Encounter Cards?

[darthgus]

Anyone thought about producing Encounter Cards rather than using the random creature tables?

Basically I'm thinking that the deck could be stacked with creatures that you have in your collection so that you only draw encounters you can field.

Might actually do this myself depending upon any obvious problems you guys point out with this approach.

[drfunk]

Would be a good idea, and saves "Oh, we don't have that model. Reroll. Or that model. Roll again". Plus i'm pretty sure the existing table doesn't have at least some of the bestiary entries on there? So could be a good way to flesh that out (and add your own).

[Philhelm]

This is a great idea, especially since many players may not have all of the creatures, may not want all of the creatures, or may wish to stick with a certain theme (for example, gothic horror only:  vampires, werewolves, etc.).

The only thing I would suggest would be to ensure that any of the rarer encounters remain rare, so you may need duplicates of cards.  The ratio of level 1, 2, and 3 monster encounters is 6:3:1, respectively (based upon D20 rolls of 1-12, 13-18, and 19-20).  If you have fewer than six level 1 cards (or more if the creature also appears as a level 2 encounter), then it would skew the encounters to have a higher proportion of level 3 encounters.  In other words, there should be six "Skeleton" cards for every "Vampire" card.  Of course the problem is that you would need tons of cards in order to maintain the intended odds of encountering the various creatures.

Number of Cards Needed for each Encounter to Preserve Intended Ratio:

6 Skeleton
6 Skeletons (x2)
6 Armored Skeleton
6 Zombie
6 Zombies (x2)
10 Ghoul
12 Bear
12 Boar
6 Giant Rat
6 Giant Rats (x2)
6 Giant Rats (x4)
9 Ice Spider
9 Snow Leopard
6 Wild Dog
6 Wild Dogs (x2)
6 Wolf
9 Wolves (x2)
6 Small Construct
6 Imp
9 Ice Toad
3 Armored Skeletons (x2)
5 Ghouls (x2)
5 Wraith
3 Ice Spiders (x2)
5 White Gorilla
3 Medium Construct
5 Minor Demon
3 Ice Toads (x2)
5 Snow Troll
5 Worm
4 Werewolf
1 Armored Skeletons (x3)
1 Vampire
2 Large Construct
1 Frost Giant
1 Snow Trolls (x2)

As you can see, quite a bit of cards to preserve the ratio, although it can always be tweaked, but mind that it would mean the stronger encounters would become more frequent.  The most common encounters are Bears and Boars, while the rarest encounters are Vampires, Frost Giants, 2 Snow Trolls, and 3 Armored Skeletons.  This would translate into a 6% chance to encounter a bear, but only a 0.5% chance to encounter a vampire (or, for every 200 encounters, 12 bears and 1 vampire).

[Elbows]

I think the idea is pretty good though - allowing you to determine precisely what creatures are in your city (ie. what models you have).  It would also let you theme the encounter/adventure.  You could just replace the deck with all undead, or all natural animals, or all constructs (you decide to fight in a mad wizard's workshop where his constructs are wandering about).

It would also make it easier to slip in your own creations, or special events (change of weather, change of scenario, end of game etc.).

Disclaimer: I'm a huge card-drawn events...whore.  I love it.  I love random events, I love being able to customize stuff, I love sneaking things into games which throw them on their head.

[Harry]

I do hope Audry fins this thread.

[Ddogwood]

I count 199 cards on that list, which seems excessive. Wouldn't it be easier to create three decks (one for each encounter level) and roll to see which you draw from?

I like this idea, though - it would be easy to have the creature stats on the card so you don't need to haul out the rulebook constantly.

[Philhelm]

It is 200, since D20 x D20 = 400; however, the ratios were halved since they were originally 12:6:2, which equals 6:3:1.  Therefore, 200 cards would be the minimum, instead of 400, in order to preserve the current encounter ratios.

I absolutely agree that 200 cards would be very excessive, but I thought I'd do the legwork to post what the standard odds of encountering each creature type would be according to the base game rules.  Also, it should be noted that to reduce the number of cards of certain types would be to increase the likelihood that the more powerful creatures will be encountered.  Obviously, skeletons should be more frequent than vampires and frost trolls, and it would be more detrimental to starting groups to encounter a vampire at 1:50 odds as opposed to 1:200 odds.  Perhaps a 3:2:1 ratio would work, but that would still be a hefty 120 cards.

