Gelatinous Icosahedron

 Being able to assess the risk of adventure locations is a vitally important aspect of old school play, especially the sandbox style. In dungeons, this is a relatively simple matter: the danger increases as you descend deeper into the dungeon. Dungeon levels are typically numbered, starting with 1 for the first level, typically the most easily accessible, and progression to higher numbers with each level farther from the main entrance. Monsters found on a given level will tend to have the same number of Hit Dice as th e dungeon level (e.g. on the third level of the dungeon, 3 HD monsters are most common) and more loosely, traps and other hazards become more deadly. The amount and value of treasure also tends to increase with dungeon level. There are some twists on this formula; some dungeons may have additional entrances that lead directly to deeper levels, and some dungeons may be "layered" horizontally rather than vertically, but the overall principle is that players will b...

 The D&D wilderness encounter tables are a hot mess. That's the message from Eric Diaz at Methods & Madness , and he's absolutely right. It's a subject I've pondered a lot over the years, and I have some thoughts on the matter too.  The post linked above covers the problem quite well, and I'd encourage you to read it. In brief, the tables are both wildly dangerous to adventuring parties, featuring ridiculous frequency of very powerful creatures such as dragons, and the encounters often aren't even terrain-appropriate. My own two cents' worth in the comments was that many of the encounters end up being utterly pointless as well, such as sea snakes on shipborne adventures. The next step in finding a solution is to identify what we'd like to see.  Do we want random wilderness encounters at all? I'd argue that yes, we do, because hex crawls almost by nature consist of large swathes of unkeyed territory with nothing but a terrain symbol in the ce...

Tired of wilderness encounters with nothing but monsters? Here are some other interesting things a party might stumble across while trekking cross-country. A convenient list of 30 for those who have a d30 on hand. Use them by themselves or combine them with a monster encounter or terrain feature. (I'd recommend not using them all the time; perhaps a 1-in-6 or 1-in-12 chance per day of travel.) 1. Battlefield. The site of some forgotten battle of old, strewn with the rusted remains of arms and armor half-buried in the earth. Possibly haunted. 2. Enchanted tree. Its fruits produce the effects of a random potion at half-strength, but spoil a day after picking. Has 2d6 ripe fruits when found. 3. Faerie ring. Mushrooms growing in a circle. Will a character stepping into their midst be put to sleep by mischievous faeries or whisked away to a mystical forest? 4. Burial cairn. Whose eternal resting place is this?  5. Cache of supplies. A stash of iron rations, rope, torches, oil, or ot...

 Wilderness random encounters in classic D&D are a little vague and generic. Determine the local terrain features and add some detail and interest to the scene of an encounter. d8 Clear, Grassland Forest Hills 1 Farmland Hill Hill 2 Copse Gully Ridge 3 Hill Dell Valley 4 Stream Stream Ravine 5 Pond/Lake Pond/Lake Stream 6 Wetland Thicket Gully 7 Pasture Glade Pond/Lake 8 Gully Burn Dell d8 Mountains River Desert 1 Ridge Rapids Dunes 2 Ravine Sandbar Wadi 3 Stream Wetlands ...