Creating Encounters

Adventures are built from Encounters – the specific scenes where player characters face challenges, interact with the world, and attempt to achieve their goals. An encounter isn’t limited to combat; it encompasses any situation that requires the players to actively engage their characters’ skills, make meaningful decisions, or overcome an obstacle. Designing varied, purposeful, and engaging encounters is the core craft of running an Alacrity game session.

While the overall adventure provides the plot and structure, encounters are the moment-to-moment gameplay loops. They are where skills are tested against the Difficulty Ladder, where combat erupts, where crucial information is revealed through dialogue, where traps are sprung, and where the consequences of player choices become immediately apparent. Mastering the art of encounter design allows the Game Master to control pacing, highlight different character abilities, reinforce the world’s tone, and create memorable moments of tension, triumph, and discovery.

This section delves into the principles of creating effective encounters in Alacrity, covering the different types of encounters, key design considerations for each, and how to integrate them seamlessly into your adventures to challenge and entertain your players.

What Makes a Good Encounter?

Regardless of type, strong encounters often share these characteristics:

• Purpose: The encounter should serve a purpose within the adventure – advance the plot, reveal information, test specific skills, drain resources, introduce an NPC, establish atmosphere, provide a consequence for previous actions, or present a meaningful choice. Avoid encounters that feel like random, pointless roadblocks.
• Context: It should make sense within its location and the broader narrative. Why are these specific opponents here? Why is this trap placed in this corridor? Why does this NPC have this information or attitude? Grounding encounters in the world’s logic enhances believability.
• Challenge: It should present a genuine obstacle or require significant effort or cleverness to overcome. The level of challenge should be appropriate for the party’s capabilities and the stakes involved. Not every encounter needs to be deadly, but trivial encounters rarely feel satisfying.
• Opportunity for Agency: Players should have meaningful choices in how they approach and resolve the encounter. Are there multiple ways to deal with the guards besides fighting? Can the environmental hazard be bypassed with skills other than pure Athletics? Can the negotiation succeed through different social tactics?
• Engagement: It should capture player interest through exciting action, intriguing mystery, compelling roleplaying, or clever puzzles. It should ideally involve multiple characters and allow different skills to shine.
• Consequences: The outcome of the encounter (success, failure, partial success) should have tangible results, impacting the characters’ resources, their progress towards the adventure goal, their relationship with NPCs or factions, or the state of the immediate environment.

Types of Encounters: Beyond Combat

Thinking broadly about encounter types helps ensure variety in your adventures. While combat is a staple, relying on it exclusively can become monotonous. Consider these primary categories:

1. Combat Encounters

These involve physical conflict against hostile opponents (monsters, NPCs, rival adventurers).

• Purpose: Overcoming direct opposition, capturing/eliminating targets, defending a location, draining party resources (HP, SP, MP, limited-use items), creating excitement and tension.
• Key Elements: Opponent statistics and tactics (Appendix B), battlefield environment (map features, cover, hazards), party resources and capabilities, encounter objectives (defeat all enemies, capture leader, hold a position, escape).
• Alacrity Focus: Tests combat skills (Melee Combat, Archery, Unarmed Combat, Magic Effects), defense (Dodge, Soak), tactical use of actions (Declared Actions, multi-action penalties), positioning, and resource management.

2. Social Encounters

These involve interaction and negotiation with NPCs to achieve a goal.

• Purpose: Gathering information, gaining allies or assistance, negotiating passage or deals, deceiving or intimidating others, resolving disputes peacefully, uncovering motives or secrets.
• Key Elements: NPC motivations, personalities, knowledge, relationships, secrets; player character goals for the interaction; the social context and environment; potential stakes and consequences of success or failure.
• Alacrity Focus: Tests social skills (Persuasion, Insight, Deception, Intimidation, Performance), knowledge skills (Lore, Arcana, Divine Lore for context), and roleplaying. Often resolved through contested skill rolls or checks against difficulties set by the NPC’s attitude and the request’s nature.

3. Exploration / Environmental Encounters

These involve navigating the game world and overcoming natural or structural obstacles and hazards.

• Purpose: Reaching a destination, finding a specific location or resource, surviving harsh conditions, bypassing physical barriers.
• Key Elements: Terrain features (cliffs, rivers, swamps, deserts), weather conditions, environmental hazards (quicksand, poisonous gas, extreme temperatures, collapsing structures), navigation challenges, resource scarcity (food, water).
• Alacrity Focus: Tests exploration and survival skills (Navigation, Survival, Athletics, Acrobatics, Perception, Vigilance), Body checks (fatigue, resistance), equipment use (ropes, climbing kits, rations), and potentially utility Magic Effects.

4. Puzzle / Trap Encounters

These challenge the players’ wits, observation, and specific skills rather than direct confrontation or social maneuvering.

