The Simple SECRET to Better RANDOM Encounter Tables

[@BobWorldBuilder]

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[@srgarathnor]

the realest way to do random encounters is to tell the players what creatures are around, and then choose what you want them to actually fight, its random because they dont kno it isnt, and you get to run the fun encounters you want

[@Stone_Orchids]

The game that I found did it the best used the classic method BUT the ranger (and also other classes actually) have a skill to roll twice and choose the best, to navigate dangerous places is not on pure luck but also on skill and knowledge! If something like a dragon is on the look for a snack even if it's not close you better know that thing is going to notice a delicacy like human adventurers, same as other dangerous monsters: it's unlikely that you will come close to them but it's as likely as stumbling to a goblin, you find goblin and kobolds, but dangerous beasts are the ones to find you if you come close to their cave! The name of the game is The last torch by the way

[@tomassunaert1300]

I love how its technically possible to have to fight every single encounter at once

[@JonathanMandrake]

You can include the rule that additional rolls of 12 are rerolled, or something like that

[@LightPink]

​@@JonathanMandrake Tomas said he loves it and you reply with a way to remove it? 😭

[@JonathanMandrake]

@@LightPink He loves the idea. In practice, his opinion might be different😂

[@MarsAnonymous]

The way I run it is that "multiple" encounters as a general rule don't gang up on the PCs, but are quite likely to be hostile to each other.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

I max it out at three things together lol xD

[@rdigeri]

An alternative way to do it is to roll one die, but assign a weight to each result, such as a result of 1 to 6 on the die always resulting in kobolds, but only resulting in dragon on a 20. The strength of this variation is that you can build the pacing into it, such as this: You don't want the dragon encounter to happen early into the dungeon? Have a d20 table but assign the rarer creatures to values above 20. Then, as each encounter passes, add an increasing bonus to your die roll, so these rare encounters become possible, or even probable as the game goes on.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

That's a good point!

[@Rantarian]

Yeah, I fully agree with this, and it's my approach as well. It replicates the utility of a bell-curve but, if I use a d20, I know that every number I weight into a result is exactly a 5% chance.

[@nickcody7257]

That is also what I do but I have them reference other small charts. Like 123 Goblin chart 45 Kobold Chart, 67 Traps, 8 Benefit Chart, 9 Med level monsters, 10 Plot Monsters chart. Then Goblin Chart is with 123 prepared ambush, 45 back from a raid, 67 out hunting, 8 out setting traps, 9 gathering mushrooms, 10 War Party! This does take more prep, but it lets you change the odds easier. When they are in Goblin part of the region its 123 but as they move to the kobold area its easy to make kobolds 123 and goblins 45. But the sub charts stay more the same.

[@w.i.t.c.h.q.u.e.e.n]

I've been using weighted tables since forever but now I'd turn that 1-6 kobold encounter into 6 slightly different variations of that encounter. Maybe some kobolds have different weapons or maybe they are occupied doing different things. The +x method works well if you don't want kobold in later levels but if you want to keep them you could also change the die and make it a nested table. Start with a d4 for the first room, then a d6, a d8 etc. If the ultimate goal is to defeat the dragon the players will first have to get on d20 level and then roll a 20 on the encounter table (statistically, that's the tenth room in the area). There would still be kobolds but they're not as frequent as they are in the entrance area. You could even place something important on the 1, like the gate to the next dungeon level. These methods work best for a hex crawl but they can be used for anything.

[@jmccord8133]

You could also set a “timer “ on the dungeon that way too. Say the first ten or twelve are meant to be easy lifting or narratively involved in the exposition, roll a d10 or d12 for the first few to ensure that you aren’t hitting the players with the power hitters that they shouldn’t have reason to believe would even be there…yet.

[@nikolaosalexandroskaloumen1693]

5:09 “ I’m sure you’re familiar with the idea of food chain: Plant grows > deer eats plant > human eats deer > dragon eats human. Simple. “ 😂

[@GrndAdmiralThrawn]

“When we die, our bodies become the grass. And the antelope eat the grass.”

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Science education is better with dragons!

[@dougiestar2812]

Why am I uncomfortable with my position on the food chain?

[@kaytch9907]

The game Cyberpunk Red uses 2d6 tables for this reason, and it works really well. A very dramatic example is the injury table (if critical damage is rolled), where it takes a roll of 2 or 12 to lose an arm or leg (versus a foreign object or torn muscle is in the middle). Naturally one of the first injuries my character took was a lost arm, and since it happened so early it became a big part of her character. But it only happened once to a PC in the whole campaign, so it always felt like a big deal that it had happened.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

That's a perfect example!

[@CaseyWilkesmusic]

Hahaha, “that’s not a secret it’s page one of the original dm guide” was my first thought. Props to you Bob!!❤

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Ahhh but according to that DMG, EVERYTHING in it is a secret!!

[@AndyReichert0]

everything in the DMG is a secret because nobody reads the DMG :P

[@chazzerine7650]

Pretty sure that encounter table is a d8 + d12

[@Bugseid]

I like using hexflowers for random encounters! Or random weather, terrain, treasure, dungeon rooms... They're cool because the last result affects the next one. Also makes it feel like a bit of a board game, *and* makes it harder for the players to learn what's actually on the table. You'll start in one hex, then roll dice to determine which direction and how many hexes you move. Tada, now you have the new result! On regular tables, rolling the same exact result will always get you the same thing, but on a hex flower it can end up being different.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

I've never tried that! I like the idea of past rolls having some effect on future rolls

[@eponatwospirithorse4980]

I had to go look up this hexflower thingie and let me say straight off the bat I like it but my brain was struggling a little bit with some of the various complications of building probability into the options. I am sure that given some time to think about it I can get my head into the right mindset though.

