A Fantastic Encounter Building Tool
If you have writer’s block, this is a fantastic GM encounter building tool created by Brennan OBrien.
As part of this month’s RPG Blog carnival hosted over at Tabletop Terrors, here’s a great resource for you.
For example, I think it’s awesome for encounter building.
Encounter Building Recipe
Start with an encounter seed idea for a person, place, or plot.
Then use Brennan’s Inexhaustive List of Questions as a self-interrogation tool to help flesh the idea out.
Based on whether your initial idea is an NPC or faction, location, or event, choose the appropriate row.
Then start with the Who? column. Pick one question from the Who? box. Crack open Campaign Logger and write a quick answer.
Then do the same for What?, Where? and the other three columns.
If your encounter feels thin or incomplete, combo with the Encounter Triangle to fill the holes.
Switch rows to person/faction, location, or event, and then return to Who? and pick another question to answer.
Repeat again for each column.
Iterate a third time, if required, to complete your encounter triangle.
By the end, you will definitely have a well-inpsired encounter!
