Post date: Mar 17, 2010 8:17:51 PM
Encounter Building 101
In most games half of a good evening should be spent in combat. Something that most Role players recoil from and most butt-kickers crave. But in any case, the keys to good encounters include not only a balanced foe (or foes) that will challenge the characters, but also a battle field that will encourage movement and as such will challenge the players.
First the basics, these I have plundered from other sources mainly from DnD 4ED DMG and DMG2.
1) Room to Move - Make sure everyone has room to move around. Space of 8x10 is good for most cases, you can go smaller but in doing so you favor the melee combatant and punish the shooter.
2) Bigger Creatures Need More Space - Large monsters need more space, so 16x16 room is a good size
3) Avoid Symmetry - Fighting in one rectangular room after another is boring. Let rooms branch out into corridors or other rooms or give it odd alcoves. Also build rooms using all 3 dimensions, boxes to climb over, pits to avoid.
4) Nuke it up- Your goal is not to create a realistic area for your encounter. Sprinkle nuked features around like trash cans, explosive cars, and the occasional nuka-cola machine to remind the PCs about the genre they are in (dust particles floating around, emergency lighting, peeling wall paper and cracked linoleum floors are staples in my vocab, but for terrain, look toward things like desks and filing cabinets).
5) Encounter Distance - For outdoor encounters start the players two normal moves from each other (so 12" as the average pace is 6", in D&D the average move is a 5" so 10"). If the terrain or visibility suggests a short ranged encounter (so dense ruins, thick fog) one average move is good instead (so 6" or 5"). For wide open spaces (open plains, rolling hills) use 4 times the move (so 24" or 20").
6) Make sure there is a variety of terrain
a) Difficult (cost double to move)
b) Blocking (things that block LOS and prevents movement)
c) Challenging Terrain (things that require skill checks to defeat - Climbing or swimming)
d) Hindering Terrain (terrain that can do damage, like radioactive zones)
e) Covering/obscuring Terrain (terrain that gives cover modifiers -1 Light, -2 Medium, -4 Heavy or adjust lighting dim, dark, and total darkness for similar modifications)
7) Create Movement in the terrain. - keep both sides in a conflict in motion to create a more interesting battle.
a) Circular Paths - Create an area that suggests a continuous path of movement: A Pair of ruined rooms connected by two different hallways, An outdoor area where there is a chasm with two different ways to cross (a bridge or a fallen tree). That type of circular path allows combat to unfold on two different fronts. Once combat starts in one area, either side can gain an edge by circling around to attack a flank or rear.
You can make the combat even more interesting with more complex shapes. In that instance start the PCs in the middle.
Always keep things moving, do not let things bottle neck.
b) Attractive Terrain - Create terrain that would be attractive to the players, a spot with cover for example or grants a bonus to combat (a flaming barrel that eliminates dimness penalties 2" around it.)
c) Terrain to Avoid - Terrain that punishes PCs should be used with caution as it will limit player movement, traps and mines are a classic example. But a cunning PC can use them to their advantage if they can get to them first and punish the enemy as they approach.
d) Starting the Encounter - A common mistake of any DM (including the experienced ones) that can ruin a combat can happen in the first round of combat. When the PCs enter a combat situation with a room full of monsters, interesting terrain features, and awe-inspiring details. But when initiative is dealt (or rolled) and the players are going to go last. The monsters go first, and the problem begins. Each monster moves up to the PCs on its turn and attacks. None of that interesting terrain comes into play as the battle is in the doorway/choke point that they entered from.
When monsters go first, it is not a given that each one will rush to attack. You can delay some of their turns by going on hold. Or move them to the interesting cover instead of going for the players first.
If the encounter includes ranged attackers (with guns or spells), then the remaining foes could charge the party at the entry point. This will encourage one or more PCs to find a way through the front lines to deal with the snipers in back.
e) Enemy Tactics- All things being equal, if the foes don't move neither will the players. Move your foes, even it provokes free-strikes. Most foes will make the following choices: Move out of positions where characters are ganging up on them. Take cover from ranged attacks when possible. Avoid Hazardous terrain they know about.
