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<div class="moz-cite-prefix"> Its been awhile since I GM'd
P&P but the way that I did it was to have an area of the world
that the characters could adventure in. They could hear rumors
about things, (brigands on the high road, the haunted ruins, etc.)
and choose where to go and what to deal with. Some things are too
tough for them (I hope they are wise enough to avoid these or to
talk their way out or run if they fail to avoid too tough an
encounter), some a pushover, but most could be handled by using
good tactics and avoiding really bad luck. (I don't fudge the die
rolls). I try to have the encounter be reasonable given the
background setting...I do reroll encounter types that don't seem
reasonable and may choose to reduce the number immediately
encountered (though the rest will be within an hours walk) to make
the encounter less hazardous (winnable).<br>
To calculate the difficulty of the encounter I do not have a
formula, instead I used a feel developed over many encounters as
both player and GM. But rules of thumb include:<br>
Don't outnumber the characters by TOO much, numbers DO matter
and allow for flanking and rear attacks which radically change the
odds. The terrain matters here as well. Horatio may have beaten
many opponents on a bridge that he only had to face one opponent
at a time on, opponents that would have quickly beaten him had
they been able to surround him. Other things that matter are such
things as flying and invisibility (note that sprites can be REALLY
dangerous opponents far outperforming their OCVs with the proper
tactics - figure the situation modifiers likely: Rear, Above,
Flank, Multiple Opponents).<br>
Traps AND opponents together are much tougher than either
alone. A few missile armed goblins under cover behind a series of
concealed traps may be harder to beat than an ogre.<br>
Let the opponents be overconfident. Perhaps they are used to
beating those with OCV and DCV of 1 or 2. Likely they are NOT used
to encountering magic users. Not all encounters have to give the
opponents much of a chance.<br>
Rarely have more than one really tough opponent (tougher than
the average party member), let the tough guy have much wimpier
flunkies.<br>
Magic, properly used, CAN make a huge difference...but in
P&P it doesn't always work. Indeed it can backfire (one
notable example: a wizard called lightning from the clouds to
fight off brigands and turned himself to charcoal and set the
wagon he was on to fire with an abysmal roll).<br>
<br>
Alex Koponen<br>
<br>
On 4/19/2014 10:52 AM, Melkor wrote:<br>
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<blockquote cite="mid:9D4AA0A9F4E.00000713mttdicor7@inbox.com"
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Hi all,<br>
<br>
how do you manage to balance encounters in P&P?<br>
<br>
I have a group of four players:<br>
<br>
Ennon: OCV 2, DCV 4<br>
Gunnard: OCV 9, DCV 8<br>
Darrel: OCV 3, DCV 5<br>
Habbakuk: OCV 6, DCV 5<br>
<br>
the average hit point value of each character is around 20, except
for Gunnard who has 33 HPV.<br>
<br>
Given this situation, i always have doubts as to which creature
(monster) they should face.<br>
As you probably remember, Richard Snider at the end of book IV
stated that "the situation that evolves in your game must be
designed such that:<br>
<br>
A) they are not automatic victories for your players<br>
AND<br>
B) they are situations that the party involved can win<br>
<br>
I always try to stick to this (apparently simple) rule, but it is
not so easy, so i would like to know how you are used to managing
encounters.<br>
<br>
I think it is a mistake for the game master to throw monsters at
the party that are too strong to beat, but at the same time the
player's skills must be put to test, that is why i think that
encounters should always be balanced. <br>
<br>
Now, how to balance them? How to pick the correct monster (<b>one
which is as strong as my players are</b>) from the monster list
in book III?<br>
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