I have started leaning more into encounter building over adventure writing.

You’ve gotten the group assembled, character sheets in hand, ready to go. You’ve done all the prep work and Session Zero stuff. Everyone’s all excited. Now what?

Welcome to the foundation upon which all great tabletop roleplaying adventures are built. This is the meat and potatoes of the module (or peas and carrots for all my vegan friends.) This is what the players have come for. This is a scene out of the movie that is your game. Time to play the music, light the lights, and get things started for your TTRPG tonight.

What’s an encounter? Simply put it’s any scene or moment when the Player Characters interact with something. This could be a Non Player Character, a monster, a trap, a puzzle, the environment, even one another. It’s like a scene in a play or a movie. Encounters are what move the game along and give the players something to do with their characters.

We won’t dwell on that first encounter of the adventure. It’s usually the intro. If you’re brand new to fantasy gaming, it’s probably something along the lines of the characters meeting in the local pub or inn. Yes, it’s necessary. No, we’re not going to dwell on it here because it deserves its own treatment. First encounters can be the most critical encounter of the entire adventure or kind of a bland nothingburger to be honest.

Regardless, following that first encounter, the Player Characters now have their quests in hand and a purpose in life. They probably have some idea where they’re going and what will possibly happen when they get there. What happens next usually falls into one of about four categories: Combat, Exploration, Social, and Skill.

The first type of encounter that all TTRPG players will be familiar with is Combat. This is straightforward enough. It occurs when the PCs must fight, freeze, flee, or please an NPC or monster run by the GM. On rare occasions, it could be a player vs player conflict, but that’s a whole different conversation.

The second kind of encounter we talk about a lot in fantasy roleplaying is Exploration. Most fantasy worlds don’t have satellites, GPS, or people that have seen much beyond their home and maybe the neighboring town. That’s where brave and hearty adventurers such as the PCs come in. Whether it’s exploring old ruins and ancient catacombs or vast miles of uncharted woodlands, the group can go there.

The third kind is what I call the Social encounter, but some people call it a roleplaying encounter. Basically it’s any time the PCs negotiate, barter, persuade, charm, or talk with NPCs. As my friend calls it, “one of those talky-talky moments where all we do is talk. Blah, blah, blah.” This is where a lot of information about an adventure, the world, a person, the situation, etc is exchanged. Once in a great while this can be bypassed with a skill roll, more often the characters are going to minimally want to speak with the NPCs and one another.

Last is what I would call a Skill encounter. I don’t think this comes up in a lot of official books, so please chalk it up to my opinion. A skill encounter is when the group has to use their various skills and abilities to overcome some sort of obstacles. Maybe they’re sneaking their way behind enemy lines to spy on the Orc general. Maybe they’ve found a particularly intricate and deadly trap that one of them is stranded in. Perhaps there’s a puzzle and the instructions or warnings for the cube are written in an ancient dialect only spoken by demons.

Yes, a lot of skill rolls spill over into the other types of encounters. There are just times, especially in other genres, when skills are the only way through a situation or a ton of clever roleplaying and problem-solving. Back in the day that’s all we had was roleplaying because a lot of old school fantasy games didn’t use skills.

Building a successful encounter of any kind really helps the Game Master build a sense of immersion, interacting meaningfully with the players and their world. We’ll dive more into building specific encounters in other articles. Today is all about diving into the basic concept of what the encounter is.

Most of the time I build my adventures around four to six encounters, not counting the introduction. Sandbox games are a little different in that they rely a great deal on the various types of encounters because there may or may not be a central plot connecting them. Again, sandbox style play is covered elsewhere, but the games using that style are pretty much just isolated or random encounters. Sometimes the GM will insert a point of interest or an intriguing situation for the PCs that they may or may not do anything with.

That’s all for today. If you’re a new GM and you’re having issues with encounters, please email me or look me up on the various social media. I think most people get the hang of the various encounter types once they’ve played through a handful of each. Likewise creating them is pretty simple when you’ve been in some as a player. Happy gaming.