Short Random Encounter Tables

[scottanderson]

A while ago, I was thinking about wandering monster tables and how long they should be.  Like, when I first learned about them, they were 2-20 tables (thrown with a d8 and a d12).  There were common and uncommon monsters.

Well that was fine but it's still 19 monsters.  Who cares how common one is if you are only going to see a few entries from the table?  So then I made 3d6 half-tables.  That is, one monster for rolls of 3-4, one for 5-6, one for 7-8, and one for 9-10.  And then a different table for the other half.  You could mix and match them and also have a good idea which monsters were most likely.

While this solved the rarity issue, it still meant a ton of monsters and therefore a ton of work.

So then I played a video game where there were just four monsters on each wandering monster table, and it actually felt really good.  You got a good sense of what was on each dungeon level or what the ecology of a certain terrain type was after spending some time there.

four monsters per table.

Well, I don't think that exactly right, because there are some really cool monsters you would have to leave off the lists, but I do think short wandering monster tables with just a few listings is correct.  I think a 1d6 for wandering monster checks, a 1d6 to select the proper table (per Holmes but idk about other versions), and a 1d6 to determine the exact monster, is right for interior dungeon levels.

What do you think about that?

[fearghus]

I think it would work fine. My current dungeon level 0 (small intro level), only has a couple of creatures in each of the sections. Beginning crypt and maze are skeletons and zombies. The kobold section has kobolds and giant lizards. The goblin section has an enchanter and goblins, with two hobgoblins and a goblin. The gnome section is littered with gnomes, though a handful are casters as I used the elf table for their leaders instead of the dwarf table.

When building out the specific first level areas below the entry point I like your idea of having a more robust selection, but still tailored to the levels theme/ecology.

[scottanderson]

I just re-read you post and I caught something I missed the first time. You use the elf table to choose gnome leaders. That's an excellent piece of world building. Why can't gnome leaders have spell ability? That would certainly set them apart from dwarfs even though the gnome is just a kind of dwarf.

Gosh, I just love that!