Your biggest encounter mistakes?

[JohnnFour]

Today's newsletter covers 12 of 42 common mistakes I've identified that GMs make when building and running encounters.

What've been your encounter faux pas, guffaws, and broken laws?

Also, big thanks for @ExileInParadise for helping me complete the list!

 

[GM Rob]

I could go on and on, I've made so many!

1. Not having a clear objective / resolution strategy for the encounter.
2. Missing some obvious player tactic that completely bypasses the meat of the encounter.
3. Doing a little role play at the beginning of what is supposed to be a combat encounter and getting stuck there.
4. Role play encounters for which I haven't thought through potential outcomes.
5. Not having the right NPC information available for the encounter.
6. Telling a player, "You can't do that." because I didn't know what to do in response.
7. Bollocking up the map as it was being revealed, and not noticing until the middle of the encounter.
8. Leaving the NPCs standing in place and swinging instead of thinking.
9. Monsters with too-high AC, too-high saves, or too many hit points. Boring combat...swing, miss, cast, save, etc.

I could go on, but you get the idea.

In general, the most common mistake I make is a lack of thoughtful planning.

 

[ginger_gamer]

I was called out by my players (and rightfully so, looking back) for having a pre-determined outcome for a street race, regardless of how they performed (very well). It was meant to be the initiating event for the campaign, but I had some poor communication and didn't make that clear to the players, implicitly or otherwise.

I've also created an NPC here and there, intended as a mini-boss that has been either one-hit KO'd, or rendered effectively null by a character power I had forgotten about. I was able to sell both occurrences as something extraordinary in-world, and rewarded the act with renown and loot.

 

[Ahkmed]

One of my recurring issues is not encountering the encounter. I get the encounter all set up, have ideas attached and outcomes planned for, and then somehow either forget to put the encounter in the way of the PCs, or they avoid the situation completely. It is annoying, but I just sigh internally and if I like the encounter enough I will find a way to work it back in later. Otherwise I just skip it and rework it for another time. So they skipped going down the proverbial rabbit hole and dealing with the goblins, I guess they have time to grow a little and come back with a vengeance.

 

[Subdued Wasp]

I think for me it tends to be the long slog - the PCs are going to win. Eventually. And it either ends up keep rolling, keep rolling, or its a kind of "ok so you are going to win, lets fast forward" which both suck. Some of the ideas from faster combat will help here but I have not had a chance to try them yet.
The other problem i have is failing to set exectations leading to totaly unbalanced encounters that were never intended to be, so Im like "there is a massive fire breathing dragon, 100 feet tall" and they all go leroy jenkins.

It depends a lot on the system though, T&T which I play quite a lot tends to have broken combat which when it works, with lots of stunting and imagination can be super fun but its also really easy to have super dull dicefests. 5e/osr tends to be very different, with most combat "by the book" and rather more in the simulationist direction.

 

[Ahkmed]

I think for me it tends to be the long slog - the PCs are going to win. Eventually. And it either ends up keep rolling, keep rolling, or its a kind of "ok so you are going to win, lets fast forward" which both suck. Some of the ideas from faster combat will help here but I have not had a chance to try them yet.
The other problem i have is failing to set exectations leading to totaly unbalanced encounters that were never intended to be, so Im like "there is a massive fire breathing dragon, 100 feet tall" and they all go leroy jenkins.

It depends a lot on the system though, T&T which I play quite a lot tends to have broken combat which when it works, with lots of stunting and imagination can be super fun but its also really easy to have super dull dicefests. 5e/osr tends to be very different, with most combat "by the book" and rather more in the simulationist direction.

