Improv 2: Context and the Environment
Consider the laziest way to improvise an encounter:
Rolling on a random table.
I’m not opposed to doing that, I guess. Injecting randomness into the process forces you down paths you wouldn’t otherwise go down.
But I just usually don’t bother, given how slow it is.
(Yeah, it’s slow. If you master my encounter improv process, it’ll usually be faster than picking up dice, tossing them, then looking at a rectangle with words in it.)
A poor random encounter table has things like 2d4+2 goblins.
Better ones have things like 2d4+2 goblin raiding party, led by Snerglina - a brave, clumsy goblin warrior who wants to impress her beloved with a good haul.
One of those is filler; the other, an encounter.
But even the bad entry there has something going for it:
It considers the context.
You’re likely to find 2d4+2 goblins in forests, caves and ruins. You’re less likely to encounter something like that in the city - unless they’re a gang or something.
This sounds obvious. But if you panic at the thought of improvising encounters, then you’ve probably neglected this on some level.
The context radically constrains what can appear. That’s good! Otherwise, the only limit is your imagination. That can get great but I doubt it’ll be fast.
Context is your friend. It’ll eliminate the vast majority of options that aren’t a natural fit.
(Sometimes putting something out of place can be fun, like an ogre at a farmer’s market. Justifying why this weird thing actually makes sense is good improv practice. It’s also a more advanced move, so consider leaving those for your planned encounters.)
But…
… what is context?
The funny answer would be, well, there’s no one answer as to what context is - the definition depends on a number of factors, such as…
Lolarious, I know.
But the simple and serious answer - and we want to keep it simple, since speed is a factor here - is there are two types of context:
Physical Context
This is what most folks think of when they hear the word. This is stuff like the natural environment, the terrain, the climate, the location…
These things shape and restrict the types of enemies you’ll encounter.
An encounter in a sewer won’t be the same as an encounter in a dank cave.
You can go deeper with this. An encounter by a forest river will be different to one in a forest clearing. An encounter by a forest river will be different deeper into the forest than near the edge.
It’s up to you when enough is enough, because you could play that game forever.
The other context to consider is the…
Political/Social Context
Now this is where a lot of the juice shows up - juice that’s missing from the bad rollable tables.
Consider the goblin raiding party again. How many different layered relationships and customs are there?
An oversimplified view - and yes, this is oversimplified - might look something like this:
Hierarchy within the raiding party: How does Snerglina’s leadership affect things? Someone like her, driven by a desire to impress someone, will likely take bigger risks for bigger rewards. She won’t be easy to intimidate.
Conflicts within the raiding party: Maybe two of the other goblins are siblings, caught in a strange rivalry where they seek to outdo each other, even as they want to protect each other.
Hierarchy within the goblins: Snerglina’s clan is a middling power, as far as goblins in the region go. Recent leaders have been cautious, recovering from old defeats, while the current leaders are more ambitious and aggressive. That’s why Snerglina is in charge - they like her attitude.
Conflicts within the goblins: Many goblins are afraid of this assertive, attention-attracting policy.
Hierarchy outside the goblins: This encounter takes place on a border between two human kingdoms. Each sees the goblins as a nuisance that they hope the other will take care of.
Conflicts outside the goblins: Some human smugglers bribe the goblins, which gives them easy and secure passage between the two kingdoms.
That’s a handy framework for the political context. It’s not the only framework, but you could reuse that quite a few times.
“Wait, William, you said this would be faster than rolling on a table. How am I supposed to come up with all that?”
Great question! Two things:
First, you’re not supposed to come up with all that. I’m describing an encounter in isolation. You’re improvising it, so you’d already know about, say, the human kingdoms and the goblin leadership.
(Maybe townsfolk have been complaining about goblin raids lately - that’s something townsfolk often do. That already tells you they’re more aggressive than usual.)
Second, that’s quicker and easier than it looks.
If you consider that Snerglina’s clan could be:
cautious/aggressive;
militant/trading/isolationist;
weak/middling/powerful;
… then combinations of those simple variables describe 18 distinct types of goblin clans. How easy is it to pick from those lists? How easy is it to find one that explains Snerglina’s presence - or, for bonus points, contradicts it, meaning she’s constantly clashing with her bosses?
With practice, this becomes easier.
With Footprints, it becomes a smooth dream. This guide teaches you not only to think in these terms but how to add clues for your players to pick up.
If goblins are just pointy XP sacks in your world, then so be it.
But if you want a world that lives and breathes, then you need to craft - and show - how the goblins live and affect things.
A weak goblin clan will make its mark on the landscape. A powerful one will make a different mark.
That’s why it’s called Footprints and why you can grab it here: