Designing Encounters RPG Class 101

I am in to my third decade of DMing and I thought I would share my ideas on Encounter creation.
Golden rule dont make all the encounters the same level of difficulty!! What seems to work best for me is to create a mix of easy,medium, hard and a few impossible encounters.
The easy encounters are used to help build the confidence of the players. You really dont want too many of these as they can become boring.
The medium encounter present some danger and a little better payoff, but still shouldn't result in the death of anyone. The majoritry of encounter should be this type.
The hard encounters are the one that people remember the most. They are the fun ones, the one where death is a real possibily. The payoff are good. This is where the party finds the magic sword they have been questing for. You should have at least one of these in a session.
And lastly the impossible (or nearly impossible) encounters. These encounters are designed to bring the players back to reality (in a fantasy kind of way) These encounters (if the party doesn't run) would result in the death of everyone. On the other hand if the party is very creative and does manage to overcome the encounter then this is the stuff of legend! This is where the mega payoff is, wishes, holy advengers etc..This type of encounter should rarely be used as it can be discouraging if overused.
I have found that this mix of encounter difficulties works very well.

Cheers!

Legendary and Holy Items - Sphere of De-Existance

Item - Sphere of De-Existance (ToLl E J'Tomn*)
Unique

Today I thought I would tease you with a glimpse at a unique Legendary item. This Sphere's origin is lost in time but certainly was created by with a mad Wizard, deranged god or something else.

Historians have had this to day about the item.

"This legendary item is not sure to exist, as all atter that comes in contact with the sphere ceases to exist, except for within the sphere. It is said that those who find this can gaze into it, mind you with out touching it, and see scenes of bygone pasts, frozen in time, not existing except in the minds eye of the viewer"

*Ancient Elder Script
ToLl - Sphere
J' - Negitive Adjunct
Tomn - To Exist

Ancient Elder Script..What the Hell?

I am sure you noticed the footnotes on the Grasslands of Theros. The language I am translating is based off the original tongue of the people called the Elders.
The Elders are akin to Romans and their use of Latin. As i throw out Elder terms I will translate them in footnotes beneath new postings. I may even just post some translations by themselves, we shall see.
Where did I get this language? Like I said I am unleashing it from my mind and passing it on to you as it comes to me (scary isn't it ;) )

Enjoy!

First Offerings - The Grasslands of Theros

Creature -
Type - Plant (Temperate Zone)
Intelligence - None
Size - Gargantuan (1 Acre)
Name: The Grasslands of Theros (Hheros E KinDo*)

The Grasslands of Theros are actually a single ground board organism. This only part which is above ground appears to be simple blades of grass encompasing about 1 acre of land.
This plant based creature lives off the blood and decayed matter of anything that falls victim to its grassblades.
The way it captures it prey is to appear as a nice inviting glass field with beautiful and fragrant flowers near the center of the mass. The outer blades of grass and soft and behaves and normal grass does. But as the person/creature(s) reach close to the center where the flowers are, the soft supple grass blades become razor sharp and as stong as steel. The blades then will start to undulate and cut to peices any poor creature caught in the center. The Grasslands then feed off the blood and decaying matter that seeps into the ground.
It is known that this plant creature is very susceptible to fire. Those beings who figure out what this is usually prize this creature for the treasure that usually piles up in the center of the plant. Using a conrolled burn will usually clear the area, but not kill the creature (very large amounts of salt have been known to accompish this feat) and allow those adventurous enough to venture in and get the goodies left behind by past victims.
There are veriations of this plant found all over the planet, allthough they appear different everywhere they basicly work the same way.

*Ancient Elder Script
Hheros - Theros, Demi-god of Blood
Kin - Grass
Do - Land
E - of

Sharing What?

So, you may ask what will I be sharing with you all. Simply put, I am going to share ideas that can be used in any RPG universe. I will purposely keep the details non gaming specific. Which means you can use the ideas in any RPG you play.
Some of the ideas are old and some are brand new. I will share all sorts of topics with you all. So feel free to use and of these ideas and share with us any details you have worked up to flesh out my creations.
Who know where this blog may lead? Maybe ill collect the ideas and try and publish them in gaming magazines. Maybe ill write a book and even create a new game based off what comes out of my head. Who knows, but I will take you on this journey and you can see what the years ahead bring.

Who is Fritz?

I am Fritz! Born in Camel California in 1967. I was first exposed to D&D in 1979. While in Carmel Middle School, I had stopped by the library when I noticed a group of me fellow student sitting around a round table with pads of paper and funny looking dice. One of them seemed to be telling a story. As I watch for a while I soon realized that they were playing out a medievil type game with swords and knights and dragons (very cool thought to a 10 year old such as myself) I started to feel the draw...the draw towards RPGs.
I was too shy to ask to join them as I thought I was too young. The first chance I got I checked out a local hobby store that carried D&D stuff and soon found the blue box first edition basic set. I drooled over it for a while



By the time I reached my 11th birthday I knew the time had come (I had read on the side of the basic set that this was for ages 11 and up). I had managed to save enough money from my allowance and birthday cash to buy this basic set. It also happened to co-inside with a trip up to Seattle Washington.
That was the greatest trip I have ever taken. The whole time I devoured the contents of the first Basic Set TSR had ever put out.
I immediately started creating my own adventures and worlds (I still have my earliest notes from way back when) and even though I have had periods where I didn't actively play, in my mind I was always creating new things.
You see I have a very nice gift of creativity. All I have to do is fall into my mind and I unlock the door to another universe, a universe of infinite possibilities and adventures.





THAT is what I hope to share with you all here..Open my mind and share those things which come through this door.
The door to Fritz Unleashed!




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