Oh man, have I thought about this one a lot - without any firm conclusions. I'm now leaning towards always finding something - a boon, POI, Hazard, encounter, NPC.
I think switching up the odds by adding a slight change to the probability (+ or -) is a very good idea. I'm in favor of tweaking things a bit here and there - especially if it will enhance enjoyment of a session.
The underclock starts at 20. Each time you make an encounter roll, roll 1D6 and substract from 20. When the underclock reaches 0, an encounter happens.
Players get a rough idea of when an encounter might happen and can plan accordingly. And you're sure an encounter will eventually happen (a 1 on a D6 roll might not happen for a long time, if you're (un)lucky).
Now to your density. If you want encounter to happen quickly, you could lower the 20 to a 15. Or roll a D8 or 2D6/A. Lower density? Start a clock at 30 or add events that reset the underclock.
I have seen similar types of systems, and I do like them. That underclock system is cool, but I've never used a d20.
I have used a degrading usage die system for encounters as well. Start the die at d6; on a 1-2, drop it to d4; on a 1-2, you have an encounter. Then reset. The larger the start die (d8 or d10 works well), the more encounters.
Ah, you don´t roll a d20. The 20 is just the start value. You roll d6 and substract the result from the the 20. So a 6 on the d6 would bring the clock to 14.
I like both of those ideas—the underclock (although I’d probably do a D12 instead) and the usage die. (I love using usage dice for stuff when it makes sense.)
As I start to dip my toes back into fantasy, this is something I've been thinking about a lot. In a randomly generated dungeon, for instance, I want there to be at least 1 thing of interest per room, be it treasure, traps or encounters, but I haven't quite got the balance right yet. When traveling, on the other hand, I don't mind if in game days go by with nothing happening, especially if traveling by road. I probably just need to experiment with more tools until I find something that hits right, but modification based purely on vibes is also a valid tool in its own right haha
True. I think dungeon crawls and hexcrawls should be treated differently. It would seem like the highest chance for some event would be in a city or large town crawl. They wouldn't all be fights of course, but there's a lot going on in a town to get involved in.
I do like my solo games to be fairly dense, but having a little break every 4 to 5 rooms or so is about ideal for me. If it’s a short game like a one-shot, I prefer it to be even more dense, but if it’s a long form game that’s more like a campaign, I prefer less density. I like variety, though. Not just encounter after encounter. I like traps, puzzles, and stuff like that, but a good puzzle in a solo game usually has to be baked in rather than randomly generated.
Great points! Different lengths and styles of games need a different feel. I agree that you need some breathing room in a condensed one shot and that campaign length games seem to run better with longer breaks. It's good to have some time to process the story...at least for me. I'd rather not have it feel like a video game.
Yeah, exactly. And one shots can be more pedal to the metal, so to speak because if your character dies, it’s fine! You weren’t going to need them much longer anyway, lol!
Oh man, have I thought about this one a lot - without any firm conclusions. I'm now leaning towards always finding something - a boon, POI, Hazard, encounter, NPC.
I think switching up the odds by adding a slight change to the probability (+ or -) is a very good idea. I'm in favor of tweaking things a bit here and there - especially if it will enhance enjoyment of a session.
I go back and forth on this as well. Sometimes within the same game.
I recently discovered the 'underclock' as an alternative to the 1-6 chance encounter type of roll.
Perhaps that's something you're already familiar with.
The underclock starts at 20. Each time you make an encounter roll, roll 1D6 and substract from 20. When the underclock reaches 0, an encounter happens.
Players get a rough idea of when an encounter might happen and can plan accordingly. And you're sure an encounter will eventually happen (a 1 on a D6 roll might not happen for a long time, if you're (un)lucky).
Now to your density. If you want encounter to happen quickly, you could lower the 20 to a 15. Or roll a D8 or 2D6/A. Lower density? Start a clock at 30 or add events that reset the underclock.
I have seen similar types of systems, and I do like them. That underclock system is cool, but I've never used a d20.
I have used a degrading usage die system for encounters as well. Start the die at d6; on a 1-2, drop it to d4; on a 1-2, you have an encounter. Then reset. The larger the start die (d8 or d10 works well), the more encounters.
Ah, you don´t roll a d20. The 20 is just the start value. You roll d6 and substract the result from the the 20. So a 6 on the d6 would bring the clock to 14.
I misread your comment. Apologies, I see that now.
I like both of those ideas—the underclock (although I’d probably do a D12 instead) and the usage die. (I love using usage dice for stuff when it makes sense.)
As I start to dip my toes back into fantasy, this is something I've been thinking about a lot. In a randomly generated dungeon, for instance, I want there to be at least 1 thing of interest per room, be it treasure, traps or encounters, but I haven't quite got the balance right yet. When traveling, on the other hand, I don't mind if in game days go by with nothing happening, especially if traveling by road. I probably just need to experiment with more tools until I find something that hits right, but modification based purely on vibes is also a valid tool in its own right haha
True. I think dungeon crawls and hexcrawls should be treated differently. It would seem like the highest chance for some event would be in a city or large town crawl. They wouldn't all be fights of course, but there's a lot going on in a town to get involved in.
I do like my solo games to be fairly dense, but having a little break every 4 to 5 rooms or so is about ideal for me. If it’s a short game like a one-shot, I prefer it to be even more dense, but if it’s a long form game that’s more like a campaign, I prefer less density. I like variety, though. Not just encounter after encounter. I like traps, puzzles, and stuff like that, but a good puzzle in a solo game usually has to be baked in rather than randomly generated.
Great points! Different lengths and styles of games need a different feel. I agree that you need some breathing room in a condensed one shot and that campaign length games seem to run better with longer breaks. It's good to have some time to process the story...at least for me. I'd rather not have it feel like a video game.
Yeah, exactly. And one shots can be more pedal to the metal, so to speak because if your character dies, it’s fine! You weren’t going to need them much longer anyway, lol!