Improv 3: How the encounter feels
The vibe of an encounter goes a long way.
At the core of it, all combat encounters are just two groups swapping damage until one drops. The feeling of each encounter is what makes them fresh, different and fun.
If you want to improvise an encounter, it pays to keep this in mind.
You’ve already figured out the context - the who, where and why of the encounter. Now, we’re talking about the subtler, more subjective qualities.
That fight against a goblin raiding party could go in very different ways, from slapstick to surreal to sad to scary.
Shaping the feel
I could list a hundred things that’ll shape how an encounter feels.
But, remember, this is part of improvising encounters. We want a short, simple and intuitive list - the 20% that gets us 80% of the way there.
Here they are:
Difficulty - not every encounter has to be a brutal, near-fatal fight, unless you’re going for that type of campaign. Sometimes, it’s nice for the party to steamroll some punks.
In a game with so much randomness built in, difficulty can be tricky. A few good rolls one way or the other can swing the fight.
Still, most of what determines the difficulty is simple. How many enemies are there? What types of enemies are they?
You can also dial an encounter up or down by tweaking the enemy’s cunning. Will they pull back to lure the barbarian into a trap? Will they target the squishy healer or the tanky brawler? For the spellcasters, will they choose the best spell for the moment or panic, casting an area of effect ability on the lone warrior?
I once ran an encounter using nothing but lowly kobolds, supported by a couple of spellcasters. I forget the party’s level but it was enough to turn twice the number of kobolds into goo, without even wasting any of their best abilities.
Except these kobolds were cunning, striking at them from hiding and luring them into traps.
The party won, but it was harder than a few CR-negligible lizards should have made it.
Genre - speaking of ambushing…
The way the enemies fight and how you roleplay them can make a huge difference. The bandits ambushing the party - are they wannabe minstrels, adding dramatic flourishes to their attacks? Or are they serial killers, taunting the party from the shadows?
Encounters might default to high fantasy swordplay, but you could overlay any genre onto it.
You could go for dark comedy, like a necromancer who dresses his zombies up as butlers and maids, yelling at them for their many breaches of etiquette.
You could go for survival horror.
The Nature of the Conflict - why are you fighting? Bandits trying to rob the party will fight differently to an owlbear trying to feed his cub.
It also allows clever players to think of ways to shut down the fight.
The Players and the PCs - you can’t forget the stars of the show. Some players or character concepts might pull them towards slapstick, body horror or romantic comedy.
They shouldn’t determine the vibe of every encounter, but you can’t ignore them either.
Lean into their natural styles. Subvert them. Ignore them. Mix it up and have fun with it.
Anyway, I could go on, but the goal here is simplicity.
Think about the vibe you want to convey, then think about how that fits the context.
This series picks up next week. In the meantime, remember to subscribe: