Random encounter
Encyclopedia
A random encounter is a feature commonly used in various role-playing game
s whereby encounters with non-player character
(NPC) enemies or other dangers occur sporadically and at random. In general, random encounters are used to simulate the challenges associated with being in a hazardous environment—such as a monster
-infested wilderness
or dungeon
—with uncertain frequency of occurrence and makeup (as opposed to a "placed" encounter). Frequent random encounters are common in games like Dragon Quest, Legend of Legaia
, Pokémon and the Final Fantasy
series.
from its beginnings in the 1970s, and persist in that game and its offshoots to this day. Random encounters are usually determined by the gamemaster
by rolling dice against a random encounter table. The tables are usually based on terrain (and/or time/weather), and have a chance for differing encounters with different numbers or types of creatures. The results may be modified by other tables, such as whether the encounter is friendly, neutral or hostile. GMs are often encouraged to make their own tables. Specific adventures often have specific tables for locations, like a temple's hallways.
Wandering monsters are often used to wear down player character
s and force them to use up consumable resources, such as hit points, magic spells and healing potion
s, as a way of punishing spending too much time in a dangerous area.
s and have been common throughout the genre. Placed and random encounters were both used in 1981s Wizardry
and by the mid-1980s, random encounters made up the bulk of battles in genre-defining games such as Dragon Warrior
, Final Fantasy
, and The Bard's Tale
. Random encounters happen when the player is traversing the game world (often through the use of a "world map" or overworld
). Most often, the player encounters enemies to battle, but occasionally friendly or neutral characters can appear, with whom the player might interact differently than with enemies. Random encounters are random in the respect that players cannot anticipate the exact moment of encounter or what will be encountered, as the occurrence of the event is based on factors such as programmed probabilities; Pseudo-random number generators create the sequence of numbers used to determine if an encounter will happen. The form and frequency can vary depending on a number of factors, such as where the player is located in the game world and the statistics of the player character
. In some games, items can be found to increase or decrease the frequency of random encounters, even to eliminate them outright, or increase the odd of having a particular encounter.
Random encounters often occur more frequently in cave
s, forest
s, and swamp
s than in open plain
s. The simplest sort of random encounter algorithm would be as follows:
The problem with this algorithm is that random encounters occur "too" randomly for the tastes of most players, as there will be "droughts" and "floods" in their distribution. Random encounters in rapid succession are considered undesirable as they lead to the player's perception of getting "bogged down", but with the simple algorithm, it is possible to have an encounter from taking only one step after an encounter. The early games in the Dragon Quest
series, for example, allow random encounters to occur one step after the other. A more elaborate random encounter algorithm (and similar to those used in many games) would be the following:
This ensures that, in any terrain, the player will not experience more than one random enounter every eight steps. A game with this type of system can sometimes be taken advantage of by initiating some action that will reset the counter (pausing, opening a menu, saving), especially when using an emulator
. This is a popular trick in speedrun
s to skip time-consuming or dangerous battles or it can be used to ensure that each battle results in a rare or valuable encounter.
Random encounters have become less popular in video games with the passage of time, as gamers often complain that they are annoying or discouraging to exploration. The Final Fantasy and Tales
series have abandoned random encounter systems with successive games, while relatively newer franchises such as the Chrono series and Kingdom Hearts have never used them.
A more commonly used tactic in later RPGs (used in Final Fantasy XII
, Radiata Stories
, Fallout 1
and 2
, Legend of Legaia
and all Kingdom Hearts
games) is to set a finite number of enemies in a given area. This cuts down on grinding
and does not discourage exploration to the same extent. A similar approach is spawning
, where monsters always (re)appear at the same location, as seen in Chrono Trigger
and most of Dragon Quest IX
. Both approaches give players the opportunity to anticipate, evade, or select encounters.
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
s whereby encounters with non-player character
Non-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
(NPC) enemies or other dangers occur sporadically and at random. In general, random encounters are used to simulate the challenges associated with being in a hazardous environment—such as a monster
Monster
A monster is any fictional creature, usually found in legends or horror fiction, that is somewhat hideous and may produce physical harm or mental fear by either its appearance or its actions...
-infested wilderness
Wilderness
Wilderness or wildland is a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by human activity. It may also be defined as: "The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet—those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developed with...
or dungeon
Dungeon
A dungeon is a room or cell in which prisoners are held, especially underground. Dungeons are generally associated with medieval castles, though their association with torture probably belongs more to the Renaissance period...