[@BeckettWarren]

Came here to mention hex flowers (weather got me thinking). Also wanted to mention the Usage Die random encounter mechanic in Macchiato Monsters (called a risk die). This creates a linear distribution with weird cliffs. Neat!

[@davidjennings2179]

Depending on the game I sometimes cross out an option on my roll table and roll again if I hit that (could replace it with roll two so things escalate as players kill more) this means that your rarer encounters become more likely. I.e. your dragon is more likely to come out the more of its minions you kill.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

I like that idea!

[@ruchz2010]

@@BobWorldBuilder You could have a pool of extra options that replace one once it's been rolled too. I've done that before for a similar escalation mechanic and it works well even if you only have a couple of them. That way you can guarantee certain encounters don't happen until their precursor encounters do.

[@Morbidity100]

Same, I definitely mark which encounters I’ve already ran

[@Morbidity100]

Sometimes I won’t even roll, I’ll just pick from the table what I feel like would be relevant to meet that day/place

[@JKevinCarrier]

On a random note, I really enjoyed your use of artwork from the 1st edition Monster Manual. I always say that D&D lost a little of its personality when the art started being so slick and realistic. That mimic with the fist coming out of its side is iconic!

[@jazzfawke1407]

Pretty sure few of these were from DCC, but i might be wrong

[@JKevinCarrier]

@@jazzfawke1407 Could be, there were a couple I didn't recognize. Definitely a lot of Monster Manual love, though.

[@MinecraftLovesSteve]

I actually have used a special encounter table in the past that i call "weighted random" where you make a 1d100 table and put the results you want across various ranges. For example, kobolds would be a 45 number range where as dragon would be a 5 number range and so on. This led to a set of 100 where more likely results took up more real estate, thus making them more likely to appear

[@christopherscholl639]

You can also bake the bell curve into a classic d100 table, and you still get the joy of rolling 2 dice. You can fine-tune the odds along a bell curve.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Very true! I find it easier to plug them into a smaller table, but using a d100 with duplicates gives you fine control over each result

[@SalihFCanpolat]

You got it faster than me, yes, d100 is a wonderful tool!

[@such_a_dork]

I'm glad someone else said it. This is... something of a pet peeve of mine.

[@remixtheidiot5771]

if you make the bad encounters at the higher numbers and not that bad at the lower numbers, you can do what d&d does during character creation. roll an extra advantage die or two. If monsters are on high alert, roll 3d6 and keep the 2 highest results per random encounter, or keep the lowest if the players are being particularly sneaky and good at traversing or something. just a fun thought.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Great idea!

[@mikfhan]

Yep! Also for overland hex crawls, with calm investigation/landmark stuff at one end and combat/climbing stuff at the other - DM can dis/advantage depending on how far into danger the party is going/lost (maybe survival skill) or if DM prefers not doing multiple combats in a row can adjust as needed between rolls.

[@johnathanrhoades7751]

The other really cool idea for random tables is weight it with less dangerous stuff at low numbers and more dangerous stuff at higher numbers, and then roll 1d6 + X where X is the “danger value” of the encounter. I think Dungeon Masterpiece did a video on that. Also, making sure you have good thematic tables (including non-combat encounters) and an “activity in progress when encountered” table keeps things interesting!

[@BobWorldBuilder]

That's a smart idea so it makes sense that Baron would've come up with it! haha

[@TrueLimeyhoney]

You could even consider adding extra dice so that the bell curve slowly moves upwards

[@johnathanrhoades7751]

@@TrueLimeyhoney yes! That’s a really cool idea. I do love the bell curve. I like the d4 + d10

[@VagabondTE]

I was thinking something similar but with slightly positive things on one side and more negative things on other side. Then adding +1 X for every rest. (maybe when they're cheesing the game as well). Not only does it make encounters more difficult but they're moving the window on their rewards. You can even use one of those bigger charts and put super rare powerful items in the low probability slots. Heck, you can even tell the players about it making every rest a really interesting choice.

[@AnthonyClay]

@@VagabondTE +1 X for every rest 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@DyrianLightbringer]

I've been using fewer random tables over the years and more planned encounters. Partially because I was disappointed that certain encounters didn't show up during the game because they weren't rolled, but mostly because random encounters just started slowing the game down. It started to feel bad when the end of the night seemed to always line up with a part of the adventure where the party was traveling and we were just rolling for random encounters for like the last hour or two of the game session. When I was using random encounters, I used to use the 2d6 method, typically with one result of "no encounter" so I'd have the random chance of having an encounter baked in with the result of which encounter we have, and if we were doing overland travel, I split my table into a day and night column. However, I started experimenting with a 1d12 method. It worked like this: I rolled Xd12, where X is the number of possible encounters I wanted to happen during the given time period, based on how dangerous the area was. Each player rolled 1d12. If any player roll matched one of my rolls, that encounter happened. That way, a bigger party naturally led to more chances for an encounter. If multiple dice matched, I would either run the encounter twice or would double the encounter, like there were twice as many monsters. Yeah, it resulted in some wild encounters sometimes, but it didn't happen often, and these encounters were usually one per day, so the party was typically at full health and spells, so each encounter could be more dangerous than normal without a TPK. Also, I sprinkled a number of beneficial encounters into the list as well, so the party had a chance of encountering friendly NPCs, or the remains of a previous battle, and could get some loot.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Yeah when it comes to actually using tables, I prefer to use them during prep rather than during a session!

