Random encounters are not something with which I have had lots of experience. As a DM or GM I prefer to plan out the encounters my players see. As a player I haven't played under a DM who has used random encounter tables. That said I find the concept incredibly hilarious. Why are there these particular creatures attacking us? Because that's what the DM rolled! Even better if the table is truly full of randomness that you wouldn't see in any other game. Like completely aquatic creatures in the middle of a desert or a fire vulnerable creature in an active volcano. Or an acid shark. It's a real thing in D&D. I kid you not.
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I don't think a truly random encounter table would ever be appropriate in the long run of a serious story-based campaign. In my experience, players with a tendency to paranoia might even seek farfetched reasons for why those monsters attacked the paty out of nowhere. It just ends up working better on the clichéed site-based adventure.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, creating/adapting a random encounter table to the current circumstances makes it more useful by limiting its randomness. Despite the extra hour or so of planning, I still prefer doing things this way anyways.