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Wilderness Encounters

What this is

Wilderness Encounters dispatches and plays out an encounter that has interrupted travel. It identifies who or what is present (patrol, lair sighting, or random creatures), stages the meeting, and runs the encounter through to resolution.

Invoked by: a positive encounter check during Travel, or DM judgment.
Invokes: Lair Encounters (on an uncontrolled-hex lair roll); a faction template (for patrols); the Encounter Tables (for random encounter rolls); Encounter Staging; Combat, Chases, and Morale Checks as the encounter calls for them.
Returns to: the invoking procedure (usually Travel), once the encounter resolves.
Bookkeeping: Activity Log (encounter outcome); character sheets through Combat; FRS for any patrol losses or shifts.

The encounter check

An encounter check is a single 1d20. A roll of 18 or higher is positive (an encounter happens).

Encounter checks are typically made:

  • Every 4 hours during wilderness travel (6 per day).
  • Each dungeon turn during dungeon exploration.
  • Whenever the DM judges that the situation warrants one.

Step 1: Determine what is encountered

Identify whether the current hex is controlled (by a faction with active patrols) or uncontrolled.

Controlled hex

Roll 1d4.

  • On a 1, the encounter is with a patrol belonging to the faction that controls the area. The patrol is normally one core formation from the controlling faction's template. Proceed to Step 2.
  • On a 2 or higher, roll on the encounter tables for the current terrain. Discard any result with CR greater than 5, and halve # Appearing (minimum 1) — the controlling faction's presence has thinned the larger threats. Proceed to Step 2.

Uncontrolled hex

Roll 1d20.

  • On a 1, the expedition has come upon a lair. Invoke Lair Encounters; when it returns, this procedure ends and control returns to Travel. The lair sighting does not play out as an encounter. If the party later engages the inhabitants, that engagement begins a new encounter under DM judgment.
  • On a 2 or higher, roll on the encounter tables for the current terrain. Proceed to Step 2.

Step 2: Stage the encounter

Invoke Encounter Staging (Wilderness column). This produces distance, grounds, reaction, and surprise — the conditions the encounter begins in.

Step 3: Play the encounter

Run the Basic Game Loop at encounter pace. The DM describes the situation; the players declare actions; the DM adjudicates.

Escalations as the situation calls: Combat, Chases, and Morale Checks.

The encounter ends when both sides part on a non-violent outcome; one side is defeated, surrenders, or is captured; one side flees or evades the other; or the DM judges the encounter resolved.