Reasonably smart foes will also use the following tactics: Move into flanking or ganging up positions. Take advantage of circular paths to outflank the party. Make use of attractive terrain they know about.
f) Have Objectives in the Encounter - Clear objectives in an encounter can spur movement in the encounter. Such goals include classics like Protect a person or item, Retrieve an object, Sneak In, Stop something from happening. By having the goal moving can create motion.
Now all of the above is great for most games, but I have found there is a problem when everyone has a gun. Combat then plays out at range and any fool that tries to cross that gap gets what they deserve, a belly full of lead. So far in the post-apoc campaign I have been running it has been a bummer to watch the hail of lead win over moving around. Players just find a spot and hold it until the last bad guy drops is the common tactic.
But I have been a great contributor to this based on how I have been laying out the encounters. Things I have done that have gone horribly wrong:
A single main street with minimal cover - Boring!
Putting my foes far enough away that when the lead started to fly they had to run through a shooting gallery.
Players starting in one corner of the battlefield and never leave as the foes come from one direction
Tense fights have been where objectives are in play, or the bad guys move around.
So how to deal with this problem, after looking at all the boring and one-sided gun fights I came up with some ideas that I am going to try out in the sessions ahead.
1) Stagger cover options - As you are often times in control of the battlefield make sure you give plenty of cover to both sides. If the foes were at least intelligent they will have pulled more cover to their end of the battlefield and will use it. This is much needed for both sides of the conflict to enable them to close and engage. When setting up cover make it uni-directional on the battlefield so flanks will be able to shoot without cover penalty (or at least less of a penalty).
2) Hold your hand - The GM usually only gets dealt one initiative for each group of bad guys. Instead divide your NPCs into two groups Shooters and Movers. Then deal yourself 2 cards, one for cover shooters and one for those who will close. Have those who shoot, shoot on what ever they got dealt. Have the others hold until after all the PCs have gone. If the PCs catch on then switch up.
3) Car go Boom! - Have Terrain that can be destroyed or cover that can be shot through.
4) Avoid the invisible wall syndrome - Have you ever noticed the invisible wall that is the edge of the battlefield, this is immensely comforting to the PCs as they know if they put themselves in a corner of the battle-mat that the foes only have only 90 degrees to work with. With that said, start your battles with the players at least a third of the way in, or half way in.
5) Mind the Gap - If we were playing "Sniper the RPG" it would make sense to have the Players at one edge of the map and the bad guys trying to close. But in this instance we are moving amongst ruins, across boulder and debris strewn fields. Very few adversaries would try to cross the great distance of open land in these perilous times. So with that said the distance should be close enough to keep it exciting and yet far enough to allow some maneuverability. So I would combine placing the players 1/3 to 1/2 the way onto the battle field along with opposed Group Average Notice vs. Stealth, or, if no one is being particularly sneaky, then Notice vs. Notice.
a) Fail and Fail the groups stumble upon each other without warning. Combat starts at <= 10"
b) Success and Fail the combat starts at <= 15" and the group with the success has the drop on the other group (what that means varies to the game but Flatfooted and The Drop come to mind)
c) Success and Success the combat starts at <= 15" and no one has the drop.
d) Raise and Fail combat starts at <=20" and the Raise has the drop.
e) Raise and Success <= 15" and no one has the drop.
f) Raise and Raise <=15" and no one has the drop.
6) Details, Details: This is if you want to get really anal and you plan your maps out in advance (which is not always a bad idea). Put cover a move in inches from starting points (unless it is intentionally a defensive point). This encourages first turn movement.
Now to retrain myself to use this advice is going to be hard part. I have been visualizing battlefields differently now trying to create multiple paths vs. a train track approach, but it is so hard at times to do that. Still I shall prevail and try for I know I have much to improve in running my encounters.