Encounters

Creating an encounter

1. Click Encounters in the sidebar
2. Click New Encounter
3. Enter a name (required)
4. Fill in additional fields as needed
5. Click Save

Encounter fields

Basic information

Setup and details

Resolution

DM tools

Tracking

Organization

Encounter types

Combat

Traditional fights with creatures or enemies.

Key fields to fill:

• Involved creatures (with stats or references)
• Environmental factors (terrain, cover, hazards)
• Difficulty rating
• Rewards (XP, loot)
• DM notes (tactics, how enemies fight)

Social

Negotiations, confrontations, and tense conversations with stakes.

Key fields to fill:

• Involved creatures (NPCs involved)
• Description (what each side wants)
• Resolution options (ways it can go)
• DM notes (outcomes of different resolutions)

Puzzle

Mental challenges requiring player cleverness.

Key fields to fill:

• Description (the riddle, mechanism, or pattern)
• Resolution options (the solution and alternative approaches)
• DM notes (clues available, consequences of failure)

Exploration

Environmental challenges, discoveries, and investigation.

Key fields to fill:

• Description (what they’re exploring and can find)
• Environmental factors (hazards or challenges)
• Rewards (discovery rewards)

Chase

Pursuits where speed, terrain, and complications decide the outcome.

Key fields to fill:

• Description (who’s chasing whom, and why)
• Environmental factors (obstacles, shortcuts, terrain)
• Resolution options (escape, capture, the quarry gets away)

Trap

Hidden hazards the party must detect, disarm, or survive.

Key fields to fill:

• Description (the trap and its trigger)
• Environmental factors (the hazard effect)
• DM notes (detection DC, disarm method)

Skill challenge

A series of checks toward a goal, where success and failure both accumulate.

Key fields to fill:

• Description (the goal and the stakes)
• Resolution options (success and failure thresholds)
• DM notes (which skills apply, complications)

Difficulty guidelines

Balance difficulty across a session. Multiple Hard encounters exhaust resources. A single Deadly encounter might be the session’s climax. Mark an encounter Impossible when brute force isn’t the answer - the party needs to run, negotiate, or find another way.

Writing good encounter descriptions

What to include

The situation: What’s happening when the encounter begins?

“The party opens the door to find six goblins arguing over a chest of stolen goods. They haven’t noticed the party yet.”

The stakes: Why does this matter?

“The chest contains evidence of the merchant’s involvement with the smuggling ring.”

The environment: What affects the encounter?

“The room is cluttered with crates (half cover), a chandelier hangs above (can be dropped), and a back door leads to the alley.”

What to skip

• Obvious details (goblins will fight if attacked)
• Excessive backstory (save it for NPC entries)
• Railroaded outcomes (let players surprise you)

Environmental factors

Good encounters use the environment:

Terrain elements

Hazards

Dynamic elements

Using AI to create encounters

AI generation panel

1. Open the encounter and find the AI Generation panel (inside the AI Generation panel)
2. Pick a Generation Type
3. Optionally enter a prompt: “ambush in a narrow canyon” or “tense negotiation with a desperate criminal”
4. Set the Creativity slider and an optional Tone Preset, then click Generate
5. Review the suggestion cards and Accept the ones you want or Dismiss the rest

See AI generation for the full flow.

Quick generation with Quick Prep

1. Open Quick Prep from the dashboard (or the Session Companion -> Quick Generators)
2. Click Quick Encounter
3. Choose a Tone and Difficulty
4. Optionally expand More options and set Use Campaign Context
5. Click Generate Encounter

This creates a complete encounter with setup, participants, and resolution options. Promote it if you want to keep it.

-> Quick Prep generators

Tracking encounter usage

Why track?

• Avoid reusing encounters by accident
• Know which prepared content you’ve deployed
• Review what worked for future reference

How to track

When you run an encounter:

1. Open the encounter
2. Click Mark as Used (the button appears near the top of the edit page after you save)
3. Optionally add notes about how it went in DM notes

To record which session it appeared in, link the encounter from that session’s plan (see Sessions).

Filtering by status

Use filters to see:

• Unused encounters - Content waiting to be deployed
• Used encounters - Your encounter history
• Filter by type (Combat, Social, Chase, Trap, and so on) using the type tabs

Tips for better encounters

Make combat dynamic

Static fights where everyone stands and attacks are boring. Add:

• Terrain to use tactically
• Objectives beyond “kill everything”
• Time pressure or escalation
• Enemies with interesting behaviors

Give social encounters stakes

Both sides should want something. Conflict without stakes is just conversation.

• What does the party want?
• What does the NPC want?
• What happens if neither gets it?

Prepare multiple resolutions

Players rarely do what you expect. Prepare for:

• The “obvious” solution
• The violent alternative
• The clever workaround
• The unexpected ally

Link to sessions

Connect encounters to your sessions:

1. Create the encounter
2. Link it from your session’s plan
3. Access it easily during play
4. Mark it used afterward

Example: creating a combat encounter

Name: The Warehouse Ambush

Type: Combat

Difficulty: Hard

Description: The party has tracked the smugglers to their warehouse hideout. Unknown to them, the smugglers were warned and have prepared an ambush.

Involved creatures:

• 1 Smuggler Boss (use Bandit Captain stats, add Cunning Action)
• 4 Smugglers (Bandit stats)
• 1 Guard Dog (Mastiff stats)

Location: Dockside Warehouse (linked)

Environmental factors:

• Crates throughout provide half cover
• Cargo net above can be dropped (Dex save or restrained)
• Oil barrels near east wall (fire hazard)
• Back door leads to docks (escape route)
• Dim light from high windows

Rewards:

• 450 XP
• 120 gp in stolen goods
• Ledger revealing merchant involvement (if they search)

Resolution options:

• Combat victory (standard)
• Capture boss for interrogation
• Boss escapes (plot continues)
• Negotiation (unlikely but possible if party offers something valuable)

DM notes:

• Setup: Party enters through main door. Smugglers are hidden behind crates (Stealth vs. Perception). Boss is on the catwalk above. Dog is leashed near the boss.
• Tactics: Smugglers attack from cover, focus fire on spellcasters. Boss uses crossbow from the catwalk, releases the dog round 2. If losing, the boss flees via the back door; smugglers surrender if the boss flees or is captured.
• Goals: Capture or defeat the smugglers, recover the stolen goods, learn who they work for.
• Pacing: If players struggle, have the dog focus on the wrong target. If too easy, reinforcements arrive (2 more smugglers from the back room).

Tags: combat, smugglers, docks, arc-1

Related

• Creations overview - All 8 creation types
• Sessions - Linking encounters to sessions
• Quick Prep generators - Quick encounter generation
• Creation types reference - Complete field specifications