussion is needed ☺

[@owenvandevelde1439]

Really great episode

[@DrProctor119]

Dude! You just stuck that in my crawl. Instant classic. =)

[@ronterry1283]

Awesome videos you guys!!

[@williamozier918]

Here's my schtick: 1) I let the player with the highest initiative roll to see IF a random monster encounter happens. 2) If it happens tell the player to roll to see what the encounter is. Now here's the trick; regardless of what encounter they roll, you just start at the top of the list and work your way down. The reason I like to do it this way is because I use the random encounter like 'shark beats' to drop hints and building dread of what the big bad is ahead, requiring a WIS roll by the player. If they make their WIS check you say something like, "it's strange that a bug bear would be out here in the middle of the woods so far from any lair." The next one they fail the WIS check, but still they will now wonder why 6 goblins were out here as well. Then you can start to put more physical clues, such as a purples worm that is at half hit points, if they make the WIS check they realize it was bitten and grievously wounded by a larger creature. 3) I also use this same thing with rumors. When the players interact with NPCs if they pass a CHA check then I give them the first rumor on the list, and so on. This way you can tweak the rumor so that when the players get the rumor they build a story about the dungeon ahead.

[@bardogimbal4449]

Best thumbnail to date

[@silversage7043]

A wild Web DM appears!

[@harjutapa]

What do you think of pre-rolling random encounters right before a session? like, rolling a preset number of times on your "wilderness" encounter chart, a number of times on your "dungeon" chart, etc... that way, you know what's coming, and can foreshadow/work it in from the very beginning, but it's still fresh and a bit of surprise to you, and it also gives you time to do a bit of editing pre-game, if a result comes up that is just not quite workable. Feels like it might be the best of all worlds.

[@2011scuba]

Do you then fake roll to make it feel random to the players?

[@aliendingus1991]

I don't see a problem with this as long as you roll random encounters during the game, then use any pre-rolled results. Because players resting in monster infested places should result in more random encounter chances &/or rolls... Pre-rolling all random encounters might not go as planned if your players go off script... But it couldn't hurt to have encounters ready, either...

[@dungeonmaster3198]

Woooo! Jim and Pruuuu!!!

[@WebDM]

Woo!

[@AmigoRoberto]

We drink while we play, so it can get a little rowdy at the table. To bring focus back to the table and get everyone back on track I'll frequently roll 3-4 dice separately and just make a concerned/shocked face after the results (regardless of outcome) and if that doesn't work I'll do the Jim and use the rare variety of enemy in the area and set up a mini boss fight. I've come to really enjoy mini boss spawning

[@N8Maple01]

That stinger at the very end. Wow.

[@EndMeFamPlease]

I’ve used that net Libram wild magic table and one of the pcs walked out of a building (in a wild magic zone) with a peacock tail, a toucan beak, metal retractable talons, and thinking he was the last of a extinct race, he was bird man from then on out.

[@aliendingus1991]

I love making random encounter tables, & break mine up into different tables based on the type of encounter (such as resting in an inn encounters, resting outside encounters, traveling encounters, weather encounters, combat encounters, dungeon encounters, forest encounters (or even for specific forests), & so on, & so on... Yeah, I'm curious about that d10k encounter chart, lol...

[@aliendingus1991]

Nice push at the end there! "Buuuuuurrrrrrrpp!!!"

[@megapixzel]

never know what i want until i roll on the random encounter table 12 times and see all thethings i don't want

[@kredonystus7768]

If you have to roll 12 times to find something interesting then you have 12 things that shouldn't have been in your table. I have moved away from using "2d6 goblins" on a table. Instead a specific monster is rare and only if they are common enough to come up or powerful enough to roam. Its "goblins" and then there are embedded tables so I might roll "4" "paranoid" goblins with a "goblin mage" troupe leader. More likely is a location. There is the "location" and "how recent" and the "how dangerous". A field of corpses all beaten to death and a destroyed caravan nearby. Its a few days old and very dangerous. I already know its night time. What is dangerous, found near corpses a few days old and very dangerous (I set a cr range for each area). Could be a group of ghouls, or the corpses have resurected. I decide that in the moment.

[@megapixzel]

imgur.com/gallery/BIT4TTM

[@kredonystus7768]

@@megapixzel I got the joke, but its a "funny because its true" joke. I was adressing the underlying issue that makes the joke funny.

[@edstevens1503]

I like using tables, but I always pre-roll my random encounters. Even if I am not sure that they are going to show up, I like having it in my back pocket.

[@fishisyum]

Rogue Trader how too! I loved the Warhammer episode, and me and some friends are planning on starting an RT game, so it would be awesome to get some input from you guys!