[@frousteleous1285]

This is how I run things as well. Roll randomly pre-session.

[@Lioneldehetre]

Back when I was a kid, basic and 1e days, it encounters didn’t matter as much and I used random tables all the time. When I returned to the hobby I found that I used them less and less favoring to preparing certain events/effects that may occur in a given session. Thanks for the great video!

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Yeah this video ending up being about the very foundation of prepping a table, but when using the table, I still think it's best to use them while prepping rather than during the session

[@falkyrie5228]

The contrary happened with me. I used to prep everything and plan out encounters, but these days I just use random tables and let the story arise from the chaos.

[@sillysongs19]

if I was going for a specific theme, that would just be what's in the table. Still using a good bell curve has value

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Yeah the list I used in this video was completely off the top of my head. I may follow up with a video about actually USING these tables where I reiterate how the curve is still helpful. Like besides for scaling difficulty, within a forest (on a table with all forest encounters), you may still want some plot-related results to be more common or something

[@pastelnerd3419]

The 1D10+2D4 would be great for a dungeon themed around a fight between 2 appossing forces.

[@Kosmonomicon]

Great vid! A favorite dice mechanic of mine was for a homebrew where rather than using a d20, we rolled checks using d8+d12. The bell curve reigned in extreme rolls and felt less swingy. As an extra feature, the d12 was used to generate which body part you hit with an attack, and the d8 was used for damage. That way, a high attack result was almost guaranteed to also be a headshot for big damage. Very nifty go get 3 different results with 1 roll!

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Built in called-shots, built in damage roll, and you can still crit? That's some great homebrew!!

[@kyzer42]

That's a cool idea; I might have to try it.

[@Lioneldehetre]

Interesting. I like the idea of using the two dice because it is less swingy and would be great for skill rolls too. Having played my fair share of war hammer fantasy 1e I appreciated how they determined hit location. I do wonder though with this mech aren’t do you find that it punishes creatures with higher ac because hits they get are always head shots? Apologies I may not have a full grasp of the rule as you’ve home brewed it.

[@Kosmonomicon]

@@Lioneldehetre this was for a homebrew system i designed a few years back, and didn't use the 5e rules for AC so it worked pretty well! But then again it was a few years back now haha

[@zarlack8759]

The random encounter tables in the 1e Monster Manual II used 1d8 + 1d12. It creates a nice flat spot in the middle so you can have multiple common encounters that are all equally likely.

[@BouncingTribbles]

When I saw the notification I immediately started thinking of my multi dice tables, then I saw the thumbnail and burst out laughing. Great video

[@jbaidley]

The problem with 2d6 is that it exacerbates the problem of getting the same thing repeatedly, which risks becoming boring pretty quickly. This is why I prefer drawing from a deck of cards for random encounters; that way you can ensure you don't get the same thing twice.

[@dansvensson5292]

You could just re-roll results you already had or re-assign the results that were already rolled to the result above or below that you havent already rolled

[@jbaidley]

@@dansvensson5292 Sure, you can do that and I've done that. But it's clunky and doesn't feel fresh or interesting in play.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Cards are next level! But like I explained at length in the video, some level of repetition is usually desirable, and the curve can help you automatically scale difficulty

[@dansvensson5292]

@@jbaidley yeh, either way works

[@jbaidley]

@@BobWorldBuilder I don't think you want repetition; I think you want reinforcement of theme. If you do this with cards you can create several pre-thought variations on a theme as part of your deck whereas with repeat rolls you're getting nothing from the table to help out. Baron de Rop's combinatoric approach from his "The problem with Random Encounters" video also solves this problem, as would your approach of adding subtables.

[@richmeads1897]

I love bell curves! PBTA style games are built on this maths, and I think they work really well. However in my experience, most D20 fans tend to dislike bell curves, feeling that they're 'cheap', or somehow deny them agency. Discuss? :)

[@richmeads1897]

I'm trying to build my own bell curve-based system so I have gone DEEP on the probabilities here. Very gratifying to see that graph on screen, I made a very similar one myself! I think bell curves are a really interesting core mechanic, as they allow you (as a designer or DM) to push the outcomes YOUR game or story is about, strengthening your themes. But you do run into problems when if your system is very additive (as in, lots of stacking +1 bonuses) because once a player is at a +5 or +6, they begin to negate dice rolls. A lot of Dungeon World players bemoan this exact thing. I think if we could find a good solution to this issue, bell curve-based games could have a ton of potential. But how?

[@pops8975]

Any 1 die is a tough roll! If you ask some players in a game when they couldn’t roll a single decent number 3 or 4 times in a row and It might as well be a coin toss in some cases! It’s more like pulling a lever on a slot machine so I never bother helping Min/Max players build the ultimate character. Whether you got a mod of +2 or +4 , a single roll of 8 will probably fail you no matter you still. The single DIE is a wild card. Advantage doesn’t give you a better average, it only allows you to hit a median number like 10; Median does not work the same as a bell curve which uses averages. Check out my comment…

[@BobWorldBuilder]

I prefer d20 in game, 2d6 in prep!

