Part 4: How To Design Excellent D&D Encounters!

13K views • 4 years ago • 1:21:30 ⬇️ Download the notes and resources with the links below! ⬇️ Kelsey from The Arcane Library goes over how to develop well-designed encounters for a 5E one-shot. Some important elements we'll cover include enticement, pressure, interaction, and consequences (EPIC)! Follow along in as we design a brand new 5E one-shot, The Bone Pavilion of the Shadow Hounds, from scratch in the fourth part of this live Adventure Writing series. 00:00 Sound check, getting situated 03:17 Getting started on encounter design 05:49 What's an encounter? 07:48 Enticement 09:06 Pressure 10:17 Interaction 11:33 Consequences 15:35 Encounter 1: Puzzle 17:33 Leave some mystery 24:55 Why does pressure matter? 26:30 Careful with consequences 31:39 Encounter 2: Trap 40:31 Pressure should not be a secret 44:24 Encounter 3: NPC Interaction 49:50 A slight twist on a trope 54:02 Pressure is a dial, not a switch 56:14 Delivering backstory 58:53 Roll play vs. role play 01:01:52 Encounter 4: Combat 01:09:27 Rolling a timer vs. setting one 01:14:25 Play out the combat mentally 01:18:51 Wrap up, plan for next time Also, how did I confuse Radagast and Tom Bombadil?! It is Tom who is the most powerful! Download the notes from the livestream here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/r51692kpdko7iji/Part%204%20-%20Encounter%20Design.pdf?dl=0 Check out the full playlist of this series here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsIJw22Nm-ctYiy8qK6TtrTgjnYbHsxiC Jump on The Arcane Library's newsletter for a free 1st-level adventure, plus the adventure writing resources Kelsey shares out: https://www.thearcanelibrary.com/pages/temple-of-the-basilisk-cult 🔮 Subscribe to the channel and cast Toll the Dead on the bell icon to get notified when the next part of this series goes live! 🔮 Title image copyright Tithi Luadthong / shutterstock.com