[@chuckfinley4542]

Loved Monster meta gaming!

[@Brannen666]

I do the same thing when it comes to making a dungeon. I roll most of them up randomly using the DMG. Overcomes the blank page and gives me a base to build stuff on. "Oh there is a trick here... why...?" And I knit it all together. Same with random encounters.

[@ChristnThms]

I haven't used randoms much in dungeons much. But I always have a random rumor generator for towns and cities, to give out upcoming plot hooks and supplemental information. I try to have 20 variants, but they may all point at 3-4 actual plots from different perspectives.

[@mechaform]

+1 for having a Crown Royal dice bag, Pruitt.

[@mikegould6590]

I tend to create my own series of thematic encounters that fit the setting and then randomly determine which to use

[@zebrafishcat5256]

Never heard of having dungeon crawls be 10 minutes turns. Going to have to try that out next time I run a classic dungeon crawl

[@rainyxyz]

Yay! Notification squad! These episodes always calm me down and tonight it's a great timing

[@17joren]

Aw the outro music couldn’t wait for Jimbo

[@kellenjohnson3274]

This was a great one guys! Been waiting for a while on random tables lol. Have you guys made an episode covering Displacer Beasts yet?

[@cooperb4449]

Good video guys

[@rednaxelA11]

i'm working on a campaign/setting/quest/encounter generator based on the general concept pruitt has at the end, using story archetypes as framework with (appears-as)randomly generated features. its a slow burner, but it'll get there eventually. i hope that with my tool one day gms will be able to click a button and get a random campaign with all the necessary details, and if they dont like it, click click and click again for near infinite unique combinations of features, giving near infinite unique campaign generations... because sometimes, you just need a bit more than inspiration!

[@ShadowmarkReturns]

Since the current campaign I am running uses a large world map, every time my players move to another location I roll a random encounter, the higher the number rolled then it's a positive encounter. Really though the encounter can be anything from standard enemies to finding a tomb in a mountain range.

[@wilhelmscream6919]

I'm still working my way through the backlog of videos so i don't know if You've done this but i would offer up the idea of a one-shot with a commentary track by the DM about what goes on in their head at any given moment in reaction to what the players are doing, possibly also going over how they prepared various parts of that specific session. As a teaching tool for up and coming DMs.

[@WebDM]

Interesting idea!!

[@Jawn15]

Shirak!

[@Draeckon]

If they carry fire, avoid their ire, lest you expire in a pyre! ~ Line from a Troll momma's nursery rhyme to her children

[@aliendingus1991]

Fire bad, Dummy! Now go to bed or momma eat your feet!

[@granttrain3553]

I have an encounter table that ia D100 of fleshed out encounters and half the entries have a D6 table in them to change what the tist is. For example an abandoned cart could be an entry. it could be an ambush or some one who needs help.

[@eastull]

Once I took advantage of the Wonders of Technology™ and made a d30 table, which was mostly due to the fact that 1) This area my party was travelling through was very Abberation™ focused and there aren't that many different sorts of Aberrations™ and 2) I wanted a nice round number that wasn't 100 and my first draft of it had ended up being something like 27

[@ShurikenSean]

I remember the last time my friend's game rolled for random encounters we ended up with a random crazy wizard attacking us that spoke gibberish Our wizard rolled a nat 20 on persuasion and talked gibberish back He now has "wade the wizard" as a contact XD

[@Ebolson1019]

I roll everyday an will have the fight either happen in the afternoon or evening. Since my maps are fairly small there aren’t multiple days of travel in a row often.

[@cbeaird52]

Could the d8 + d12 table also be split between non-combative and combat encounters

[@Malicious_Hero]

What do you guys think on DM rolling for the RET, or having a player roll for it?

[@WritofPassage]

Toolbox by AEG is another great source. It has tables for everything. From encounters to NPCs to creating locations.

[@masonknight6194]

Love random. Sparks my imagination and I build off of it. Used 1e random dungeon tables to build many dungeons, even creating my own tables. Every game I run I make my own random encounter tables. Randomized my life...... Random action (D20): 1) Go back to work. 2) Watch another WebDM video. 3) Take a nap. 4) Eat a sandwich. 5) Watch porn. 6) Spark one up. 7) Work out. 8) Watch TV. 9) Clean house. 10) Work in garden. 11) Mow grass. 12) Roll grass. 13) Give dog a bath. 14) Wash truck. 15) Bake a cake. 16) Play DND. 17) Free hostages. 18) Call mom. 19) (Roll twice) 20) (DM CHOICE) "20" 🤔...😎

[@bigfatopinions1338]

Woooo!!!!

