This is an expanded transcript of a tweet thread, because Ty rightly recommended it belonged here. I’d recommend checking the thread out, if it exists, it’s full of great stuff!

Somebody asked me deep in the above thread what I thought made an interesting encounter, and while I don’t have typical taste, this is what I’m aiming for: Unique silhouette, ambiguity, relationship, potential conflict. Here’s a dirty example of an encounter after my style:

Gorgonzola-and-dirt boy Jaime, broken legged on the road. He is a were-rat, and a gang of his siblings scavenge nearby, looking for easy meals.

Unique Silhouette

I want every character to be memorable. Players mightn’t remember their name, but they remember their smell, where they were, something about them. To do that, I use weird descriptions, like “gorgonzola and dirt” or “a bow drained of all tension”. These descriptions aren’t intended to be read-aloud text, they’re meant to evoke something in the GM’s mind so they can provide a banging description of their own.

Ambiguity

I don’t want everyone to interpret my encounter the same, so they’re tainted by unreliable narrators: Is their leg broken? Are they at risk from were-rats, too? I don’t want a GM to labour over these, just go with their gut, differently from the next GM who reads it.

Relationship

Characters should connect to either other characters in the encounter or even better, characters somewhere else. Sure, Jaime’s a were-rat, but also the Blacksmith’s son. Check the blacksmith’s entry, and you find out that there’s a reward out for his rescue. But does he want to be rescued? Is the blacksmith a good dad? More relationships, more drama, more difficult decisions, more fun.

Potential Conflict

There should be multiple conflict sources, here between PCs and boy, boy and were-rats, and were-rats and PCs. More the better! Add the blacksmith! Conflict between boy and blacksmith, blacksmith and were-rats, and blacksmith and PCs if they decide not to side with him? Make it possible to take any side! Magnify the potential for conflict!

Brevity

I want them to be brief. If I can make it a paragraph good. Three sentences, better. One sentence, great. A lot of the examples in the thread fit whole implied background situations into a tweet: More bang for your word-buck is always better!

Hope that helps with my perspective! Notice that it doesn’t include potential outcomes or what tests to perform. Don’t waste precious space with stat blocks (they’re in the manual) or with DCs (there aren’t many options) or telling people what skill to use to figure out the boy is lying (again, there aren’t many options). I like to assume that the GM, who is not an idiot, can figure that stuff out. This is the YNAI principle I wrote about earlier this week.

Instead, give them the red barrel, they choose where to throw it!

30th May, 2023

Idle Cartulary