DRATS! The Single Roll Encounter
This initial idea came from reading Prismatic Wasteland’s blog post, Overloading
the Random Encounter Table. Does it work perfectly? Probably
not.
Roll 2d6 once for your encounter. Designate one die as the player die and the other as the opposing die. You can differentiate this by color, size, rounded vs edged corners, pips vs numbers, etc.
Distance
The margin of difference between the two dice indicates the
number of 20 foot spaces between the party and its encounter.
A result of twin numbers means that distance is immediate.
Reaction
A result greater than 7 means the encounter is unfriendly.
Twins 6s indicates direct hostility.
A result lower than 7 means the encounter is friendly. Twin 1s indicates
helpfulness without repayment.
A result of 7 means the encounter is ambivalent.
Appearing
Subtract the lower result from the higher result and multiply
the total by the dungeon level. A total result of 0 counts as 1.
Treasure
Add the results and multiply the total by 10 for each dungeon level.
Twin 6s indicates a magic item is present.
Surprise
A 1 appearing on the player die means the player party is
surprised.
A 6 appearing on the encountered die means the encountered party is
surprised.
Neither appearing means neither group is surprised.
Both appearing means both groups are surprised.
Examples
First # in brackets is player die and second # is the opposing
party die.
First Level
Roll: 7 (5 & 2)
Distance: 60 ft
Reaction: Ambivalent
Appearing: 3
Treasure: 70g
Surprise: Neither
Second Level
Roll: 6 (1 & 5)
Distance: 80 ft
Reaction: Friendly
Appearing: 8
Treasure: 120g
Surprise: Player party
Third Level
Roll: 6 (3 & 3)
Distance: Immediate
Reaction: Friendly
Appearing: 3
Treasure: 180g
Surprise: Neither
Fourth Level
Roll: 8 (2 & 6)
Distance: 80 ft
Reaction: Unfriendly
Appearing: 16
Treasure: 320g
Surprise: Opposing party
Fifth Level
Roll: 7 (6 & 1)
Distance: 100 ft
Reaction: Ambivalent
Appearing: 25
Treasure: 350g
Surprise: Neither
Options
In Wilderness encounters, multiply the appearing total by 10.
Likewise, change encounter distance from feet to yards. Finally,
multiply any treasure result by 100.
For high yield treasure games, multiply treasure per dungeon level by 100 instead of 10.
An encounter table can be further added to the procedure, Type (DRATTS). For this specific table, encounters below 7 should be considered friendly and encounters above 7 considered unfriendly. Rarer encounters are placed on either end and the most common encounters at 7. Consult table below as an example.
Type
2. Pixie
3. Gnomes
4. Elves
5. Halflings
6. Dwarves
7. Sellsword
8. Goblins
9. Hobgoblins
10. Bugbears
11. Orcs
12. Troll
Wilderness
Roll: 6 (1 & 6)
Distance: 80 yards
Reaction: Friendly
Appearing: 50
Type: Dwarves
Treasure: 600 gold
Surprise: Both
Wilderness
Roll: 12 (6 & 6)
Distance: Immediate
Reaction: Hostile
Appearing: 10
Type: Trolls
Treasure: 1200 gold + Magic Item
Surprise: Opposing party