Quote from: Old One Eye;817501Would really like a modern or sci fi version.

Amen.

judging from the praises the head administer over at mythweavers sings about 5e not supporting monster races savage species is going to be a clusterfuck when it comes out

or maybe they wont have 1 did 4th edition have a savage species equivalent

hopefully the manual of the planes will have a decent encounter table this time around not that it will effect me but it bothered me in the 3e one

The main thing I'd want before I'd run 5e is a comprehensive set of encounter tables by terrain type, urban, by dungeon level etc. Basically the same as the 1e DMG/FF/MM2, or Pathfinder has good ones esp in the Beginner Box and Gamemastery Guide. 5e looks like it should be good for sandboxing, but I don't want to have to make all my own tables. Without a minimal level of support like that I'd rather use Pathfinder, or another system - my 1980s version of Dragon Warriors has comprehensive tables in book 1, for instance.
It's not encouraging that 5e had no encounter tables in the MM and just a sample in the DMG (sylvan woods, yaay) - Pathfinder has a full set in their Bestiary (but limited to the monsters there) and much better ones in the GMG and Beginner Box.

Even if I'm not rolling encounters in play, I find some random rolls pre-session extremely useful to get my creativity going.

Quote from: S'mon;817576The main thing I'd want before I'd run 5e is a comprehensive set of encounter tables by terrain type, urban, by dungeon level etc. Basically the same as the 1e DMG/FF/MM2, or Pathfinder has good ones esp in the Beginner Box and Gamemastery Guide. 5e looks like it should be good for sandboxing, but I don't want to have to make all my own tables. Without a minimal level of support like that I'd rather use Pathfinder, or another system - my 1980s version of Dragon Warriors has comprehensive tables in book 1, for instance.
It's not encouraging that 5e had no encounter tables in the MM and just a sample in the DMG (sylvan woods, yaay) - Pathfinder has a full set in their Bestiary (but limited to the monsters there) and much better ones in the GMG and Beginner Box.

Even if I'm not rolling encounters in play, I find some random rolls pre-session extremely useful to get my creativity going.

Yeah I thought that was a bit crap about the MM in 5E , no decent encounter charts.

Quote from: danskmacabre;817588Yeah I thought that was a bit crap about the MM in 5E , no decent encounter charts.

Was this one of those things they determined most people didn't need through all their surveying?

i sure hope not because if so they need either better surveying or the earth needs better people

Quote from: S'mon;817576The main thing I'd want before I'd run 5e is a comprehensive set of encounter tables by terrain type, urban, by dungeon level etc. Basically the same as the 1e DMG/FF/MM2,

By all means play whatever game you prefer (1e still holds as my favorite overall game).  But for this particular complaint, what is the issue with using those older encounter tables since the various DnD games use all the same monsters?

Quote from: Old One Eye;817624By all means play whatever game you prefer (1e still holds as my favorite overall game).  But for this particular complaint, what is the issue with using those older encounter tables since the various DnD games use all the same monsters?

I agree; it's not like the tables themselves specifically outline the monster's stats.  Level 15 of a water-filled dungeon cave and you stumble upon an aboleth, there's no insistence that you use the 1e and then manually convert...just use the 1e books for the tables and your ($EDITION) books for the actual stats.

Quote from: Old One Eye;817624By all means play whatever game you prefer (1e still holds as my favorite overall game).  But for this particular complaint, what is the issue with using those older encounter tables since the various DnD games use all the same monsters?

(a) You often find you've rolled a monster that isn't actually in the book. I get this using 3.5e adventures's tables for Pathfinder, much worse 1e to 5e.

(b) I travel by public transport to my games, at London pubs. I need to keep the number of books down.

Edit: Might give it a try with my 1e DMG, though. It would have to replace the 5e DMG in my load-out.

Are making your own tables so hard? Just from the 1e/2e explanation of How To, looking at d% and 1d12+1d8, I extrapolated the basics to figure out my own micro tables. Settings can be anything, and thus no batch of example tables would ever suffice. Why do you need example tables to be a pre-fab substitute for your own creativity.

Hell, give me your setting, some parameters, and I can scribble up your encounter tables. I mean, making NPCs are harder than encounter tables. Are you using some weird CR budget calculations?

Quote from: Old One Eye;817624By all means play whatever game you prefer (1e still holds as my favorite overall game).  But for this particular complaint, what is the issue with using those older encounter tables since the various DnD games use all the same monsters?

Quote from: thedungeondelver;817642I agree; it's not like the tables themselves specifically outline the monster's stats.  Level 15 of a water-filled dungeon cave and you stumble upon an aboleth, there's no insistence that you use the 1e and then manually convert...just use the 1e books for the tables and your ($EDITION) books for the actual stats.

I don't have the older books anymore. Even if I did, I don't want to be carrying them around. Even if I had them in electronic format, I don't want to be referencing multiple books either.
I just want it all in one book with only monsters from that book.

Quote from: Opaopajr;817708Are making your own tables so hard? Just from the 1e/2e explanation of How To, looking at d% and 1d12+1d8, I extrapolated the basics to figure out my own micro tables. Settings can be anything, and thus no batch of example tables would ever suffice. Why do you need example tables to be a pre-fab substitute for your own creativity.

I could be putting the very limited amount of time I have into other things.
I like to use pre-generated encounter tables for various regions for inspiration.
I rarely actually roll on those tables, but I like to look at them to get ideas.
for an adventure, I often pre-generate a few random encounters with some notes anyway if I know what sort of areas the characters are likely to go through. That way the encounters are far more interesting.

Quote from: Opaopajr;817708Hell, give me your setting, some parameters, and I can scribble up your encounter tables. I mean, making NPCs are harder than encounter tables. Are you using some weird CR budget calculations?

If you really mean this, I'd love to give you a series of environments I want random encounters for. I could print it out and stick it in the back of the 5E MM.

Quote from: danskmacabre;817737If you really mean this, I'd love to give you a series of environments I want random encounters for. I could print it out and stick it in the back of the 5E MM.

Well, since it's dirt easy, sure. What exactly do you want? If you're looking for generic terrain info, the MM categorized things according to climate (and had them numbered and even sorted by CR?), IIRC.

You might as well tailor the tables to a setting, or at least some parameter guidelines. Otherwise if you're just looking looking for inspiration, I could just roll up a random batch of terrain or CR relevant Encounter Tables.

Quote from: Opaopajr;817738Well, since it's dirt easy, sure. What exactly do you want? If you're looking for generic terrain info, the MM categorized things according to climate (and had them numbered and even sorted by CR?), IIRC.

Well there actually ARE some encounter table examples in the DMG, but they're scattered all over the place and doesn't cover all the environment types.
Still, I suppose I could trawl through the DMG and grab bits from it and make a PDF or something or even print it out and stick it in the back of the MM.
The bits that are missing I could create a thread for in this forum for suggestions.

Quote from: Opaopajr;817708You might as well tailor the tables to a setting, or at least some parameter guidelines. Otherwise if you're just looking looking for inspiration, I could just roll up a random batch of terrain or CR relevant Encounter Tables.

I'll create a thread later for some random encounter content I'm looking for for various environments, thanks