General formula is:
- 2 is always a dragon
- 12 is always a wizard
- 7 is a random monster
- 3-6 is region/faction specific
- 8-11 is universal world encounters
3-6
6, 5, 4, and 3 are for threats tied to specific locations. This usually refers to the factional territories the party must travel through in order to get anywhere, but it might also mean levels of a dungeon, regional biomes, depth beneath the surface of the sea, etc. Whatever boundaries are important for the players to understand in your setting, you can help emphasize them with this. On one side of a boundary the players fight goblins, on the other they fight flying devil sharks with tornado breath weapons.
8-11
8, 9, 10, and 11 are for universal threats. Stuff that could appear anywhere and any time without being out of place. The further they get from 7, the more wild they can be. So while 8 might be a rabid dog or a hungry bandit, 11 is going to be something like a void vampire or a spell-starved lich.
Generic Encounter Table Structure
| 2d6 | Encounter |
|---|---|
| 2 | Dragon |
| 3 | [Region, Elite] |
| 4 | [Region, Dangerous] |
| 5 | [Region, Rare] |
| 6 | [Region, Common] |
| 7 | Recurring Travelling NPC |
| 8 | [Generic, Common] |
| 9 | [Generic, Rare] |
| 10 | [Generic, Weird] |
| 11 | [Generic, Weirder] |
| 12 | Wizard |