• Purpose: Guarding locations or treasures, testing ingenuity, providing non-combat challenges, adding mystery or tension to exploration.
• Key Elements: The puzzle’s logic or mechanism, the trap’s trigger and effect, clues available for solving or detecting, potential consequences of failure.
• Alacrity Focus: Tests observation (Perception, Investigation), knowledge (Lore, Arcana), problem-solving logic, specific skills (Thievery for mechanical traps, Magic for magical wards, Athletics or Acrobatics to bypass physical elements), and sometimes creative use of equipment or Effects.

Many encounters blend elements – a negotiation might break down into combat, exploring a ruin involves avoiding traps and fighting monsters, crossing a dangerous river might require both Athletics checks and dealing with hostile river creatures. Aim for variety within your adventure.

Designing Combat Encounters

Creating exciting combat encounters involves more than just picking monsters from a list and rolling dice.

1. Define the Purpose: Why is this fight happening here and now?

• Is it guarding something important?
• Is it a random patrol or wandering beast?
• Is it an ambush set by intelligent foes?
• Is it a consequence of the players’ previous actions (e.g., alerted guards)?
• Is it the climactic confrontation with a major antagonist?The purpose informs opponent selection, tactics, and potential outcomes beyond simple annihilation.

2. Choose Opponents Wisely:

• Relevance: Do the opponents make sense for the location and story? (Goblins in ancient ruins, city guards in town, elementals near a magical rift). Use Appendix B or create custom NPCs/monsters.
• Numbers and Synergy: Consider the number of opponents relative to the party size and level. More importantly, consider how opponents work together. A group of goblins with a shaman providing magical support and a few heavily-armored hobgoblins holding the line is more challenging than just a larger number of identical goblins. Do enemies have abilities that complement each other?
• Threat Level: Gauge the overall threat. Are the opponents meant to be a minor speed bump, a significant resource drain, or a potentially lethal challenge? Look at their HP/SP, Soak, attack skill percentages, damage output (Xd10), and special abilities/Effects. Don’t just rely on numbers; a single creature with a potent area Effect or disabling ability can be more dangerous than several mundane fighters.
• Tactics: How do these opponents fight? Mindless beasts might charge recklessly. Goblins might use ambushes, traps, and flee if losing. Trained soldiers might use formations and focus fire. Intelligent villains might use terrain, magic, and minions strategically, and likely have an escape plan. Give your opponents believable motivations and tactics.

3. Leverage the Environment: The battlefield itself is a crucial element.

• Map Features: Use your site map. Where does the fight take place? Are there choke points, open areas, multiple levels, difficult terrain (rubble, water, foliage)?
• Cover and Concealment: Include objects that provide cover (walls, pillars, crates, trees), affecting attack rolls (apply Difficulty Ladder penalties as per Chapter 5). Include areas of dim light or darkness for concealment (Stealth opportunities, visibility penalties).
• Interactive Elements: Are there things characters (or enemies) can interact with? Levers that trigger traps or environmental changes? Braziers to knock over? Ropes to cut? Chandeliers to drop? Unstable structures to collapse (Damaging Objects rules)? Using the environment makes combat more dynamic and rewards clever play.
• Hazards: Incorporate environmental dangers – pits, pools of acid, slippery surfaces, areas affected by ongoing magical Effects – that add risk and tactical considerations.

4. Set Clear Objectives (Beyond “Kill Everything”):

While defeating all foes is a common objective, consider alternatives to make encounters more varied and interesting:

• Capture a Leader: The party needs to subdue and capture a specific enemy, not just kill them.
• Protect an NPC/Object: The goal is to keep someone or something safe while enemies attack.
• Reach a Location: The party needs to fight their way through enemies to reach an exit, lever, or objective point.
• Hold a Position: Defend a specific area for a certain number of rounds or until reinforcements arrive (Defense scenario).
• Destroy an Object: The goal is to destroy a key enemy asset (a war machine, a ritual focus) while fending off defenders.
• Escape: The primary goal is simply to get away from an overwhelming force or collapsing environment.
• Cause a Retreat: Sometimes, forcing intelligent enemies to flee (through damage, Intimidation, or eliminating their leader – see Morale rules in Chapter 5 and monster entries) is sufficient for success.

5. Consider Pacing and Flow:

• Initiation: How does the fight begin? Ambush (Surprise Round)? Standoff and negotiation attempt? Sudden attack?
• Escalation: Do reinforcements arrive? Does the environment change mid-fight (e.g., a fire spreads, darkness falls)? Does the enemy leader reveal a powerful ability when wounded?
• Ending: How does the fight conclude? When do enemies check morale? Do they surrender? Do they fight to the death? Does achieving a specific objective end the combat even if some enemies remain?