—with uncertain frequency of occurrence and makeup (as opposed to a "placed" encounter). Frequent random encounters are common in games like Dragon Quest, Legend of Legaia
Legend of Legaia
is a 1998 Sony PlayStation role-playing video game created by Contrail. The game was followed by a 2001 video game called Legaia 2: Duel Saga on the PlayStation 2...
, Pokémon and the Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy
is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science-fantasy role-playing video games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...
series.
Role-playing games
Random encounters—sometimes called wandering monsters—were a feature of Dungeons & DragonsDungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
from its beginnings in the 1970s, and persist in that game and its offshoots to this day. Random encounters are usually determined by the gamemaster
Gamemaster
A gamemaster is a person who acts as an organizer, officiant for questions regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer game...
by rolling dice against a random encounter table. The tables are usually based on terrain (and/or time/weather), and have a chance for differing encounters with different numbers or types of creatures. The results may be modified by other tables, such as whether the encounter is friendly, neutral or hostile. GMs are often encouraged to make their own tables. Specific adventures often have specific tables for locations, like a temple's hallways.
Wandering monsters are often used to wear down player character
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
s and force them to use up consumable resources, such as hit points, magic spells and healing potion
Potion
A potion is a consumable medicine or poison.In mythology and literature, a potion is usually made by a magician, sorcerer, dragon, fairy or witch and has magical properties. It might be used to heal, bewitch or poison people...
s, as a way of punishing spending too much time in a dangerous area.
Video games
Random encounters were incorporated into early role-playing video gameRole-playing video game
Role-playing video games are a video game genre with origins in pen-and-paper role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, using much of the same terminology, settings and game mechanics. The player in RPGs controls one character, or several adventuring party members, fulfilling one or many quests...
s and have been common throughout the genre. Placed and random encounters were both used in 1981s Wizardry
Wizardry
Wizardry is a series of computer role-playing games, developed by Sir-Tech, which were highly influential in the development of modern console and computer role playing games. The original Wizardry was a significant influence to early console RPGs, such as Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy. ...
and by the mid-1980s, random encounters made up the bulk of battles in genre-defining games such as Dragon Warrior
Dragon Warrior
Dragon Warrior, known as in Japan, is the first role-playing video game in the Dragon Quest media franchise. It was developed by Chunsoft for the Nintendo Entertainment System and published by Enix in Japan in 1986...
, Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy (video game)
is a fantasy role-playing video game created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, developed and first published in Japan by Square in 1987. It is the first game in Square's Final Fantasy series...
, and The Bard's Tale
Bard's Tale (1985)
The Bard's Tale is a fantasy role-playing video game created by Interplay Productions in and distributed by Electronic Arts...
. Random encounters happen when the player is traversing the game world (often through the use of a "world map" or overworld
Overworld
An overworld is, in a broad sense, an area within a video game that interconnects all its levels or locations. They are mostly common in role-playing games, though this does not exclude other video game genres....
). Most often, the player encounters enemies to battle, but occasionally friendly or neutral characters can appear, with whom the player might interact differently than with enemies. Random encounters are random in the respect that players cannot anticipate the exact moment of encounter or what will be encountered, as the occurrence of the event is based on factors such as programmed probabilities; Pseudo-random number generators create the sequence of numbers used to determine if an encounter will happen. The form and frequency can vary depending on a number of factors, such as where the player is located in the game world and the statistics of the player character
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
. In some games, items can be found to increase or decrease the frequency of random encounters, even to eliminate them outright, or increase the odd of having a particular encounter.
Random encounters often occur more frequently in cave
Cave
A cave or cavern is a natural underground space large enough for a human to enter. The term applies to natural cavities some part of which is in total darkness. The word cave also includes smaller spaces like rock shelters, sea caves, and grottos.Speleology is the science of exploration and study...
s, forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
s, and swamp
Swamp
A swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...
s than in open plain
Plain
In geography, a plain is land with relatively low relief, that is flat or gently rolling. Prairies and steppes are types of plains, and the archetype for a plain is often thought of as a grassland, but plains in their natural state may also be covered in shrublands, woodland and forest, or...
s. The simplest sort of random encounter algorithm would be as follows:
- Each step, set X to a random integerIntegerThe integers are formed by the natural numbers together with the negatives of the non-zero natural numbers .They are known as Positive and Negative Integers respectively...
between 0 and 99. - If in plains, and X < 8, a random encounter occurs.
- If in swamp, desert, or forest, and X < 16, a random encounter occurs.
