Blog Book Club 58: Overloading the Encounter Die

[Barnum]

Hi! Welcome to the blog book club. My involvement with this series is primarily related to it affording me the opportunity to discover blog posts that I’d never encountered from before I became interested in the OSR scene. This week however, we’re reading an incredibly influential post to me and I’m sure to many others. Its overloading the encounter die by Brendan S of Necropraxis.

Next week we’re reading Proceduralism also on Necropraxis.

You can see a list of previous blog club posts here.

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I’ve heard it said that when you force some folks in our corner of the hobby to tell you how Old School D&D differs from its Trad siblings, they’ll note it ultimately boils down to reaction rolls. The procedure causes unpredictability in enemy behavior that helps each instance of a scenario feel distinct.

So similarly when people ask “what is NSR? And how is it any different from just playing Basic D&D as written?” for me, the answer is this blog post, specifically. The overloaded encounter die is what I point to. Its an easy to introduce, low maintenance procedure that increases the feeling that the environment is reacting to player actions within a dungeon while exerting pressure on their resources. The randomness and variation is a critical reason why I enjoy this type of game.

I was a playtester for a bit in one of Gus L’s megadungeons. He used a variant on the overloaded encounter die, every single turn. It taught me how this simple mechanic can transform a dungeon that the party leaves and returns to frequently into a highly replayable space. In an OSR game its appropriate for players to scheme, but when their plans are interrupted by the torches going out, important spells fizzling just when you need them most, or an owlbear crashing through the nearest door, i find it brings the mythic underworld to life.

If you look for it, the overloaded encounter die is everywhere. Knave 2e, Cairn 2e, and if you squint even Necrotic Gnome adventures. Increasingly I’ve noticed that some traditional wandering monster table entries are replaced with environmental results, or clues to nearby enemies.

In the early 2020s, there were a number of bloggers creating their own takes on overloading encounter dice and now there are many variations out there to enjoy. But is this procedure for everyone? No. If you don’t like the idea of torches possibly going out every round, or creating location dependent timers, or you believe that player preparation should be weighed more than the whims of a dangerous chaotic adventure space, then this procedure likely won’t serve your needs.

Overloaded encounters became very important to me, because they allowed me to remain surprised so I could stay engaged while GMing. This procedure was the essential piece of the puzzle that allowed me to do that.

[PaulJ]

I’ve never found the objections to torches going out at random points in time particularly persuasive. Assuming the baseline quasi-medieval setting of most D&D games, torches are not uniform in construction or material, and so will burn for unpredictable durations accordingly. Of course as stated by both Gus and Brenden, the best case for the overloaded encounter die/hazard die is that it makes the dungeon dynamic and exciting, and realism can be secondary to satisfying gameplay.

One thing that used to bother me about the overloaded encounter die before I actually experienced it in play and became a convert was I liked the idea of shifting the probability of random encounters based on player behavior. e.g. If they’re doing a good job being sneaky roll the die less often, if they’re making a lot of noise increase the odds of a random encounter. But you can still accomplish this goal by simply making encounters more/less likely temporarily, so I don’t think my perceived objection to it was a very good one.

Anyway, count me in as this being one of the most excellent gameplay innovations of the OSR!

[pladohsghost]

When I first read about the overloaded die, I just wondered why people weren’t already including clues in the environment as to what critters were around an area. I guess the roll could work as a reminder to include details of the setting in the descriptions.

I never saw a version of the overloaded encounter die table that I found useful, though. Limiting things to a D6 is far too chunky for me to find useful – I’m one of those folks who would rebel at torches burning out every check. That’s going to interfere with my enjoyment of the game a great deal and it’s certainly nothing I’m going to inflict on players at my table.

As with so many things, though, the devil is in the details. Use a 2D6 roll and the feel gets much better. That torch guttering on a roll of 2 happens less often and now fits. Use expanded tables where PC activity can affect the roll total up or down and bring new results into play and it’s even better. I still believe GMs should be dropping details about nearby critters into regular description, adding more with each event check adds to the setting feel.