[@soninhodev7851]

@@richmeads1897 i'm also desining a system like that, my solution is to just build those +1s into the iconic classes(like the cleric for example), and then when desining the monsters, to just expect them to show up, and then giving tools for the GM to rebalance those monsters as they see fit

[@Enn-]

Anytime you mix dice types (d6 + d10 for example), you'll get flat spots in the middle. It's a great way to combine equally likely results with less likely edge cases.

[@danielgemas2117]

I was actually working a random table for the last few days and found myself unhappy with the level potentially of all the events happening when I preferred some over others. This solves my issue perfectly and perfect timed! This subs for you...👍

[@KuittheGeek]

That 2d4+1d10 table could be good for treasure. If you set the middle values for various amounts of gold, then start working towards common, uncommon, and even rare magic items as it gets to the edge. That would allow you to have some fun items you would want to give away, but still has a random chance at being in a treasure hoard or on some main monster in a random encounter. Or the party just gets some gold that they can then use to buy other items that they want/need.

[@maitrecorbeau_gm]

As you told, this is a great way to push the story you want. And it reminds me of old school RPG on video games when you had to look for/avoid random encounters as you never knew when the big bad creature was about to ambush you !

[@gopro_audio]

This "tropic" would be true is there were no ability to teleport, gate, plane shift, spelljam etc..

[@pops8975]

5:29 dragon eats man… 😂 This video can also be called “How Does Gambling Help Build a Better Random Encounter Table”. Great job introducing statistics to the world building community! This is why Vegas makes 7 the Lucky Winning number on the Craps table… you know the movies where they throw the 2d6 but there’s NO miniatures on the table;) They are applying this bell curve to gambling. This is kind of what happens when you “Roll w/ Advantage”; even though you don’t get to add them up for a better average it creates the possibility of hitting the MEDIAN roll of 10! Love this video!

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Haha that might have been a better title xD Thanks!

[@colmbright9822]

One of the most useful videos I have ever come across . Thanks Bob . I use this week sponsor and they make by far the best maps and the randomness has helped when I had no idea what do some weeks as the DM

[@BobWorldBuilder]

That is high praise! Thank you! And I'm glad you're a fan of the sponsor :)

[@chubbyninja842]

You bring up a strong point here that's actually the crux of the homebrew system I use. A d20 is too random and you're equally as likely to roll a 10 as a 20. In true-to-life performance, people aren't that equally likely to perform very well as they are averagely well. On average, they do ... average. This is why I use 2d6 for everything in my system and base mid-difficulty on being able to roll a 7, which is the most likely number to be rolled. As things get harder, it's actually MUCH harder to reach those target numbers reliably.

[@DarthCasus]

I liked the pokemon reference and the heavy metal. Keep it up Bob, your content is great! I would also suggest turning every random encounter table into 1d100 and assign percentage values to all your options. You won't be trapped into using every face of the die for an option, where if you only had three things you wanted your players to encounter, 1-15 is your first encounter, 16-50 is your ssecond encounter, and 51-100 is your third. It takes one extra step in math to set up, but this way you aren't dealing with bell curves and all sorts of extra encounters you really weren't interested in running.

[@mavfan21]

I like to use d4 + d6 and d4 + d8 and for larger areas d6 + d8. Using different dice values really allows you to make custom tables that suit what you want in the adventuring area. Great video as always!

[@gamewrit0058]

Brilliant combination of explanation and visual aids! Yes, I'd love to see another video and PDF about building dungeons around these tables. Thanks, Bob. You're a welcoming and insightful part of the community.

[@skelephant]

Perfectly timed video! I was just looking at making some random encounter tables, and this has given me quite a few new ideas to incorporate.

[@MisterFizzer]

Congrats on the CzePeku sponsorship! I love their maps so much

[@ruchz2010]

If you like a straight 2d6 tables you'll probably like tables with drop high/low dice. They take the normal distribution and skew it higher or lower without changing the number of outputs. You can also drop high and low to skew more towards the middle.

[@dennism.2976]

Great video and idea. It makes so much sense that it is somewhat baffling, that this is not the standard. I personally like to include some encounters that can be solved by RP or are not necessarily threatening.(One time two PC on alert saw some small green humanoid - vegepygmy - doing weird stuff and communicating with bloops and drums. To this day, the other players do not believe this really happened) It was hilarious and dramatic at the same time.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Haha those encounters can really be the best! xD

[@tomgartin]

Can’t tell you enough how helpful this explainer was. I’m now converting the Castle Ravenloft chapter from a bloated 30 page maze into a concise set of tables for each floor that’s less backstory focused and more party driven

[@BramLastname]

If you do want to have a 0.1% encounter on your random encounter table I recommend rolling 1d4 d4's, It allows for 16 results with a distribution skewed heavily to the lower numbers, The distribution is a bit hard to predict, But as a rule of thumb numbers above 7 get increasingly less likely. Meaning 13 to 16 are the stuff of legend.

[@MisterFizzer]

Great video, Bob! The relation to Trophic Levels was really cool. I hope we can see more of that background sneak into your scripts, I love the opportunity to learn a new concept connected to a hobby I love. Cheers!

