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Encounter Formats
by Adrian MartinezI find the Pendragon encounter notation useful in that it allows me a large measure of flexibility and a reasonable amount of detail. What follows is my modifications of that basic template.
Each encounter is described with the following aspects:
The Conditions:
For encounters that are to be triggered by the actions (lack thereof) of the characters, this is where you list what conditions *must* exist before the characters meet the encounter. These conditions can be as simple as "Morning" or "After a rain" to as complex as "After the characters have slain the dragon AND brought its head with them in a sack." This becomes helpful when characters decide to do some detective work and want to know why the encounter occurred.
The Setting:
This is where you describe for yourself the locale of the encounter. General impressions are noted here as well as details that jump out at the players. Don't forget to outline the positions of the NPCs as well. Decide before hand who the character recognize and who they don't. Remember, you are their eyes and ears.
The Mood:
I rely heavily on this. Mood carries the weight of all of my games. Be clear to yourself about what mood you want to establish, and more importantly, sustain throughout the encounter. Some images will be helpful here especially when it comes to trying to *recapture* the mood when a fantastic joke reduces everyone
to helpless laughter for more than five minutes (I invite you to the AEGIS website where you will find the (in)famous "Hi!" incident documented). A note on mood. It is never imposed. It is only invoked. It is never a given, it is elusive and must always be recaptured. This is the emotional component of the encounter. Make it your ally.
(On a lighter note, abandon any hope of mood if you have anime fans among your players. I am convinced that Rumiko Takahashisama has hypnotized them and is using them to conquer the world! ;-D)
The Problem:
This is where you describe what must be addressed in the encounter. Describe what is wrong with the situation and how the characters come upon it. This is the initial impression the characters get about the situation (as opposed to the locale). You might also want to put notes to yourself as to how you want the characters to perceive the situation. The amount of *objective* information I normally give away (as opposed to the characters asking) here is what I personally would catch from a cursory glance. (Reason: I only have my experience to refer to.)
The Secrets:
This is where information that the characters are meant to uncover are noted. The "Whys" that are not immediately apparent and will be so only if the character do certain things. Specify here what they must do to uncover the secrets and--most importantly--the clues that will lead them to do it.
Encounter Procedures:
This is where you note down for yourself what rules and procedures you need to be aware of for this particular encounter. Since I am weak when it comes to running combat, I would put some notes on combat procedures here, if only to clarify for myself what the NPCs would be doing.
Another thing you can put in this section are the special rules, procedures and cases that apply only to the encounter and the story reasons behind this. Since I believe that everything has repercussions, I try to outline these as well.
The Action:
This is where I describe what the NPCs will do if the PCs do not interfere. I am personally very weak when it comes to tactics so I content myself with describing the motivations of the NPCs in hopes that I can use that to help me decide what their actions will be. I also make notes here about the cohesiveness of the NPCs, that is whether they are a crack, super-trained, special forces team with a lot of years of service behind them or if they are a bunch of reluctant, raw, badly-trained and unmotivated recruits who are there because something bigger, scarier and uglier than the PCs is behind them. But if you want to track down *every* action your NPCs make, knock yourself out!
The Solution:
This is where the *ideal* solution is stated. As in, "if everything went right, and the characters were perfect..." this is the outcome. This becomes helpful in adjudicating less than perfect outcomes and adapting to the new direction the story takes.
The Aftermath:
I use this to make notes to myself about the long-term consequences of the encounter if the ideal solution was reached. That way, I can make the consequences of all the encounters felt throughout the story.
The Dramatic Personae:
This is where the NPCs are listed. I list down who they are much like a cast is listed in a programme. I guess, if you like, you could add more detail about their role in the encounter here. Avoid giving a full-blown NPC description here. There is another place for that called the NPC write-up which is outside this encounter format. You could, for your convenience make Stat notes here.
The Awards:
Pendragon give awards on a per-encounter basis and I have adopted it as a general practice in the games I run. It helps me to keep the whole thing balanced out in terms of size of award and effort. I also note what booty the characters can win and from whom. Lastly, I also make notes of any special awards that the nature of the encounter may call for (such as winning admiration of a chieftain thus making him an ally). In short, note the gains of the characters here.
What Actually Happened:
I haven't been using this, though I plan to. I leave this area blank so that I can make notes for myself about how the characters actually played the encounter out. These notes become the campaign log and the basis for allowing me to haunt the characters with their sins (heheheheh).
Personally, I find it easy to use this format because it gives me "bite-sized" pieces to work with. I frequently do not have an outline in front of me when I write adventures. I find myself frequently working with tableaus or "movie stills", if you will. I get the feel and flow of the scene and see what comes out of it. The encounter format allows me to define the scene in as much detail as I can get without having to worry about the contexts yet.
After doing this with every "scene" I "see," I now ask questions about cause and effect. How did this scene come about? What conditions must be set up in order to have this scene? What must I set up in turn to have those conditions? How does it connect to the other scenes I have, if at all? I work backwards until I come to what I decide I want to be the givens of my game, e.g., "All the characters are human and of the same house. The High King has been murdered with no heirs and all the other baron houses are maneuvering for the throne..."
Once I have a "thread," I go "sideways." I ask myself what can side track the story. Rather than control that side track, I try to follow it seeing how it ties up with the main thread I've established. I find it useful to give the players as many options as possible as I find that the players use these to help bring the world alive vividly--unfortunately, the price I pay for this is that the players often split up into many subgroups (remind me to tell you about the time I had to shift between running one group having a S-L-O-W conversation with
a forest ala Fangorn and another group having a fast and furious--not to mention cine-anime-matic--combat encounter!).
In the course of the game, I find that the encounter format helps me modify or set up encounters that will enhance the game. I adjust to the changes the characters introduce to the story by making the needed encounters. Of course, the adventure logs that result are really great for mapping long-term consequences!
The best part is, I can re-use encounters or at least use them as templates for other games. In effect, I have what amounts to a Lego (TM) set of encounters!
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