Experience Report: The Alchemy of Random Encounters

12 Jun, 2025

One of the most important components of a great dungeon crawl is the random encounter table. Per every blog post and game I've read on the subject, the random encounter table adds both time pressure and a magical unpredictability, both to the players and the GM. Accordingly, when I started running His Majesty the Worm, I was excited to see how the Meatgrinder (this game's version of the random encounter table) would impact play.

When I ran my first proper session of the game a couple weeks ago, I was blown away by the impact of the table! On reflection, I most appreciated how the encounter table reinforced the properties of a good dungeon. In the rest of this post, I will describe three ways that random encounters added crucial elements to the game that, I believe, would not have been there otherwise.

The dungeon the players are currently exploring is called Sump Station, a flooded and abandoned subway station that was once the first port of call for the Vermissian line, before the occult incident that punctured the Heart¹.

A reason to explore - a collapsing tunnel

[Travel Event] A screeching howl of metal gives you just enough warning to jump out of the way if you're in the frame closest to the entrance. The door closest to Derelictus is blocked.

In the first draw of the session, I drew the above event - Derelictus is the city from which they came. In HMtW parlance as I interpret it, a Travel Event is something that depletes the resources of the adventurers or has some environmental effect. This occurred, however, as the players entered a room that was a main byway through the dungeon. The particular effect, therefore, was that they could not backtrack down what had previously been a cleared and safe portion of the dungeon!

The reason I liked this so much is that it changed the exploration decisions for the rest of the session and made even the basic task of "exiting the dungeon" suddenly non-trivial.

A reason to return - the invisible alligator

[Encounter] The invisible alligator swims through the room. Discard = Swords: it's hungry and attacks. Otherwise, it's curious but relatively peaceful; it's simply on its way elsewhere.

What would a subway station dungeon be without an homage to the albino alligators of New York City? My interpretation of this took it one step further and made the alligator invisible. In this instance, the alligator was indeed curious and peaceful, rubbing against the leg of one of the adventurers. The immediate instinct, as I suspect is often the case with players, was to want to tame it. I did not let a single test of fate resolve this but did suggest that, with proper planning and equipment, this could be possible in the future. I believe the players will pursue this the next time they return to Derelictus!

As a side note, I was proud to see my players, most of whom are unfamiliar with the grand tradition of dungeon crawling, devise a classic tactical-infinity-style solution to the mystery of what this creature was. Our hunter, a gnoll named Stillwater, happened to have chalk in his bag, smashed it into dust, and spread it on the ground to see the creature's footprints. He then drew on his hunter's knowledge to identify it - great stuff!

A reason to flee - the Mega-Wretch

[Encounter] The Mega-Wretch rounds the corner, sloughing off flesh. Run. It's always hungry.

The capstone of our session was an encounter with the Mega-Wretch², the dungeon lord of Sump Station. As the players were exploring some behind-the-scenes maintenance areas, I happened to draw this encounter, and this was a transformative moment.

At first, the players believed they were doing well as they chopped off its enormous tentacles that were drawing them closer to its terrible beak. However, as the fight went on, they realized that it had regenerating powers and once the tentacles started to reform, they decided to flee. Running into a not-yet-explored room, they realized that it was actually a pit filled with water, so they held their breath and hid below as the nearly-dead chef was being dragged by a stealthy soldier before he died.

It was an incredible scene, and I would never have thought to have them encounter the dungeon lord early without this encounter. Plus, it instilled a properly healthy fear of the dungeon into the players, which will inspire them to prepare and plan better in the future!

The alchemy of the random encounter

In this article, I've aimed to show how the random encounter creates an alchemical reaction between your dungeon key, the players themselves, and the structured-but-unexpected turns of events that can result. I have even adapted a version of this procedure to Triangle Agency to great effect, which I may write about more in the future. In the comments page below, feel free to tell me stories of how random encounters have made magic in your games - I'd love to hear about them!

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