Balancing in Alacrity: Balancing combat in a percentile system like Alacrity is less about precise formulas and more about comparative assessment and using the Difficulty Ladder.

• Compare Skills: Look at the average relevant combat skill percentages of the party versus the opponents. If enemies have significantly higher attack skills or Dodge, they will hit more often and be harder to hit.
• Assess Durability: Compare party damage output (average damage per hit) against enemy HP and Soak. Compare enemy damage output against party HP, SP, and Soak/Dodge. High Soak values significantly increase durability against physical attacks.
• Action Economy: Consider how many meaningful actions each side can take per round. Opponents with multiple attacks or powerful Free/Reflexive actions can be very dangerous. Numbers matter here – multiple weaker foes acting on different initiatives can overwhelm a smaller group.
• Special Abilities/Effects: Factor in the impact of unique monster abilities or NPC Magic Effects. Abilities that inflict Conditions (Stunned, Paralyzed, Frightened), bypass Soak, affect multiple targets, or provide strong defenses can dramatically shift the balance.
• Adjust Difficulty: Use the Difficulty Ladder dynamically. If the fight seems too easy, perhaps the enemies start using cover more effectively (-10% or -20% penalty for attackers). If it’s too hard, maybe the terrain offers the players an unexpected advantage (+10% on their next attack), or a key enemy makes a tactical blunder.

Designing Social Encounters

Social encounters are driven by character interaction and rely heavily on roleplaying and social skills.

1. Define the Goal: What do the players want to achieve through this interaction?

• Gather specific information?
• Gain permission or access?
• Negotiate a deal or alliance?
• Convince someone to help them?
• Deceive or intimidate someone?
• Assess someone’s trustworthiness or motives?

2. Develop the NPC(s): The NPC is the core of the encounter.

• Motivation: What does the NPC want? (Wealth, safety, status, revenge, love, knowledge, peace, adherence to duty?). Why would they help or hinder the PCs? Are their goals compatible or conflicting with the party’s?
• Personality & Attitude: Give them distinct traits (gruff, friendly, suspicious, arrogant, timid). What is their initial attitude towards the PCs? (Helpful, indifferent, suspicious, hostile?). This sets the baseline difficulty for social checks.
• Knowledge & Secrets: What relevant information do they possess? Are they willing to share it? Under what conditions? Do they have secrets they are trying to protect?
• Leverage: What do the PCs have that the NPC might want (money, protection, information, a solution to their problem)? What does the NPC have that the PCs need? This informs negotiation tactics.

3. Set the Scene: Where does the interaction take place? A public tavern, a private office, a formal court, a dangerous alley? The environment can affect comfort levels, privacy, potential witnesses, and available tactics (e.g., attempting Intimidation is different in a crowded bar versus a secluded room).

4. Determine Stakes: What are the consequences of success or failure? Gaining crucial information vs. being misled? Securing an ally vs. making an enemy? Getting access vs. being turned away or reported?

5. Resolution Mechanics:

• Roleplaying: Encourage players to speak as their characters and describe their approach. Good roleplaying that aligns with the NPC’s personality and motivations should influence the outcome, potentially granting bonuses or bypassing the need for a roll entirely for simple requests.
• Skill Checks: Use relevant social skills (Persuasion, Insight, Deception, Intimidation, Performance) when the outcome is uncertain or the NPC is resistant.
  • Contested Rolls: Often appropriate when NPCs are actively trying to resist influence or detect lies (Insight vs. Deception, Persuasion vs. Mind x 5% or Insight resistance).
  • Checks vs. Difficulty: Used when trying to influence an NPC based on their attitude and the request’s difficulty. Start with a baseline based on attitude (e.g., Friendly: Easy +30%; Indifferent: Everyday 0%; Suspicious: Challenging -10%; Hostile: Hard -20% or worse), then modify using the Difficulty Ladder based on the request’s magnitude or risk to the NPC.
• Multiple Checks: Complex negotiations or interrogations might require multiple skill checks over the course of the conversation. Success might gradually improve the NPC’s attitude or yield pieces of information. Failure might harden their stance or cause them to end the interaction.

Designing Exploration Encounters

These encounters focus on the challenge of the world itself.

1. Define the Obstacle/Hazard: What specific challenge does the environment present?

• Terrain: A wide chasm, a raging river, a steep cliff, a treacherous swamp, a dense forest with no clear paths, a disorienting cave system.
• Weather: A blinding blizzard, a torrential downpour causing flash floods, oppressive heat leading to exhaustion, thick fog reducing visibility.
• Environmental Hazard: Quicksand, poisonous gas vents, unstable ground prone to collapse, areas of extreme cold or heat, magical radiation.
• Navigational Challenge: Getting lost in featureless terrain, finding a hidden location based on vague clues, charting an unknown area.
• Survival Challenge: Finding food/water in a barren land, building adequate shelter against extreme weather, resisting disease from poor conditions.