Situations like that I usually adjust on the fly behind the scenes. If it is apparent they are going to win and it is just going to take forever, I will create a situation where the npc tries something that goes horribly wrong and moves the "damage track" ahead several rounds. Or something simpler would be to adjust the AC because of a mishap that would bring them down sooner, or I have even adjusted the original HP of said npc's so they die off faster. I have done the opposite also, increasing HP or AC because of a miscalculated set up, to make the encounter more viable. A lot of this depends on your group as well. Some might notice an abrupt change in stats or combat flow, but to me keeping it fun and moving is more important than sticking to all the rules/settings all of the time. And of course they can always try to run away, which does occasionally confuse PCs, but it opens up options for changing the hum-drum situation into something new.

 

[GoodnessJames]

My biggest mistake was not preparing for the encounter. I often rushed into combat without enough information about the enemy, and this led to defeats. Now I always research monsters thoroughly before encountering them, and plan my actions in advance. Also, I often underestimated the power of magical attacks. I once encountered a magical creature and was not prepared for the fact that it might attack me from afar. Now I always check to see if the monster has magical abilities and prepare to use them. Also, I wasn't always attentive to my surroundings before. Once I was in a cave and was startled by an attack from a giant scorpion. I didn't notice that numerous small scorpions were all around me and they were interfering with my fight. Now I always check my surroundings before I start a fight.

 

[Subdued Wasp]

Now I always research monsters thoroughly before encountering them, and plan my actions in advance.

This raises a really interesting question about metagaming and fog of war. Who knows what and especially in dark passages can you tell the difference between various man sized monsters that you only heard of in legend? Maybe an INT check to identify a monster and another to now/remember what it can do?

I like to think of fantastical monsters as being somewhat unknown and Id rather my players when meeting them dont simply pull out the monstarary and calculate exactly what to do. Of course goblin with a stick is pretty clear but most inexperienced adventurers probably dont have any idea what a bodak looks like or what it can do. For this reason I try to avoid "a bodak jumps our and attacks, AC5" and rather try to describe what farmboy sees, more along the lines of "a hideous man sized horror, what perhaps was once a person..."

The really scary stuff needs to be prepared for of course, and there i prefer to have someone in the tavern warn "dont go up into the mountains, a fearsome one lives there, Old Bob we call him. Turned my dog to stone just by looking at it, etc"

 

[JohnnFour]

This raises a really interesting question about metagaming and fog of war. Who knows what and especially in dark passages can you tell the difference between various man sized monsters that you only heard of in legend? Maybe an INT check to identify a monster and another to now/remember what it can do?

Agreed. If players lean into this area of the game, it rewards great world building, monster design, and character skills/attributes.

 

[Ahkmed]

Something I have done in the past to curb the player knowing more than the PC was to change the appearance or description to something unfamiliar. We all get ahead of ourselves sometimes and react to what we think is happening, it is a good lesson to relearn. The worst is a Nilbog, if any of you remember that fun little creature. But based off of that idea I have twisted many simple monsters to appear differently than they really are. The goblin with a stick has a little shock value if the stick is a wand of fireballs with a couple charges. Shapechangers come in handy at times also, giving unknown abilities to creatures. And even if you want to stick to the basic stats for encounters, change up the environment. A manual trigger on a trap, from pit traps to avalanches to spilled oil can create a totally different situation. These are things I have picked up after gaming so long with the same group of people who at times might know something, or remember something, that I do not. And they are things you do not have to do all the time, just once at the right time can make players think before acting for a long time.

As for the identification of said creature, it does seem to get used upon occasion, reminding them of the time involved tends to make them use it less often. And if you have modified a creature make sure you think about how that might impact an identification skill. I am not afraid to tell my players that they got mixed information, "Well it looks like a goblin, but something is different about this one". If they ask a pointed question I have been known to respond "Is gray area, try a different approach" (in a Russian accent for some reason).

It does seem that this topic was started by a player, so I hope I didn't give too much away. But as a player please understand that as a GM I personally try to make it fun for all involved, players and GM. To me going through the same routine over and over isn't fun, so I like to change things up and give you a surprise once in awhile. And it appears that you are learning from your mishaps, so keep up the good work and have some fun.