Narrative Encounter Tables

    Often for one shot games or short campaigns I'd rather the game feel more like a fantasy novel. If we're not going to play these characters again lets follow a more consistently building flow until a climactic ending but without railroading the players. A solution I've come up with is a method of using two part encounter tables and letting the dice determine how quick the game picks up, and the pace it maintains. First, the mechanics;

When an Encounter happens roll a d10 + Risk on the following table, each result determining the table a d12 is rolled on for the encounter. After the party has had an encounter, increase the Risk by 1. When safely resting for the day reduce the Risk by 1

 1- 7 World
 8- 9 Minor
   10 Major
   11 Large
   12 Major
13-14 Minor
   15 Major
   16 Minor 
   17 Large 
18-19 Major 
  +20 Large 

    With this table the more encounters the party has between stops in town, the more dangerous the trip becomes. A sort of race against the dice happens, the trip exploring the forest becomes more dangerous the longer your party is out there, you may have to flee to the safety of town from a great threat, only to bring them into the town! The chance of each of the four types of encounters break down as follows;

+0 70% World   20% Minor   10% Major    0% Large
+1 60% World   20% Minor   10% Major   10% Large
+2 50% World   20% Minor   20% Major   10% Large
+3 40% World   30% Minor   20% Major   10% Large
+4 30% World   40% Minor   20% Major   10% Large
+5 20% World   40% Minor   30% Major   10% Large
+6 10% World   50% Minor   30% Major   10% Large
+7  0% World   50% Minor   30% Major   20% Large
+8  0% World   40% Minor   40% Major   20% Large
+9  0% World   30% Minor   50% Major   20% Large
+10 0% World   30% Minor   40% Major   30% Large

    For the encounter tables, your "World" encounters should tell about the lore of the game, maybe share a free rumor. Things like Dragon sightings, Meet a traveling merchant, Pass a farmer with a broken wagon wheel, and other non-combat things to help make the world feel real. Your "Minor" encounters should roughly be 3 - 9 Hit Dice in composition, Medium sized groups of 1 HD creatures like Men or a gaggle of Gnomes, a single monster like a Giant Leech, or even a small group of flying enemies like three Pterodactyls! Reaching "Major" encounters should have roughly 10 - 15 HD between them, things like a small group of Giant Lizards or Owl Bears, Even a Dragon fits this place well. Once you're dealing with "Large" encounters the limit to HD isn't important any more. A group of twenty Berserkers, A dozen Driver Ants, Eight Treants? Anything goes here. These should be hinted at from your rumors and World encounters. The reason I separate these by HD is that they could be from the same table of encounters, with the number appearing shifted to match the type of encounter. Also keep in mind these are rough HD numbers to gauge from as encounters are more than HP pools, with flying, magical, or other special abilities greatly increasing the threat of a monster. 

    You may need to adjust these numbers a bit to fit your hex scale. These are written with 6 mile hexes in mind, a day's travel may take you over two or three hexes with an encounter chance for each, plus any encounters at night. If you're using a larger hex scale, an 18 mile hex where one day is one hex of travel, you might need to increase the Risk gained for each encounter or change the table entirely. In hex encounters may be another possibility to use this mechanic if using a larger scale for your hexes, Have a 1 in 6 chance for an encounter any time your party moves around in the same hex they are in. This could mean that if the party is trying to find the location of the dungeon entrance their found map leads to for a couple days, they could start running into bigger and meaner monsters as they search. 

With all this in mind, here is a sample encounter table to roll on a bit if you want to see how it would play in practice. 

   World                          Minor   Major   Large
 1 NPC Party                      
 2 Merchant        Bandits        1d6+2   1d6+9   2d6+12
 3 Traveling Clown Giant Leech    1       1d6     2d6 
 4 NPC in need     Pterodactyls   1d3     1d6     1d12+4
 5 Resting Pilgrim Lizard, Draco  1       1d4     2d4
 6 "Large" Signs   Owl Bear       1       1d2+1   1d3+2
 7                 Gnomes         2d4     2d12    2d12+12
 8                 Dragon         White   Green   Gold
 9                 Berserkers     1d4+2   1d6+5   3d6+6
10                 Driver Ants    1       1d3+1   2d6+3       
11                 Treants        1       2       1d6
12                 Manticore      1       2       1d4+1

    Lets say we're in a snowy forest so we have a 2 in 6 chance of an encounter every time we enter a hex, can travel 3 hexes a day, and a 2 in 6 chance of an encounter at night. Our party wants to travel to the temple in the north, a week away. Lets roll that adventure out using the procedure, which is easy as you only need to roll a d6, d10, and d12 all at once.

       2-in-6 / d10 Type / d12 Encounter / # appearing

Day 1, Encounter 1: Yes /  5 World / 3 Traveling Clown
       Encounter 2: No
       Encounter 3: No
       Nighttime  : Yes /  8 Minor / 2 Bandits    / 5
       Risk       : +2
Day 2, Encounter 1: Yes /  5 World / 6 Signs of   / Manticore
       Encounter 2: No
       Encounter 3: Yes / 13 Minor / 4 NPC in need 
       Nighttime  : No
       Risk       : +4
Day 3, Encounter 1: Yes /  5 World / 1 NPC Party  / Friendly 
       Encounter 2: Yes / 14 Minor / 9 Berserkers / 3
       Encounter 3: Yes / 12 Major / 1 NPC Party  / 5 3rd level
       Nighttime  : No
       Risk       : +7
Day 4, Encounter 1: No
       Encounter 2: No
       Encounter 3: No
       Nighttime  : No
       Risk       : +7
Day 5, Encounter 1: Yes / 17 Large / 11 Treants   / 3
       Encounter 2: No
       Encounter 3: No
       Nighttime  : Yes / 10 Major / 8 Dragon     / Green
       Risk       : +9
Day 6, Encounter 1: No
       Encounter 2: No
       Encounter 3: Yes / 10 Major / 7 Gnomes     / 25
       Nighttime  : Yes / 18 Major / 3 Giant Leech/ 4
       Risk       : +10
Day 7, Encounter 1: No
       Encounter 2: No
       Encounter 3: Yes / 20 Large / 8 Dragon     / Gold
       Nighttime  : No
       Risk       : +11

    We can see that our party would have had quite the adventure! The week started with meeting a traveling clown and being attacked by bandits in the night (Maybe the clown was with them?) then day 2 the party finds signs of a Manticore, and a NPC needs help (Maybe they were attacked by the Manticore and it killed their horse?). By the middle of the week they encounter another friendly group of people in the morning, then three men in fits of rage in the afternoon and encounter a rival party of five level three characters, reaction rolls will have to tell us what happened in that situation. The following day was uneventful, a needed breather for the party. The week ended with the party waking up to three Treants around them, encountering a Green Dragon that night before meeting two dozen Gnomes the next day and being attacked by four Giant Leeches at night. The final day is calm, until the sun is setting and the party meets a Gold Dragon, who is likely the master of the temple they seek! Now at the temple the party will need to rest for 11 days to heal wounds and for the Risk to lower back down to 0. What do you think of this mechanic, would you use something like this in your own games?