[@WebDM]

Woo!

[@reubenfromow4854]

Wooo!

[@SoftSpott]

How are nested tables different from the subsections of d100 or d8+d12 tables?

[@Fulgrim_The_Phoenician]

I really like the idea of the 2d6 tables !! Anyone got any they would recommend ?

[@alecharding]

Great episode! Can you guys do a Xanathar's Guide to Everything show? I am on the fence about buying and would love your guys take.

[@Rankerquat]

From the thumbnail I was hoping this video was gonna be on the best tables to play D&D on. I bet dining room tables are definitely the best, while classroom desks are the worst.

[@pieoverlord]

"Roll twice and combine."

[@dndhomebrewadventures7287]

27:35 So, I ran into this situation with last night's game. I've got about 4 hours to fill, and aside from a little wrapping up downtime and some RP shopping, the only thing I have is the mayor wants the party to travel to the next town to deliver a message with a contract and downpayment to a builder's guild. I figure I've got maybe 40 minutes to an hour of content there, so what am I gonna fill it with? Here's what I did: Every hex on the travel map, I rolled up a random encounter. First one was a broken obelisk. So the players investigate this thing they see from the road. I don't want them getting sidetracked (as I have nothing prepared for it if they do) so I describe it as very old and broken, any markings it once had are long since eroded away, and they detect no magic. They move on... Second roll, wild magic zone. This is gonna be fun. I describe each of the spell casting classes as having an uncomfortable itch somewhere on their body. I figure this will panic a few into casting mage armor or false life, and provoke a wild magic surge and make it fun. Nope, when they are almost out of the zone, the Tiefling decides to go BACK IN and try to track down the center of the strange phenomenon. So, I let him investigate. He rolls well, so I decide he finds another broken obelisk, this time worn down to just the base. Tying this into my setting, I decide that these two obelisks form a line which would pass directly through the town they came from. Why? Because that town has a wizard's tower that's built on the nexus of 5 ley lines. So now both encounters have a tie in to the setting and a reason to be there. Third encounter, When they camp for the night in a small forest the road passes through, I roll an encounter with 1D4 fey creatures. The sorcerer casts alarm on their camp before sleeping. I decide the fey are fairies, who proceed to prank the sorcerer by constantly triggering his alarm spell through the night until they finally get detected. The party are good sports about it. Fourth encounter, they come across an Owlbear, eating its most recent kill. It attacks of course, and they defeat it. Last encounter, they come upon a druid. Tying this into the story so far, I tell them she's investigating reports of a raging Owlbear attacking travelers in the area. They tell her they've dealt with it, but failed to check what it had been eating, so she leaves to make sure someone's next of kin don't need to be notified. They get to town, and do their business. On the way back, the previous encounters have already done the work for me. The druid tells them it was an animal, so crisis averted. The fairies, pleased with the party's good sportsmanship over the pranking, actually bring them food from the forest and have dinner with them when they camp. and the wild magic zone has cleared, the imbalance in the ley lines having righted itself overnight. I got a 4 and a half hour session out of a half hour idea, by using encounter tables, and fleshing out what they gave me to fit the setting and tell a story. Hope this helps,

[@ericwilliams2861]

Thanks for that! Great example :)

[@cloudsRniceC0M3]

Oh no here come 10 bandits, you know the drill

[@philkovach948]

What was that entry about the forbidden halfling fetish? Asking for a friend

[@caramonmajere447]

@17:23 There's a typo in the surprise checklist, lol. "To keep from alerting players *than* an encounter is imminent,"

[@jamesembry4921]

My world changed the day I realized that you could put unique encounters on a random encounter table. In a recent game the players were in the woods with a bear den nearby. They might stumble upon the lair and the bear within, or they might encounter THAT bear on a random encounter.

[@AGrumpyPanda]

Recent addition to my random encounter table: one Genie (5% chance of being a Noble Genie) who is just as confused as you are as to why it is there.

[@nerdex804]

where did you get the big monsters in your back ground?

[@The_Sharktocrab]

Good stuff as always, but I've been wondering how often land between two rivers gets uploaded to KZbin

[@WebDM]

It's on KZbin.com/webdmplays. Uploading last week's tonight. The rest is there too.

[@2hotyscotty13]

Can you guys do a more fleshed out mindflayer and elder brain video?

[@patrickpink1058]

Does anyone know where I can find a comprehensive Shadowfell encounter table?? Looking for some ideas to keep my players spooked in an eerie, Shadowfell influenced forest!

[@valasafantastic1055]

Patrick Pink heck the reddit tales there are shadowfell tables; r/random D&D tables. Many amazing free tables there!