The Tao of D&D Encounters: How We Build Fights That Fit Our Games

The encounter is the heartbeat of most D&D games, especially in 5E. A lot of the system is built around them, and that’s where you get to play with the toys: Characters get to use their neat powers and DMs get to bring out cool new monsters, traps and challenges. Get your encounters right, and the players have a great time. Get them wrong, and your session may not be very fun. In this episode, we talk about how we lay our own dastardly plans for encounters. We get into our philosophies for what we want to accomplish with encounters, as well as the tactics and tips we use to build the challenges. We’ll also talk about what hasn’t worked for us and times our encounters have gone totally wrong.2:00 What’s the role of encounters in our games? What are we trying to accomplish with them?8:00 Encounter balance … and how it’s not always what you think it is12:00 What encounters teach players about the game world and where they are17:00 Encounter balance, CR and party size22:00 Building tension and intellectual engagement28:00 Fast vs. slow encounters29:00 How allowing players to occasionally do the impossible builds your group’s gaming mythology35:00 What makes a bad encounter and how do you get the party to fix it?41:00 When the party doesn’t listen, take the bait, or otherwise trigger your cool stuff48:00 Using monster lore and backgrounds to shape encounters51:00 Encounters without tactical thinking are boring — ways we keep them interesting 53:00 Motivations make the monster — and great encounters56:00 Crunchy tips for building interesting encounters65:00 Common encounter mistakes and how to tell when you’ve made one75:00 TPK, TPC (capture) or TPR (retreat): How we handle encounter deaths and defeats85:00 Unapologetic DMing87:00 Final thoughts and how many rounds should an encounter go?