[darthgus]

I thought that i might add the creature stats to the card to minimise having to come back to the rulebook.

[maxxev]

Wouldn't it be easier to create three decks (one for each encounter level) and roll to see which you draw from?

I like this idea, though - it would be easy to have the creature stats on the card so you don't need to haul out the rulebook constantly.

That's the ticket, now we're down to 60 cards and a mat for the 3 decks with the dice roll numbers on it .

I was thinking you could add the dice rolls for each level on the back of the cards, but if you had a mat then you could in theory add another deck at some point (level 4 encounter - legendary evils) and then you'd just need a new mat with the dice rolls tweaked.

[Daeothar]

Dammit.   Thanks for putting that idea in my head now...

I thought that i might add the creature stats to the card to minimise having to come back to the rulebook.

Absolutely!

I am immediately thinking of making one card for each creature, with different values on it for each of the 3 encounter levels. You'd pick a card, and then roll for the level.

Cuts down heavily on the amount of cards (and thus work for me... )

[Harry]

Look at this beauty ...

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1080254148675216&set=gm.939430536100594&type=1

[Daeothar]

25 types of creature in the list, with some of them being doubled, tripled or even quadrupled in certain encounters.

Problem is that not all of them are in all three encounter lists, so there's a risk of drawing a card and then rolling to see it's not valid.

I might opt for directing players to draw another card then, but I feel this requires some more thought...



See what you've done now? 

+++EDIT+++ Awesome! Beaten to the punch (yet again ). That looks great and has all the stats right there. very handy indeed. And I even got a mention too...


Another thing that just popped into my fevered brain now, is that by creating such a deck, I'd be messing with the distribution of the monsters. What I mean by that; the D20 distribution of the first roll is replaced by the drawing of the card, but there are 25 cards.

I think that ties in with the challenge I mentioned just now; maybe find a way of ignoring those cards when the (2nd) diceroll shows that for that encounter level, that type of monster does not exist...

[Major_Gilbear]

Why not just have 5 cards that can be swapped out? That way you keep to the 20 cards in a deck, and can adjust it by swapping out some for the spare 5. Makes the encounters a bit more varied too, or allows you to double up on some monsters for some scenarios.

[Tactalvanic]

Maybe an option to mix it up with, dare I say it, printed/paper flats?

Lots of free or even paid options for papercraft/printed beasties, if you have a printer, but not the available critters, print a few out?

Match that to the card decks to make up the numbers for needed encounters, and gradually as you have "real" painted ones available replace the proxies with them.

I know thats not to everyones, tastes, but would at least fill the encounter list with something visible

eg cardboard warriors anyone?

http://cardboard-warriors.proboards.com/board/24/dave-graffam-models

There's loads of other sites anyway

Card deck/s for encounters, check.

I say decks as maybe its a case of have three, roll for  the encounter, then decide which deck to draw from ?

something to represent all the available encounters, check- ish?

[maxxev]

Dammit.   Thanks for putting that idea in my head now...
Absolutely!

I am immediately thinking of making one card for each creature, with different values on it for each of the 3 encounter levels. You'd pick a card, and then roll for the level.

Cuts down heavily on the amount of cards (and thus work for me... )

I'd do it the other way around, roll first then read the text on the card.
Again have a mat the cards are on with the dice roll ranges.

E.g. mat states
Lvl1. 1-12
Lvl2. 13-18
Lvl3. 19-20

And the cards states

Lvl1. Skeleton
Lvl2. Armored Skeleton (2)
Lvl3. Armored Skeleton (3)

Then if the ranges change for any reason you don't need t ore-do all the cards!

Not sure what you do when the stats are different, you could split the card into three each with the monter + stats

E.g.
LVL1.
Skeleton
Stats

Lvl2.
Armoured Skeleton
Stats

Not much room for art though, but I'm not sure how else you can practically approach it without having to work al a lot of different templates.