Random Encounters!

[Rias]

There is now a small chance to have random encounters with hostiles in many areas, including much of the wilderness. This update in itself is not meant to be a particularly large detriment to wandering around outside town, but rather is meant primarily as a sort of enforcement of the flavor and situation of the Lost Lands. As GMs we frequently discuss how oddly comfortable and cozy people seem to be in our little monster-ridden nether-corrupted resen-infested post-apocalyptic quarantine zone, particularly when outside outposts. This is natural in a game setting because ultimately, the players are not going to be in any real danger, and that will translate to their characters to one degree or another. But this chance of being waylaid by some of the threats of the Lost Lands should help reign that in and remind people that the Lost Lands are dangerous even outside designated combat zones, and keep people on their toes a bit more.

See the Random Encounters wiki article or type HELP RANDOM ENCOUNTERS in-game to see some of the factors that play into encounters.

All that said, a few points:

- You can just walk away from these! You might get tagged in the initial encounter, but you don't need to stay and fight. The mobs will despawn after a bit.
- The low chances and the encounter cooldown timer make these not suitable for grinding. They're primarily here for flavor purposes, to help make the Lost Lands feel as dangerous as we're always saying it is, even outside designated combat zones with common-spawning mobs. Little ambushes and skirmishes like this should be considered quite common in the Lost Lands, and a reason why the roads aren't bustling with travelers and trade caravans.
- Like the other recent update, this is a mechanical update, not a lore one. It should be assumed that these kinds of things have been happening in the Lost Lands even before this game update.
- These are not meant to make the game a pain to play, but we also don't want them to just be ignored. The occurrence chance and cooldown time will likely be tweaked quite a bit as we try to find that sweet spot of mechanically enforcing the flavor and situation of the Lost Lands while also not making travel a constant pain.
- This update came from code being done for society tasks like culling baddies and whatnot, so those will follow soonish(tm)!

[Serity]

A traveler's observable equipment can affect encounter chances. Being heavily-armed/armored may deter some mobs. Some mobs may be more likely to attack travelers showing obvious signs of wealth (...the value of visible worn items).

Will shadow cloak count as essentially naked in terms of equipment/value for these purposes?

[Rias]

I had considered covered gear (like robes over a shirt), but not disguised. I'll add that!

[Delphine]

I didn't know where to post this, but I had some ideas for other Random Encounter things (I've been enjoying them so far btw.)

Harbinger Random Encounters. Like maybe some hedge knight types popping out to try to smite the UNHOLY WORSHIPPERS OF THOSE DARK IMMORTALS. (Bogvaskr zealots popping out of the bushes to shoot me with arrows pls.)

Maybe even a way to like... flag yourself as WANTING an encounter? Like you know, you can hunt wild game... what if you could hunt, um. Humanoids on the roads? I was thinking of this more from a Harbinger championing one of the, "mmm feed me souls/bodies," immortals perspective as it might be a nice, flavorful (hur hur) change of pace from me just going and piling up bodies in one of the humanoid mob zones.

EDIT: Random side idea/thought - what if any sort of society related random encounters gave a chance to drop some sort of trophy type item on completion? And then we got like... a trophy case (like a dye case) where you could put your trophies so you could just be like BEHOLD and whip out this box of like... I don't even know. Bowstrings (because obviously my character would collection bowstrings) like BEHOLD ALL THE MEN (and women) WHO THOUGHT TO SHOOT DOWN THE HARBINGER OF KURN AND FAILED.

[Serity]

I think the blood cultist encounter outside Shadgard may be a little much.

- You can just walk away from these! You might get tagged in the initial encounter, but you don't need to stay and fight. The mobs will despawn after a bit.

The blood shard cast has a 1.15 DF (so up to potential 115 damage, with clothing over vitals being unable to mitigate enough to survive), and as a ranged attack, I believe it's not something that can be defended against by PC guards. They spawn literally right outside Shadgard (I encountered one at the crossroads just outside Redrock) with an offensive roll of those within the crypt, and the attack came out at the exact same moment the one second surprise wore off, so there was no opportunity to walk away. I'm unsure if the random encounter version uses mesmerize, but that would be an additional thorn if so.

I think this encounter, for being so close to the starting area, has a real chance of one-shotting non-combatants (even with guards, given the ranged attack) without there being a chance of escape/survival if the rolls go poorly. Perhaps a weaker version, a blood cultist initiate or some such, with a less-damaging blood shard spell might be more appropriate.

[HeckTurtle]

I think this encounter, for being so close to the starting area, has a real chance of one-shotting non-combatants (even with guards, given the ranged attack) without there being a chance of escape/survival if the rolls go poorly. Perhaps a weaker version, a blood cultist initiate or some such, with a less-damaging blood shard spell might be more appropriate.

I'm in agreement with this and believe that it's a good idea. Very recently, I ran into this encounter in the same location described, and another PC walked by at just the wrong moment. They got nailed with the blood shard spell for 97 to the chest pretty much right after they walked into the room. The encounter version does also seem to be capable of mesmerizing people, as I had that happen to me, too. It does seem a bit much considering everything Serity pointed out.

[Rias]

I think the blood cultist encounter outside Shadgard may be a little much.

All riiiiight ... there's still a chance for the original cultist encounter, but it's more likely to be a lowlier version instead now.

[Gorth]

The frequency of encounters when patrolling makes me ask if we could have a travel command to restart our course? I don't know if other people find it annoying to refind the right direction they need to go, or not.

[Firerose]

Related to losing your way, not patrols.
I'm not sure what can be done to limit how much this happens, but I can't tell you the number of times I have one of these things happen to me:
1. Horse gets spooked, I get thrown off.
2. Horse runs away, and I end up having to ask someone who is faster (or sighted, depending on the person) to help me find said horse.
3. I then have to find the way back to the road, not always easy when I'm already off it, and wandering aimlessly.

How do I put this nicely, because I really, really do not want to be a party pooper. I understand this stuff may be intended to be fun, but for me it really isn't. I'm not big into combat, and when I want it, I go find it. Having it come to me is more annoying than fun, unless I'm in a group, or in the right frame of mind.

I keep getting spearfishers when trying to go from the Octum festival to the main road. I can't hear my exits while I'm being attacked, to hear where the road is, so I have to move, then I lose my way altogether.

I'm so sorry this has turned into somewhat of a gripe. I really hope others are at least finding something enjoyable in these random encounters. I'm sorry that so often I find them this frustrating.

[Squeak]

1. Horse gets spooked, I get thrown off.
2. Horse runs away, and I end up having to ask someone who is faster (or sighted, depending on the person) to help me find said horse.

I have to ask ... Do you have a decent amount of skill in Riding? I believe that helps mitigate the getting thrown off or fleeing, but don't quote me on this. It might also behoove you to have someone teach the animal mount call and brush it regularly ... I also believe the morale boost from brushing helps assist in this. Also, what type of horse are you riding? A "horse", a mule, courser, etc? They each have different GRIT levels that helps combat this as well. Chimaera has 200 in riding and a mule and almost never gets thrown from the saddle and good ole' Seawise almost never runs. I can probably count on both hands how often this has happened since the changes and that's even with going on patrols alone at 3 in the morning. BUT, I always brush Seawise before and after every run and teach mount call every trip.

Though, with the recent-ish changes, it might be worthwhile for a quick looksie at horse Grit and make some adjustments to help with this. Or a temporary way to boost Grit.


I am sorry you're having to go through this, though.