[@maximthemagnificent]

Great meat & potatoes content! One advantage of using a single D100 and a table is it's very easy to customize the percentage chance for each result by how many numbers it comes up on. Not limited to bell curve frequencies (though you could easily set that up too...), but still intuitive because we're so accustomed to thinking in percentages.

[@wobbyism]

Yeah Czepeku! Love their maps.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Woo!

[@SubKoopa]

That 2d4+1d10 table would be perfect for your example dungeon your about equally likely of encountering kobolds, goblins or a trap but extremely unlikely to encounter the dragon in a random room

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Great point!

[@aaronrosenberg2224]

Those "flat top curves" could be great for more open are/wilderness tables where a) you want more variety within the hex/region AND b) factions are moving against each other with relatively balanced strength.

[@aurvay]

Just as tech bros that reinvented the bus, you just successfully reinvented the 2-20 (1d8+1d12) random table. Congrats!

[@AgranakStudios]

It's May 3rd and Bob still has his Yule tree up! Kudos to you my man! Great video! I love bell curve results. The old AD&D 1d12 and 1d8 is also a fun system. Where when you roll on the table it feels exactly like rolling a random encounter because of the two different dice denominations. Again, great video!!!

[@dylanboczar999]

Czepeku is definitely worth it btw, I used their patron a few months ago after feeling ashamed for using the low-res versions of the maps that they post on reddit. They're great maps!

[@AlbertaGeek]

I'm thinking that if the dragon is the "boss", it wouldn't be on the _random_ table at all. By definition it would almost have to be _the_ last encounter. But although random encounters are usually for "between" the planned encounters, I can totally get behind the idea of a "themed" encounter table being used for the whole dungeon, with regular random rolls being uses in passageways between rooms and the rooms themselves being where one doubles or triples the random encounter rolls.

[@Tsudico]

The Anydice site is a great resource for planning probability curves. As soon as I saw your first graph, I thought of it even though the graph was from a different source.

[@Twisted_Logic]

Shoutouts to AnyDice, the website you briefly featured towards the end! It's absolutely my favorite tool for RPG systems design. I use it extensively for my projects

[@vinnybonboot]

This is super helpful! Another way to adjust the randomness is to use 1d100, but make the results based on a range. For example, on a 1-5 you get the dragon; on a 6-20, you get the Ooze; on a 21-75, you get a kobold; etc. This method allows you to get very precise with the odds of certain things being rolled. If you want something to have exactly a 7% chance of being rolled, you give it a range of 7 (i.e. 1-7 or 34-40). It's not often that you need to be that precise, but sometimes its useful!

[@palomapalacios6036]

Here's one 2d6 table for a Primal Forest environment I use when solo-rpging if anyone wants to use it: Primal Forest 1. Gravitational ore 2. d6 poachers 3. Directionless Mushrooms (spores disorient travelers if inhaled, roll perception to spot on time) 4. creaking Sequoias 5. 'saurian ground nest w/d4 eggs 6. Footprint ferns (fragrant ferns that grow to fill giant footprints) 7. furtive shrews 8. creeping moss 9. gigantic skeleton 10. distant roar 11. Wand Wood (items made from this tree have their own pool of mana mages can draw on) 12. Monster (megafauna usually)

[@dranorter]

A bell curve mechanic I really like is to roll three (or five) dice and choose the middle result. This feels faster than adding, allows smaller tables, and gets a more bell-like curve.

[@feltron]

One could also just make sure that when making the random table all of the options fit the theme they are going for. I do like the idea of kobolds (or any enemy group) having a pet mimic. They feed it and use it as a trap for those who enter their lair.

[@dirigoallagash3464]

Nothing to to do with the vid but I've been meaning to say how much I appreciate the North Watch print in the background. Parkinson was my favorite of the 'old school' TSR artists. I've still got the Dragon mag with that on the cover. Cheers.

[@AlphaFenris1]

This is also a bit of throwback to how DnD started. Modern DnD is based on d20 rolls. The game started with multiple d6 . . . because walking to your local store and buying a d20 was not a thing for most people. The game was later updated for those new fangled non-cubes.

[@GrndAdmiralThrawn]

If you’re making the table, just…control what you put on the table. If undead don’t fit your theme, don’t put them on the table. If you only want one dragon, don’t put the dragon on the table. If you want to have more odds of rolling kobolds, put kobolds on the table twice. Your dice rolls may be random, but your table can be planned.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Of course lol. Like I spoke about at length in the video, it's all about how much randomness you want. The curve takes care of it for you.

[@demetrinight5924]

I like that you took dungeon ecology into account for making the table. I definitely like the concept of having the bell curve built around a theme. Overall a great concept.

[@RussetMan]

There's tons to love with rolling two dice! Also: Picking one die to reroll and picking higher or lower can help skew things to one side or the other of the table depending on the actions of the players. A modifier can also serve this purpose. I'd recommend going to anydice and perhaps using a spreadsheet to help visualize the probabilities! It is also possible to use this method to do other things as well, such as creating different ranges for outcomes such as negative 2-5, middling 6-8, positive 9-12. Bottom line is that messing around with the numbers can be fun!

[@jamesrizza2640]

Hey Bob, always love your take on things. I use a VTT [Fantasy Grounds Unity] with a card option so whenever I roll for encounters it never chooses the same encounter again. If I were using tabletop, and rolled the same encounter I add 1 to the roll if that would go over my 1d10 table I would just go back to 1 until all encounters were used. I have used both the add 2 encounters and the 2d6 table as well these are very good at what you say. I tend to use encounter tables for specific areas like woods, deserts etc. I also have a reason for them to be there, to create or keep some kind of realism in a fantasy setting. I did like your take, which I have not done in the past, in randomly rolling what the encounter is doing there. I like this idea. Keep up the good work!

