Very interesting discussions on OD&D go down (like lead balloons?) at Untimately. I like the blog a lot. Today in the comments Gus L and Brendan suggested - if I'm reading right - that the encounter distance, surprise and reaction rolls can be just a little lacking.
For those who don't speak OD&Dese, encounter distance is the distance at which another party or situation is spotted, a surprise roll determines - surprise, surprise - whether each side is surprised and the reaction roll is a roll made to determine how a potential threat reacts, usually on 2d6 modified by charisma or an equivalent.*
Gus wonders if there's a way to generate more specific circumstances, like what exactly the goblins are doing other than "'goblin things'". I can improvise goblins okay, but I would be interested in a useful tool. I'm also the kind of guy who might help make it, even link to the project. But my worry is a new tool is more complication, especially when different settings and GMs have different takes on who or what a goblin actually is.
So I have a simple idea.
But first let's look at what we already have. The distance tells us a lot. If the terrain is light, the encounter could be obscured in some other way, or quiet, or both; gathering maybe, or resting. If the encounter is far off, it may be very visible and/or loud, especially if the terrain is heavy. How is the signal boosted? Is there smoke, light, a wheeling flock, a crump? Other senses could come into play too. Encounter size is also important. Two goblins may be less easily spotted than 12. We then interpret surprise and reaction based on these factors. Why is the band of goblins so amicable? The reason may vary depending on how many there are, whether they're at 20' or 120', and who's surprised.
From all of this - and what the GM knows of the wider world - flow initial circumstances.
A given encounter type may have a number of critical points, and the roll for size and the three extra rolls might combine with this to give a five-dimensional space for a stage, to add of course to all of that information the GM presumably has about the wider world.
When rolls are made at the table, it always is and always has been about improvisation.
When rolls are made at the table, it always is and always has been about improvisation.
So my simple idea, if we even need it given how much a 5D+ space already offers. It's this: we lean on the other factor we have right in front of us, the name of the encounter itself. The words used in the table entry. You know what a goblin is for you, or you have the seeds of a distinct idea ready. It's in the name. A goblin is a goblin. Feel the word.
Run with it. Think 11 pipers piping, but with 2d6 goblins. That's a full 2-12 goblins goblin. They're be goblin about, or goblin along, or man, really goblin out now. Think 1d6+3 orcs orcin. You already know what the kobolds are doing. The onomatopoeia takes the strain.
No new tables.** Just a mind's eye and a lifetime alive. A language may be all the ideas.
No new tables.** Just a mind's eye and a lifetime alive. A language may be all the ideas.
TL;DR: Read. Then feel.
* If this sounds interesting and/or you want a fuller sense of how and when, have a read of this simple ruleset.
** I am partial to this way of thinking though, and this way.
** I am partial to this way of thinking though, and this way.
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