2. Determine Resolution Methods: How can the challenge be overcome?

• Athletics: Climbing cliffs, swimming rivers, forcing through dense undergrowth, enduring forced marches.
• Acrobatics: Balancing on narrow ledges, leaping gaps, navigating unstable surfaces.
• Navigation: Plotting courses, avoiding getting lost, reading maps, using stars or landmarks.
• Survival: Finding paths, predicting weather, foraging, building shelters, identifying natural hazards or safe resources.
• Perception / Vigilance: Spotting hazards like quicksand or unstable footing before blundering in.
• Body Checks: Resisting fatigue from travel or exposure to extreme temperatures.
• Magic Effects: Utility spells might bypass obstacles (flight, water walking), provide protection (endure elements), create resources (food/water), or aid navigation (light, detection).
• Equipment: Ropes, climbing kits, rations, appropriate clothing, maps, compasses are often essential.

3. Set Difficulties and Consequences:

• Use the Difficulty Ladder based on the severity of the hazard or complexity of the task. Crossing a calm stream might be Routine (+20%) Athletics, while scaling a sheer, icy cliff could be Extreme (-40%) or Near Impossible (-50%).
• Determine the consequences of failure. Failing a Navigation check might mean losing time or ending up in a dangerous area. Failing an Athletics check to cross a chasm could mean falling (taking damage). Failing a Body check against cold might result in SP loss and penalties. Failing to find food means consuming limited rations or suffering deprivation.

4. Integrate with the Narrative: Environmental encounters shouldn’t just be random obstacles. Link them to the location’s nature, the current plot (e.g., enemies triggering an avalanche), or use them to foreshadow future challenges or drain resources before a major confrontation.

Designing Puzzle & Trap Encounters

These encounters test player observation and ingenuity.

1. Define the Purpose: Why is this puzzle or trap here? To guard something? To test initiates? As part of a whimsical or mad creator’s design? As a natural hazard?

2. Design the Mechanism:

• Puzzles: Create the logic. Is it a riddle, a pattern recognition task, an environmental manipulation puzzle (levers, pressure plates, mirrors), a social deduction puzzle, a code to decipher?
• Traps: Define the trigger (pressure plate, tripwire, opening a specific container, magical sensor) and the effect (damage – type and amount, Conditions inflicted – Poisoned, Restrained, Prone, alarm raised, path blocked, environment altered).

3. Provide Clues: Ensure players can reasonably detect or understand the puzzle/trap.

• Detection: Allow Perception or Investigation checks (difficulty based on how well hidden it is) to spot triggers, subtle mechanisms, or clues to the puzzle’s nature.
• Understanding: Lore, Arcana, Engineering, or Investigation checks might be needed to understand how a complex mechanism works or decipher cryptic instructions for a puzzle.
• The “Three Clue Rule” applies well here – provide multiple ways to gain the information needed to solve or bypass.

4. Determine Solutions/Bypass Methods:

• Puzzles: What is the intended solution? Are there alternative or partial solutions?
• Traps: How can it be disarmed (Thievery, Magic)? Can it be avoided (Acrobatics, Stealth)? Can it be triggered safely from a distance (Ranged Combat, Magic)? Can its effects be endured or resisted (Dodge, Soak, Body checks)?

5. Set Difficulties and Consequences:

• Use the Difficulty Ladder for checks related to detection, understanding, disarming, or resisting.
• Define the consequences of failure – triggering the trap, getting the wrong puzzle answer (which might trigger a trap or lock the puzzle), wasting time.

Making Puzzles/Traps Fair: Avoid puzzles that rely solely on obscure out-of-character knowledge or pixel-perfect searching. Ensure the logic is solvable with the information available in the game world and the characters’ skills. Traps should be detectable and potentially disarmable/avoidable, not just unavoidable “gotchas” (unless unavoidable damage is part of a specific narrative design).

Conclusion

Encounters are the fundamental building blocks of your Alacrity adventures. By designing a variety of purposeful, contextually appropriate, and challenging encounters – encompassing combat, social interaction, exploration, and problem-solving – you bring your world and story to life. Leverage the flexibility of the Alacrity system, using skills, the Difficulty Ladder, and GM judgment to adjudicate player actions within these encounters. Remember to focus on providing opportunities for meaningful choices, allowing different characters to shine, and ensuring that the outcomes of encounters drive the narrative forward. Well-crafted encounters are the key to creating engaging sessions and a memorable campaign experience.

 

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File Created: 05/07/2025
Last Modified: 05/07/2025