[@gaelen5868]

Imagine you have a forest or a dungeon ruled by four factions. That 2d4 + 1d10 table could make running into one of the four factions very likely, each of the four is equally likely to show up, and still allows other, rarer creatures and events to pop up. Great video, btw! Immediately useful advice!

[@thechaotimagnet]

A simple alternative is to do 2d6 drop the highest. This means your table only needs 6 entries, but you still get common encounters at 1 and very rare encounters at 6. It is actually just cutting your 2d6 table in half.

[@DannyDoesWatch]

Bob I'd like to say I love the videos. I've started dming recently after playing and watching for a year now. And My friends are loving the game, so thank you

[@CantFindGeorge]

This is the video we didnt know we needed.

[@brucemcbain3150]

Can't believe any gamer with even limited experience would not immediately understand the significance of a bell curve distribution for an encounter table. The video is well-presented but such an elementary concept!

[@gandreassoftware]

You want an even better distribution? Multiply the two 6 sided dice together, and use these six ranges for the result (there are some gaps because, for example, it is impossible to get a 23): 1 - 8 : Common (44%) 9-15: Uncommon (25%) 16-20: Rare (14%) 24-25: Very Rare (8%) 30: Legendary (5%) 36: Unique (3%) Also has the advantage that the common stuff is at the start, rarer stuff is later

[@idrisabdullah3492]

This seems really interesting, but I wonder how much it really differs from the idea of 2d6

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Never heard of that technique!

[@gandreassoftware]

@@BobWorldBuilder It's a SECRET! Actually, I worked it out myself a while back as an easy way to get a nice "rarity" distribution. Plus I feel that multiplying dice is an under-used mechanism

[@honeymanod]

Don't you use your psychological tricks on me.... Bob.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

I'll stick with just the ecological tricks next time lol

[@shivamutreja6427]

I first saw this idea in the hex crawl video by Dungeon Masterpiece. Works great to 'show not tell' the overall feel for a region!

[@BobWorldBuilder]

He is full of great ideas!

[@ocirMZ]

​@@BobWorldBuilder he actually suggest the exact opposite. If your most exciting encounter is stuck behind a 1/36 chance your players are likely to miss out unless they are dungeoneering for a very long time

[@TherealPolar-B]

Again, i HAVE to comment how much i like your hair pulled back. Looking good my man! Keep up the good work

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Lol thank you! But it's not just back, it's mostly gone!

[@TherealPolar-B]

@Bob World Builder oh wow! Well you look great dude! Like super professional. I love it!

[@jonp8015]

It's interesting to have one random encounter table with the "normal" encounters towards the middle of distribution, but then make certain circumstances change what dice are rolled, between 2d6, 1d4+1d8, or 1d2+1d10. The more lopsided rolls being more likely to get a result towards the ends of the table.

[@Hammersmithblues]

I just build a table giving 4 shares for common, 2 shares for uncommon, and 1 share for rare creatures. I just heap them in alphabetically but grouped thematically or regionally. With a computer, you can roll 1d, so the final number of total shares doesn't matter at all. This is better than a bell curve because it ensures proper representation regardless of how many entities are rare or common.

[@thekaxmax]

I have a house-rule written for D20 that changes the base resolution to 2D10 instead. Makes crits and crit fails properly special. Pretty simple rule, only a few changes. But the bell curve is why GURPS uses 3d6. Note: there's a Dragon article from many many years ago that covered weird dice rolls, the core one for the article being 1d10 x 2d4 and similar calculations. That gives a skewed bell with an average of 27.5 but a huge long tail--80--at the top end for super-rare results. Could even go simpler with 1d6 x 1d6 x 1d6: minimum 3, average about 43, max 216. Even 1d6 x 1d6 is min 2, average about 12, max 36. If you want to stay with d20s, 1d20 x 1d20 is 2 / 110 / 400. Give you some fun tables. Or, as the article suggests, also damage results.

[@schmecklez]

variations of encounters work for wandering monsters because it provides some narrative element to the randomness by providing the type of encounter but also the circumstances upon which these encounters happen. for example: …6 = 2 Kobolds patrolling 7 = a group of kobolds hazing another kobold 8 = a stealthy kobold tracking the party 9 = 8 kobolds returning to the dungeon with stolen treasure and goods ect.

[@isectoid9454]

14:20 This is very similar to dungeon masterpiece's concept. In his random encounter video he mentioned having a behaviour and problem list that applied to everything on the table, further minimising prep, as instead of prepping 3 possible behaviours for each possible encounter, you only need to prep a single behaviour and problem for each, allowing for more variance for less work.