The problem with this algorithm is that random encounters occur "too" randomly for the tastes of most players, as there will be "droughts" and "floods" in their distribution. Random encounters in rapid succession are considered undesirable as they lead to the player's perception of getting "bogged down", but with the simple algorithm, it is possible to have an encounter from taking only one step after an encounter. The early games in the Dragon Quest
Dragon Quest
, published as Dragon Warrior in North America until 2005,Due to the inconsistent usage by sources since Square Enix obtained the naming rights to Dragon Quest in North America. Dragon Quest has been used by sources to refer to games released solely under the Dragon Warrior titles...
series, for example, allow random encounters to occur one step after the other. A more elaborate random encounter algorithm (and similar to those used in many games) would be the following:
- Set X to a random integerIntegerThe integers are formed by the natural numbers together with the negatives of the non-zero natural numbers .They are known as Positive and Negative Integers respectively...
between 64 and 255. - For each step in plains, decrement X by 4. For each step in forest, swamp, or desert, decrement X by 8.
- When X < 0, a fight ensues. Go to step 1.
This ensures that, in any terrain, the player will not experience more than one random enounter every eight steps. A game with this type of system can sometimes be taken advantage of by initiating some action that will reset the counter (pausing, opening a menu, saving), especially when using an emulator
Emulator
In computing, an emulator is hardware or software or both that duplicates the functions of a first computer system in a different second computer system, so that the behavior of the second system closely resembles the behavior of the first system...
. This is a popular trick in speedrun
Speedrun
A speedrun is a play-through, or recording thereof, of a whole video game or a selected part of it performed with the intent of completing it as fast as possible, optionally under certain prerequisites, mainly for the purposes of entertainment and competition...
s to skip time-consuming or dangerous battles or it can be used to ensure that each battle results in a rare or valuable encounter.
Random encounters have become less popular in video games with the passage of time, as gamers often complain that they are annoying or discouraging to exploration. The Final Fantasy and Tales
Tales (role-playing game series)
The series is a franchise of fantasy console role-playing games published by Namco Bandai Games , and primarily developed by its subsidiary, Namco Tales Studio. Created in 1994, the series now spans over twelve flagship titles, over fifteen side games, and four animated productions, into several...
series have abandoned random encounter systems with successive games, while relatively newer franchises such as the Chrono series and Kingdom Hearts have never used them.
A more commonly used tactic in later RPGs (used in Final Fantasy XII
Final Fantasy XII
is a console role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 2. Released in 2006, it is the twelfth title in the Final Fantasy series and the last in the series to be released exclusively on the PlayStation platform...
, Radiata Stories
Radiata Stories
is an action role-playing game. It was developed by tri-Ace and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 2. It was released on January 27, 2005 in Japan and September 6, 2005 in North America. The game was well-received in Japan but received a more mixed reaction in North America. It sold over...
, Fallout 1
Fallout (computer game)
Fallout is a computer role-playing game produced by Tim Cain, developed and published by Interplay in 1997. The game has a post-apocalyptic and retro-futuristic setting in the mid-22nd century, featuring an alternate history which deviates some time after World War II, where technology, politics...
and 2
Fallout 2
Fallout 2 is a computer role-playing game developed by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay in 1998. The game's story takes place in 2241, 80 years after the events of Fallout...
, Legend of Legaia
Legend of Legaia
is a 1998 Sony PlayStation role-playing video game created by Contrail. The game was followed by a 2001 video game called Legaia 2: Duel Saga on the PlayStation 2...
and all Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts
is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square in 2002 for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The first game in the Kingdom Hearts series, it is the result of a collaboration between Square Enix and The Walt Disney Company. The game combines characters and settings from Disney...
games) is to set a finite number of enemies in a given area. This cuts down on grinding
Grind (gaming)
Grinding is a term used in video gaming to describe the process of engaging in repetitive and/or boring tasks not pertaining to the story line of the game...
and does not discourage exploration to the same extent. A similar approach is spawning
Spawning (computer gaming)
In video games, spawning is the live creation of a character or item. Respawning is the recreation of an entity after its death or destruction....
, where monsters always (re)appear at the same location, as seen in Chrono Trigger
Chrono Trigger
is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1995. Chrono Triggers development team included three designers that Square dubbed the "Dream Team": Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of Square's Final Fantasy series; Yuji Horii, a...
and most of Dragon Quest IX
Dragon Quest IX
is a role-playing video game for the Nintendo DS released on July 11, 2009 in Japan. It is the ninth and most recent installment in the acclaimed Dragon Quest series created by Yūji Horii. The game was developed by Level-5 and published by Square Enix in Japan and by Nintendo in North America and...
. Both approaches give players the opportunity to anticipate, evade, or select encounters.