GoblinStop

The Apple iPad debuted yesterday to mixed reactions.  While many championed its HD-ready touch screen, feather-weight sleek design, and decidedly reasonable price, much criticism was made claiming that the device is more of an iPhone than a Mac.  Regardless of what my overall opinion of the device is, I had to ask the important question: What can the iPad do for D&D players?

Some fantastic D&D iPhone apps already exist, and have been written about extensively on the web (check out this blog post at DorkandBeans.com for a few great suggestions).  However, most of these apps are designed for use by individuals at a gaming table, and rightfully so; character managing apps can only display one player’s character at a time, and it would be annoying to pass around something as small as an iPhone so everyone could roll their dice on it.  But I think that with the iPad, we will begin to see apps designed around communal use. 

With almost 10 inches of touch screen, so many different possibilities open up.  An app could be developed to use it as a miniatures surface, displaying pre-rendered dungeon tiles for smaller rooms.  DM’s would no longer have to print large poster-sized dungeon rooms, or waste time drawing details onto a dry-erase grid.  A prototype of a program like this was shown in the Microsoft Surface D&D video, but that setup and technology looked super expensive to replicate.  The iPad could make this technology accessible, practical, and somewhat economical.

An app could also be developed to manage the party’s collective inventory, so that items could be removed or added in real time, in front of everyone, instead of forcing one player to keep a micromanaged running tally of what’s in the Bag of Holding.  This would make it a lot easier to keep track of exactly how many potions of healing are left. 

There really is a huge realm of possibility surrounding the tabletop gaming uses of the new Apple iPad.  Do you think we will ever see apps like this developed for the device?  What other ways do you think the iPad could alter the way a group plays D&D?

Random encounters have been a hotly debated topic since the early days of role playing games.  Endorsers of random encounters champion the variety-on-the-fly that they can add to a game session that is quickly growing stale.  Opponents claim random encounters take away from the cohesion of the adventure’s storyline, and can unintentionally throw the party off the scent of the plot.  With all the differing opinions, it can be easy to get indecisive on what option is best for your game.

For those who don’t know, random encounters (or “wandering monsters”) are social events taking place within the context of an adventure that are quasi-randomly generated by cross-referencing the result of a die roll with its corresponding outcome on a pre-generated “random encounter table.”  In other words, you roll a 17 on a 20-sided die, and then you look at a table to find out what happens when you roll a 17.  Easy concept, huge implications.

I personally like the concept of random encounters, because it makes the world feel more alive, and reinforces the concept that the PC’s, while important to the adventure at hand, are not the center of the universe and the world will go on with or without them (until epic levels, that is).  However, there are a few key guidelines I keep in mind when implementing random encounters:

• Random encounters should be planned.  Random encounters should be treated with just as much preparation as regular ones.  A great random encounter is one that the players will never realize is random.  Rather than simply putting “8 orc barbarians” as the result on your table, put a little time and effort into fully fleshing out the encounter with an accompanying map, interesting terrain or features that pose a challenge.  Decide on monster tactics, throw in traps, and place hidden treasure.  The DM should be the only one who knows the encounter was randomly generated. 
• Don’t have more than 8 maximum prepared per adventure.  There is no reason to have more than a d8’s worth of random encounters in an adventure.  Most of your work should fit easily into the scenario you are crafting, and the verisimilitude will start to feel disjointed if nothing has anything to do with anything else.  
• Don’t use more than 1 random encounter per 4 planned encounters.  At most, every 5^th encounter is an okay time to insert a random one.  If you are using more than that, you are not doing enough to tie your encounters into an interesting story arch, and your players will notice and lose interest.
• Present a variety of difficulty levels, but ALWAYS give the option of escape.  A random encounter should not EVER kill an entire party, unless they just flat-out make really, really stupid decisions.  While I have no problem putting a dragon on the encounter table for a level 5 party, I always make sure that there is either…
  • something that puts the giant scary monster at a severe enough disadvantage so that it falls within a reasonable level of the party, or
  • a relatively easy means for the characters to run for their lives.

What other rules or guidelines do you go by when implementing random encounters?  Do you think random encounters take away from the cohesiveness of a story?  Other opinions?