D&D Random encounters are BORING. Let's fix them!

Random encounters are a staple in D&D, and many TTRPG's. But often they can feel tedious and boring. I'm sharing three easy tips to fix them! In my opinion, the most important thing is that the players are gaining information from the random encounters in dungeons and dragons. These encounters can be a wasted opportunity to share information about the current area, or other events in the world that may be going on in the background. It's always better if you can give your players information through dnd encounters rather than exposition. It makes for more interesting encounters, and makes each encounter feel unique! Let me know down in the comments how you give your players information through encounters!

00:00 a very boring encounter
00:13 welcome to the table
00:35 the players should gain knowledge
01:54 enemies can flee
02:45 a word of caution
03:29 pick a different one

[Braincain]

Great Video! Another tip is that not all random encounters have to be fights! They could just be events that happen like a tree that's fallen and blocks the road, a traveling salesman selling his wares, faint yelling for help from a hunter caught in their own trap, or just passing by a small family who has set up camp on the side of the road that the party passes. If you mix together combat and non-combat encounters, it will teach the players not to pull out their swords everytime they encounter someone on the road. And as tempting as it may be to have the bandits set a trap where someone pretends to be injured in order to ambush the playes, I would only do that after the party has established a record of going out of their way to help people and to only do it rarely. Do it too much, and they may assume that everyone is crying wolf.

[MemphiStig]

I don't roll for encounters. I just open up the monster manual to a random page and they fight that.
Prep time? Zero. Game balance? Overrated. TPK? They should have run away.
(Unfortunately, I've known DM's like that. Maybe it works for some groups, who knows? Can't imagine tho.)

[RevRaak]

That glance down at the "random" table, though. Dying!

[joke]

great vid! could you make longer form videos? I love your videos

[GenuineMattyC]

Great tips! This channel needs more subs!

[colepivin]

Great channel dude. your on your way to the top, I can feel it!

[pakkanen]

I really like your first tip. The GM could design the encounter tables with the factions of the campaign in mind to give the players knowledge on them. Rolling an encounter where 2 factions clash in a bloody melee establishes facts about the world and gives players an interesting choice. Ignore the fight or align with a faction?

One tip I would give is to look at a game system where random encounters are designed to be a significant part of the game. After switching to Shadowdark RPG I've started to heavily use random encounters because the game has very clear but flexible rules on how to run them. When an encounter happens and its a creature the GM rolls distance, activity and maybe their reaction. So "2d6 bandits" turns into "2d6 bandits, far, nesting, curious" which helps the GM to improvise the situation. In this case it could be that a group of bandits are building a hideout and the players spot them in the distance and if they interact with the bandits they are curious as to how the players found them. Then during the conversation the GM can roll more reaction rolls to determine how they react to the things the party tells them. This way the party could make allies or enemies of these random bandits in the woods. This is emergent storytelling and its what random encounters are all about. You could also pregenerate encounters this way into a d20/d100 table to have a simple but interesting encounter off a single die roll.