Comments on: Making Set-Piece Encounters More Fun

By: 9 Lessons GMs Can Learn from World of Warcraft - Treasure Tables

9 Lessons GMs Can Learn from World of Warcraft - Treasure Tables — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 15:16:47 +0000

[...] Taking a bit of extra prep time to really sex up your encounters, make a couple of extra notes about key NPCs or work on props for your game can make a similar difference at your table, too. [...]

By: Martin

Martin — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 21:31:52 +0000

Roger: You can flip that around, too: I can’t think of anything cool you can add to an encounter that doesn’t also incorporate more choices for the players. Your way is clearer, though.

Zachary: I like the exercise element — that, like exercise, doing this makes you more “fit,” which means doing things better becomes second nature. Good point.

By: Zachary Houghton

Zachary Houghton — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 17:57:56 +0000

I call it “adding layers”, and it’s something I’ve been working very hard on as of late to help improve my GMing. Ater I write a basic encounter, then I start laying in the other details, options, and choices the players face. It sounds like a basic thing, but practicing it on enough encounters really helps take your adventure writing to a whole new level. It’s a great GM excercise…

By: Roger

Roger — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 16:45:42 +0000

Option B doesn’t merely just have more “cool stuff” in it.

It has more /choice/ for the players, and that’s almost always going to be more fun.

Any set piece which doesn’t require (or even allow) any of the players to make any significant decisions isn’t worth its weight.