Wandering Monsters

Recent forum conversations have led me to commit some thought to the concept of wandering monsters. I like the idea for a number of reasons; reducing prep time, adding a certain degree of verisimilitude, and stretching the players' tactical skills. Not the least of these is the availability of an 'impersonal' challenge for the players, which is the undercurrent to the above reasons.

Setting up a number of wandering monster charts front-loads prep time. It may take some effort to get the various climate or terrain based charts together, or to tweak the ones provided in the back of the DMG. However, once that is done, there are virtually unlimited possibilities. If the players are equipped for tackling the orc and goblin infested subterranean inventory storage facility, and happen upon the three trolls with an ogre mage leader, you can bet there will be some scrambling to meet the challenge. No matter how well executed, a planned encounter will never have the level of spontaneity provided by wandering monsters; nor will the planned encounter emulate a living world that exists outside of the characters as well as the wandering monster.

Wandering monster is a bit of a misnomer, anyway. It is even more useful to consider them wandering encounter charts instead. A set of animal tracks, bellowing in the night, a rusty dagger stuck in a door, a shiny gold piece from an ancient empire; these are all things that will get the players thinking and planning, and don't even require statblocks for combat. One or two entries on the normal table for 'specials', and in no time, you will have the players jumping at shadows, and tracking down every 'clue' you send their way.

This is especially useful for sandbox games. You can spend your time detailing some ruins and the surrounding countryside and villages, trusting that the players will eventually spend too much time in the wilderness and get hit with a wandering encounter. Their actions will practically write the scenarios for you! It does require a bit of flexibility, however, as the throwaway NPC you didn't give a second thought about suddenly becomes the primary villain the players are chasing. Especially after they discover some 'clues' placed by the wandering encounter tables, and like any group of conspiracy theorists, they will connect the dots in surprising ways.

Guidelines have been presented, of course, to use semi-planned or triggered encounters in place of wandering monsters. Those are fine, but they do take a bit away. One thing the mind is not terribly good at is generating randomness. Semi-planned encounters, at some point, will become somewhat predictable as the encounter is at their level, then below, then above, all in an effort to balance things out. Wandering encounters make no pretence of balance; it might be a pack of goblins, it might be a red dragon polymorphed into a goblin, it might be finely crafted stick with Nystul's Magic Aura.

It's the unpredictability that makes the challenge enjoyable, for both the players and the referee. Removing that aspect tends to filter down to the rest of the game, making each encounter a challenge to be managed, throwing ever higher bonuses at the problem without having to consider other responses. Uncertainty lies at the heart of role-playing games, and they are much more enjoyable because of it.