[@JimmiWazEre]

Someone didn't watch Dungeon Masterpiece's excellent video on why bell curve encounter tables are a terrible idea! Basically you end up with sessions full of battles against wolves, and none against dragons :D

[@lachlanmann4511]

Worth noting that a lot of the flat encounter tables are written in a way to put the most interesting options at the extremes anyhow. So you can often roll 2 of what it says to roll and half it and get a decent bell-curve version of the table

[@ConnorSinclairCavin]

Another way to control the result balance, or to further control it past the bellcurve: On each entry add in a box with the “stockpile #” in it, each time you roll that result lower the stock by 1, if it hits 0 reroll the result. This lets you fill a dungeon with a random distribution, but still have balanced numbers. You can also make it so certain encounters are built up slightly by having them add a fraction to another event’s stock, so say for every 10 goblin rooms it generates a hobgoblin or goblin shaman room chance (still needs to be rolled). Additionally, as you stated, some alternate dice pools, or mix-matching multiple rolls, can really change how things happen. For example, the 4D6dL that is used for character stats leads to a skewed, sideways banister cap looking graph, or 10D10 rr duplicates once can be a really odd castled box looking thing

[@willcool713]

I have at least three encounter tables for different zones in my campaigns, and depending, they are either 1d6 or 2d6. The 1d6 areas are usually open and sparsely populated. But for the 2d6 tables, I always use doubles as the "roll two" option. That has several effects: 1) all the even numbers have possible double rolls, so I make those easily pairable, and not too strong on their own, and 2) both 2 and 12 are exclusively doubles, so never come up on their own, which means they need to be exclusively parable, like something that could supercharge any other rolled encounter. Then the rarest encounters I put at 3 and 11.

[@Dahxelb]

I'd like to add a note about Evolving encounter tables. In short; you add +N modifier to the roll, based on how far a party has progressed. Imagine your adventure party descends down a dungeon that is split into 4 floors. For each for the party goes deeper, you add +2 to the random encounter table roll. So the likeliness of encountering different things changes and evolves the deeper the players go into the dungeon. This requires a bit of extra design thought tho. You need to keep in mind that some encounters will become more rare the deeper you go, and some encounters will stop being possible at all. You can also design your list to have unique encounter for results above the initial max, introducing new possible encounters on the deeper levels. If you'd cap your "boss encounter" at a result of 15+, then it would be impossible on floor 1 or 2 where the max possible result is 12 & 14 respectively, technically possible, but rare, to roll it on the 3rd floor, and would become the most likely encounter on the 4th and final floor. It's a lot of fun to play around with statistics

[@DMRaptorJesus]

Good way to use traps is to not just spring them on players, instead foreshadow the trap as an obstacle to defeat. One example I use often is your typical arrow trap in a wall, place somewhere at almost halfway through the trap a dead body, and when the players get close they hear a clicking noise. The clicking nose is a goblin/bandit/lizardman/etc behind a false panel (where the activation lever for this trap is located) playing with a ball and cup. I like using this because now it can become a tool for the players to create ambushes, and its more like a puzzle rather than a "aha got you dum dum, you stepped on my trap card!" moment.

[@TheGrandUser]

Idea for a simple "What are they doing?"" table and some sample interpretations: Minding their own business => eating, cleaning, talking, traveling Minding someone else's business => tracking rival monsters, hunting animals Minding anyone else's business => setting up traps, waiting in ambush Minding your business => stalking the party Weigh as desired for each creature.

[@jurakarok3343]

The 2D4+1D10 roll could be used to fill a merchant caravan's transported goods, 1D4+1 to determine the variety in the shipment. A merchant will usually be transporting a few specific goods, and only a small number of goods outside of their usual trade route. The least likely outcomes could be nothing, or rare things they are bringing to a buyer, or are paid to drop/hand off at a place on their route. If you rolled a nothing, and/or are missing a common trade good, that could be a story element.

[@pretzelbomb6105]

Playing with probability also lets you have some fun with a dynamic atmosphere without scripting it in advance. For context, I had a party encounter a long abandoned mineshaft that was home to a point where Limbo met the Material Plane, causing it to randomly shift in strange ways. The table was 2d8 and the spread was thus: Lower End: Simple environmental effects and minor encounters like a minecart crashing down a slope or the wall sprouting worthless gems. Middle Bit: Strange but not-too-difficult to surmount situations like new tunnels forming at odd angles or an area flooding with water. High End: Major shifts like tunnels forming vertically, squashing to half-size, or suddenly spinning 180 degrees. The thing was, I also wanted to create an atmosphere of slowly increasing chaos as the tunnels became more unstable over time. The way I did that was by including a pair of results that would increase all future rolls by 1 while having no other effects. This gave the party periods of low activity to explore or tend their wounds while also making future rolls more likely to invoke the higher end of the table. As a bonus, this also let me put options for rolling a 17 or an 18, for example. Since these couldn't be rolled without the additions gained from other rolls, it meant that they could be made highly problematic without fear of rolling them first. Tunnels sealing up into solid rock, flooding with mud, and other things to make the party aware it's time to leave.

[@BenRK90]

Oh I love that authors random tables. Did he make a hard cover compilation that I missed? Or maybe I'm thinking of someone else...

[@BobWorldBuilder]

This book is by Dicegeeks / Matt Davids. He has a lot of other and this one is a compilation!

[@BenRK90]

@@BobWorldBuilder Yup! That's the guy! I've been seriously wanting a hard cover version his his tables. How did I miss that? Oh well, gonna fix that error on my part.

