Dragna’s Den | Creating Better Random Encounters (Part I)

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Random encounters in Dungeons & Dragons have a big problem: They fundamentally lack dramatic questions. Curse of Strahd is no exception.

A “dramatic question” is, put simply, a narrative question that the protagonists (here, the PCs) are trying to answer. “Can our Heroes infiltrate the trap-ridden, undead-infested Castle Ravenloft and save Ireena Kolyana before she becomes the vampire bride of Count Strahd von Zarovich?” is a good dramatic question that also provides a sense of place: it unfolds in a trap-ridden, undead-infested castle. It even provides a sense of personal investment—this isn’t just any old vampire we’re trying to kill, but Strahd himself.

By providing these two things, we’ve immediately set up a sense of tension and given our players the tools to make meaningful decisions about how they try to defuse that tension. Castles have both dungeons and towers—from which portal shall the party make their entrance? The castle is packed full of undead—should the party try to obtain the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind before making the journey? And so on, and so forth.

Imagine if the dramatic question was instead: “Can our Heroes kill a vampire?” This was, quite literally, the over-simplified dramatic question that inspired Tracy and Laura Hickman to create Strahd von Zarovich back in 1978 in the first place: “We turned the corner, and there was a vampire. I groaned and rolled my eyes . . . . I remember thinking at the time, What are you doing here?”

Pretty much every single random encounter in 5th Edition’s Curse of Strahd, however, poses a similarly simplistic dramatic question—an “afterthought,” as Tracy Hickman describes it, in his foreword to the module. But random encounters deserve to be more than hit-point taxes. Like everything else in the adventure, they should tell a story.

Today, we’re going to create two model random encounters, ensuring that each one poses a proper dramatic question, including a proper sense of place (and, if we can manage it, personal investment). If enough of you enjoy today’s experimental post, I’ll continue on to make more.

Let’s dive in!

Encounter 1: 3d6 Commoners

In this encounter, the PCs encounter a group of commoners with torches and pitchforks searching for…something. One possible goal for this group: heading to a castle to confront a vampire.

Any dramatic scenario requires three components: a “core concept” (the thing the scenario is based around); an “adventure ecosystem” (the characters, creatures, and points of interest that can be found in the location where the scenario takes place); and a dramatic question.

To start, we have a very barebones adventure ecosystem: a group of commoners on the forest road with torches and pitchforks. Anyone who’s watched Beauty and the Beast knows where this is leading: a core concept of an “angry mob.” This, at least, the module does a decent job with.

So now we need a dramatic question. A dramatic question has six components: an inciting incident, a sense of time and/or place, a goal for the PCs to pursue, a recommended "verb" for the PCs to use in pursuing it, a major stakes justifying the goal, and a minor stakes that creates a complication.

Let’s use our adventure ecosystem and the encounter’s core idea to fill these components in.

First, an inciting incident. This one is easy: “When the PCs overhear a guard stirring up a mob of angry commoners on the road to the vampire's castle…” (Again, think Beauty and the Beast.)

Next, we need a sense of time and/or place. Again, easy: the forest road, any time of day (though evenings are preferred, as is a crossroads near the castle, for dramatic effect).

What’s the goal? This is a bit tricky, but here’s a fun idea: What if the mob shouldn’t go to the castle? Here’s a thought: Vampires need a regular supply of fresh human blood to feed. The vampire, though, doesn't want to go far afield for his food. He’d rather have it come to him, and “pays” the minion that brings it to him with some extra blood for its troubles.

So here’s the deal: That Gaston-esque guard who’s riling up the crowd? (S)he’s actually a disguised vampire spawn, whose pointed ears are cleverly concealed with a trapper hat, and whose fangs are concealed with a pair of fake wooden dentures. S(he) is pale, yes, but is that so strange? (Make these oddities clear to the PCs; they should instantly suspect that the mob’s leader is a vampire. You can play up the vampire spawn’s attitude to help bolster this—they’re making obvious lies about how weak the vampire truly is, how safe the road is, how easily the castle will be assaulted, and the glory that they’ll win upon slaying him.)

Upon encountering the PCs, several of the commoners excitedly invite them to their expedition to the castle—the more the merrier to defeat the vampire! But the vampire spawn is smart, and, like any predator, doesn’t want to risk losing its prey to a savvy third party. As such, the vampire spawn is openly suspicious of the PCs, accusing them of being outsiders, or even infiltrators

If the PCs attempt to defend themselves and insist on joining, discouraging, or escorting the mob, the vampire spawn suggests that they may even be spies for the vampire, and attempts to rile up the mob against them. This gives us our goal: Stop the commoners from going to the castle. This approach also gives us our major stakes—save the commoners’ lives!—and our minor stakes—avoid combat with an angry mob!

