5-Minute Encounter Builder

Writing encounters can be hard. Over my years of experience I’ve broken down encounters into two basic components, and subcategories beneath that. From there I construct my encounters efficiently and to the goals of my plot.The goal of this article is to break down that process so that the community at large may apply it to their own encounter creating processes.

First the two basic components to every encounter are flavor and mechanics.

Flavor is the story of the encounter. It’s the skin. The components that let it fit into our fantasy world. The flavor is the fact that the NPCs are goblins, or that your players are wandering into a dark cave. The flavor matters for the story, it matters for consistency within your content, and it matters in the sense that your players wouldn’t feel satisfied that they were playing in a fantasy world without it. Flavor creates immersion.

In the same way that Flavor creates immersion, mechanics make it a game. Mechanics are the actions that players need to complete in order to be successful in the encounter. It’s the win lose conditions. It’s the rules that make the scene turn. They might be as simple as “win the fight” or “solve the puzzle” or they might be a more complicated series of actions that come together to form one greater action. But the mechanics make the encounter a game for the players to play.

Flavor can be broken down into three interrelated components. The setting, the cast, and the dramatic question. The setting simply put is where the encounter takes place in terms of the story. The cast is just what the NPCs are made up of. Generally, they cast and the setting should match up. For example, it might make sense to find Goblins in the woods. The dramatic question, is the motive the players have within the story, that makes them want use the mechanics to push the plot forward. For example, if the cast and the setting don’t match up, like say the setting is under water, and the cast is still Goblins, your question might be: Why the heck are goblins surviving underwater?

Mechanics on the other hand can be broken down by type of mechanic and win/ lose condition. By type of mechanic I mean the type of encounter. Usually I break down my mechanical encounters by the terms: Combat encounter, Physical Challenge, Role Play Encounter, and Puzzle/Craft encounter. Personally when I run a quest, I try to intermingle the types of encounters I have so that my players can all enjoy themselves for the various reasons they like to play.

Now that you have a break down on encounters why don’t you try breaking down some of your favorite movie scenes? What’s the setting? Who are the NPCs? What’s the dramatic question? What type of encounter is it? What are the win and loss conditions?

Having trouble thinking of some scenes to break down? How about Indiana Jones’ famous escape from the Temple of Doom? Harry Potter’s Wizard Chess Scene? Goonies’ Skeleton Organ Scene?

Once you’ve answered the questions, trying reskinning the scenes to fit your plot. How might that Indiana Jones’ scene look with Bois, for example?

Give your favorite creations in the comments!

I’ll see you on the field,

Keith “Saegan” Cronyn