Wandering Monsters
The characters should not be the only things creeping through the dark of the dungeon in search of loot and/or prey. Other things lurk in the ebon shadows of the underworld, waiting for foolhardy adventurers to wander by…
Wandering monsters are something that has seemingly fallen out of fashion, in recent years. In the Good Old Days, every module had a table of random encounters. Sometimes for dungeons with several levels, you got different tables for each level! Designed to simulate the movement of monsters around the dungeon, they were a fun facet of the game.
Nowadays, however, they seem to be somewhat less common. That’s a shame as they are a vital part of any well designed dungeon and despite popular misconception, they don’t always end in pointless combat. Clever characters can gain great advantage from random encounters.
Types of Wandering Monster
Wandering monsters come in three basic types:
Dungeon Denizens: The characters encounter denizens of the dungeon. Combat (or a hasty parley) often ensues. Occasionally, the party might encounter slaves or an escaped prisoner. Such encounters often yield valuable intelligence about the layout of the dungeon and its inhabitants.
Dungeon Explorers: The characters encounter another adventuring group. The other party could be friendly (or not). The other adventuring party could be stronger or weaker than the characters and could be in the process of doing literally anything the characters might be doing. They could be resting, healing their wounds, counting their loot and so on.
Dungeon Scavengers: Some monsters are nothing more than scavengers. They may be tolerated by the other dungeon denizens, feared or actively hunted. Scavengers rarely deliberately carry appreciable treasure.
Why Have Wandering Monsters?
Wandering monsters fulfil several important functions:
They Keep Things Random: In a game where very few or no monster wander the dungeon (or other adventuring locale) the characters can stride the halls with relative impunity. After all, they are in no danger as all the monsters are safely in their rooms. A party that doesn’t have to worry about wandering monsters enjoys a significant advantage over those that must consider such things.
They Build Verisimilitude: In almost every dungeon or other adventuring locale its denizens move about. To have groups of monsters simply lurking in rooms waiting to be killed is ludicrous (and unrealistic). Food and water must be procured, guards changed, rubbish disposed of and so on. It stands to reason, the party will encounter denizens going about their daily lives.
They Consume Resources: Wandering monsters inevitably consume the characters’ resources. Thus, they act as an incentive to move quickly and carefully. If the party spends an inordinate amount of time wandering about a dungeon or routinely spends hours searching every area they discover it stands to reason they should encounter wandering monsters.
They Provide Vital Resources: Wandering monsters enable you to provide the party with vital resources—such as a scroll or other magic item—they currently lack which they don’t know they need. For example, if the party must traverse a flooded section of dungeon giving them a potion of water breathing could enable them to continue and save the session (or adventure) from coming to an abrupt halt.
They Slow or Divert the Party: Wandering monsters are a great way of slowing down or diverting the party (either for their own good or because they are wandering into a part of the dungeon you have not yet designed).
They Provide “Bonus” XP: Wandering monsters are a good way of “topping up” the party’s XP. If they really should level up before fighting the dungeon’s boss a couple of random encounters are a great way to provide this XP without being too obvious
Finally, remember a wandering monster can serve more than one purpose. Such a random encounter could both slow down the party (if the session is coming to an end or the characters are about to head out of the area you have designed) and provide a handy piece of treasure.
Designing a Random Encounter
Remember when designing (perhaps on the fly) a random encounter, wandering creatures are:
Doing something when encountered.
Rarely just hanging around waiting to be killed.
Not always aware of the characters before the characters become aware of them; sometimes the characters can either avoid or surprise a wandering monster.
Not always looking for a fight; in fact they may be keen to avoid or ally themselves with the party.
This article is an extract from Dungeon Dressing: Wandering Monsters which is available in 5e, OSR, Pathfinder 1 and Pathfinder 2 editions.
Words Creighton Broadhurst Art Matt Morrow