So here’s this encounter’s dramatic question in full: “When the PCs overhear a guard stirring up a mob of angry commoners on the road to the vampire's castle, can they use their social skills, deductive reasoning, and—if necessary—their combat prowess to stop the mob from dying at the castle and reveal the guard’s vampiric nature—without allowing the vampire spawn to rile up the mob into a frenzy against them?”

Encounter 2: 1d6 Barovian Scouts

In this encounter, the PCs are (weakly) encouraged to attack an innocent scout. Even if they don’t attack the dark figure lurking in the underbrush, not much is likely to come of this experience. It’s exceptionally unlikely that the PCs will stick around to help the scout find their missing person, and even less likely that the PCs will need help finding “the direction of the nearest settlement.”

As with the first encounter, there’s not really a dramatic question here. Nor is there a sense of place. This scenario just kind of pops up, creates an awkward silence (or an awkward mistake), and then leaves without a whisper. We can do better.

Let’s start by building a miniature adventure ecosystem. We’ve got scouts, missing persons, and the forest road. In a gothic horror setting, the clear core concept here is “forest monster”: There’s something deadly in the woods that’s kidnapping or killing people from a local settlement, and its lair is rumored to be in the area (hence the scouts’ presence).

Let’s go through the dramatic question checklist.

Inciting Incident: How do we kick off a forest monster plotline? If there’s anything Supernatural has taught us, it’s to start with a dead body, especially if that dead body is interestingly gruesome. “When the PCs find a severed leg and are approached by a dark figure off the side of the forest road…”

What’s our goal? Obviously, the PCs want to get to their destination—so what if we tie their existing goal into a new one? The dark figure (scout) is a member of a local hunting party who’s searching for a missing person. The scout can inform the PCs that the road up ahead is suspected to be the hunting grounds of a mysterious woodland monster, and that villagers have gone missing frequently when traveling in this area. The hunting party is trying to find the monster’s lair in order to corner it and kill it.

The PCs have a choice: join the hunting party to slay the monster, rescue an innocent, and find safety in numbers—or continue on their current path and risk an ambush in the monster’s favored hunting grounds.

What makes the prospect of an ambush so dangerous? The monster is an adept climber, incredibly stealthy, and quick to escape once it has a victim—it’s smart enough to target the weakest member of the party, grapple them, and flee swiftly into the darkness of the woods. It also has a strangely hypnotic gaze, allowing it to incapacitate its victim and slow down any pursuers.

The monster is a nosferatu (VRGR p. 239) with the confusing gaze feature of the umber hulk (MM p. 292) and the following additional feature:

• Swift Predation. Grappling a creature doesn’t reduce the nosferatu’s speed if that creature is Medium or smaller.

(Note: Because the nosferatu is a CR 8 creature, it's recommended that you run this encounter for PCs no less than 4th level, and no greater than 5th.)

If the PCs join the scouts, they can follow a recent blood trail from the severed leg to a small cavern in the side of a nearby hill. The nosferatu is lairing there and is in the midst of feeding upon its victim. If the PCs slay the monster and search the cavern, they can also find a number of small treasures and/or monetary loot to compensate them for their trouble.

If the PCs decline to join the scouts, the nosferatu finishes its feeding, exits the cavern, and ambushes the PCs on the road ahead. In combat, it single-mindedly pursues the most vulnerable character, attempting to grapple them before hauling them into the woods toward its lair. (With its 40 foot movement speed and swift predation feature, it’s very likely to escape, but fairly easy to follow.) If the PCs arrive at the monster’s lair, they can find the kidnapped PC unceremoniously thrown in a 20-foot pit “for later,” and the Nosferatu messily feeding on the (now messily slaughtered) group of scouts. 

Decisions have consequences!

In Conclusion

I recognize that this is definitely not my normal kind of Patreon post. (It's a lot more like the blog posts on my Substack, which you can check out here.)

However, I've recently come to realize that the creative process is a lot easier for me when I get to walk through my process with others, and hopefully teach or share something along the way.

If you found this experimental "newsletter" post enjoyable and/or helpful, be sure to let me know on the Discord or in the comments! You can also suggest and vote on potential future newsletter topics here.

Cheers, and hope to chat with you again soon.
Dragna