Building Regional Encounter Tables

You're Hex-Crawling. 

Each night and day the Referee rolls a handful of dice, waiting for the opportune moment... There it is! She rolls the d12, because bell-curves are for cowards, and peers down a sheet of notebook paper to see which interesting encounter she's about to throw at her fatigued, over-encumbered party on their way back from her dungeon.

She rolls a few dice, smiles, and announces: "As you walk through the flowered woods, sunlight streams through the branches. You climb over a fallen log in the path. Just then, you hear an odd sound—the squealing of a pig followed by dozens of unmistakably goblin voices shouting screaming threats and insults from behind it. The noise is headed directly toward you."

A Model for Regional "Scene" Tables

You may grab the Google Doc for the above example HERE. 

Save a copy by clicking file > Make a Copy, and edit to your heart's content.

How do I use it?

Once per day, roll a d6 for weather and a d4 to check for an encounter.

If you've already established the weather, it instead moves one step towards the new result rolled. Or you can just jump about. Weather's weird. Do what feels right.

If the d4 rolls a "1", roll a d8 and d10, and add the appropriate scenery objects, and a d12 to determine what creature is encountered.

It's that simple.

The harder part by far is stocking that table.

Stocking the Scene Table

Weather - Consider what a good day, an average day, and a terrible day might look like. Consider whether it ever actually rains cats and/or dogs here. Arrange in a somewhat sensible order. Fill in the gaps.

Scenery - Name five common but not ever-present sensory stimuli found in the area. Next, consider five objects that could reliably appear in the area that might be useful if a dangerous scene were to occur, such as swinging rope bridges, fast-flowing rivers, something to climb, and something to hide behind.

Encounters - Here's the meat and potatoes. 12 encounters sounds like a lot, so let's break it down with some extra ideas.

• 2 things to run from, and a reason to perhaps stay.
• 2 mysterious beings that point to the area's history.
• 2 Active Conflicts
• 2 Hazards that must be passed through, or gone the long way around (adding a day of travel).
• A rare Point of Interest or Place of Power that may offer a small or temporary reward if carefully investigated. (Drink the Goo)
• An NPC in need, with little to offer.
• A wandering Merchant
• A potentially helpful NPC, with little they need.

Note that my own example doesn't have quite all that. Feel free to deviate from the pattern.

And again, remember that a good encounter has a Threat, Stakes, and Scenery.

Restocking the Table

If the party defeats an encounter (such as by slaying the above dragon), consider what changes in the wood, and replace the defeated encounter.