[@semajsivraj]

This was essentially the method used in the AD&D Monster Manual 2. That used 1d12+1d8 to create tables ranging from 2-20 but with a (very slightly) different distribution of results than 2d10 would create (because 2d10 has 100 possible rolls, d12+1d8 has 96 possible rolls)

[@sylph4252]

Whoa, where'd you amazing hair go? You look great Bob, just startled me

[@BobWorldBuilder]

I was due for a change! 💇‍♀

[@massconnect9329]

I love it. I forget why I started making tables of all the ways I could achieve different probabilities. I think it was because I wanted the option of making crits much more rare (both failures and successes). I know it can be a tall order to basically rewrite the whole handbook's suggested dice, but if I was making an electronic game I definitely wouldn't be loyal to D&D's systems.

[@backonlazer791]

When I started running Curse of Strahd for my group I wondered why it made me roll 1d8 + 1d12 for encounters. After I researched the matter the propabilities came up which I hadn't even considered. These days I use it for a lot of stuff in addition to encounters, for example when I need a random NPC I roll on a table where some species are more rare to encounter than others. Also here's a tip for those who want to get everything out of this trick: You can have a larger table with some more dangerous results at the top, but you use smaller dice except in some more dangerous areas, so those extreme scenarios are limited to those times/places 😄

[@pauleaster5380]

For anyone interested, the 2d6 curve is actually a convolution of two equal probability curves. That's why it is pyramid shaped. As the number of dice is increased it will tend to a normal or Gaussian distribution.

[@karlmaust6172]

Another solid video with game changing advice. You rock!

[@marcosmiotti7399]

13:28 the great and crazy narrative-driven OSR RPG called "Grok?!" uses 1d4-1d6-1d10-1d12 rolls as attributes bonuses to d20 checks. Doing so keeps the 5% of a d20 roll at the flat part, while slowly lowing the probabilities at the borders of the bell curve. The more sides a attribute die gets, the slightly less likely is get results out of 5% flat top. You should check this RPG out, Bob.

[@cogspace]

I was not expecting an ecology lesson in here! That was hands down the most interesting part of this video to me, and I would love to see a video going into more detail about how to apply trophic levels to tabletop RPGs!

[@DaDunge]

This gets even better when you mix in fronts. When you roll an encounter you remove it and if it was in the lower half of the table you move everything below it up one step and add something new below and vice versa if it was in the upper half. This results in a situation where the uncommon encounters become likelier when you get through the more likely encounters.

[@msclrhd]

You could also duplicate entries if you wanted to make them more common -- such as having several Kobold entries. You could also make the entries varied, like having a lone Kobold, a Kobold group, or a Kobold group with a leader. You could even have different random tables for different parts of the dungeon, so you could limit the Kobolds to the first couple of levels, make the Dragon encounter more likely near the Dragon layer, or have different groups of monsters like a Lich and more undead in the crypts.

[@drayknoxx891]

This was an amazing idea, I am already implementing this is my overworld travel re-work to make it less boring and move faster, which leads me to how I might use the 2d4+1d10 method. As with regions that are mostly secure 2d6 allows for the center to be an easy day of travel and danger is more on the outside numbers, inversely I might use the strange curve in more dangerous areas so that easy travel and obstacles are equally as likely. Let me know what you think.

[@MemphiStig]

I'm so glad you're on this now. I've always championed the bell curve, and I especially like to use two (or more) different dice (d4+d8, etc) for weighted results. I once made a list of all the possible combinations I could think of to produce results across the scale from 1 to 100 using various combos of dice and modifiers. (1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 2-4, 2-5, etc) I love the game for many reasons, and one is I'm a math nerd. You could also use a single die, but weight the results, as in 1-3: Goblins, 4-5: Slime Ball, 6: Trogdor, etc. And this is a good way to use d100, aka d%, since even tho technically it's two dice, its results are linear, effectively making it one die.

[@cdarklock]

Back in the day, D&D encounter tables were 2-20, making it clear you needed two dice. What WASN'T clear, unless you read the damn text, was that the two dice were 1d12 and 1d8. This gives you FIVE entries in the middle of the table with identical most-common probability, and mixes up your encounters more.

[@seangorby7468]

For even more math you could roll on a bell curve style table that is broken into categories like: combat, social, exploration, treasure, setback/boon, dungeon specific them, character moment. Then within each category weight each thing that could happen within a 1-100 range. Now just roll a 2d4 and a d100 (2d10 alternatively) to see what category you get then what within that category you rolled. Might seem a little confusing and "crunchy" at first but this style of table is an easy template that you can change each piece's weight and thereby changing the flavor of most likely rolls.

[@thethan302]

I’ve always been highly cognizant of dice probably when making random tables. I switched to a 2dX system like your examples long ago. But I've always customized my tables to fit the environment. So a swamp table would have swamp-like stuff in it; lizardmen, bullywugs, crocodiles, will-o-wisps, maybe a black dragon; a witch or hag (which are great RP encounters; especially when you have them hand out quests). I highly recommend it.

[@tabithafrank1917]

I love letting the dice decide on when the major event happens. I was recently running a game where an ambush was supposed to happen 5 days in to a 7 day journey but the dice decided it was gonna happen on day 3. As the dm it brought a little surprise and much happiness to the session.

[@zelbarnap]

Thanks Bob! this was very useful!! Yes a PDF! I like where this is leading!

[@spacelem]

Possible alternative to turning the 1d10 table into a 2d6 table, and putting all the most common encounters in the middle: you can order them from most to least frequently, then roll 2d10 and take the smaller. I'm happy to see weighted encounter tables, but too frequently I've seen writers just give a 2d8 table and have all the entries listed alphabetically, like they didn't quite understand the assignment.