[ruhar]

I have been playing around with my Random Encounters topic and I'm close to having it laid out in a way that I like. I have a couple of questions I want to throw out to the forum for some feedback.

I'll begin with explaining how I have the topic laid out. The first section is the Overview and contains any extra information I'll need about the particular set of random encounters. The section concludes with a table of the random encounters. The table contains d%, Result (# Monster example: 6 orcs or 1d6 Driders), Average CR, Source – pg#, Description (quick bestiary description of what the PCs see).

I like showing pictures of the scenes, NPCs, monsters, etc. to help with the visualization so the next section is Mug Shots. It contains a simple picture snippet for each encounter. Each picture includes a GM Direction with the monster's name instead of attached to the picture. This is in case the PCs are clueless of what they are fighting I don't want the name to appear with the picture.

The final section is Portfolios which has a portfolio snippet for each encounter.

Now to my questions. I notice that with an intense random encounter topic that has lots of information, a long table in the Overview, followed by lots of mug-shots and equally lots of portfolio snippets the scrolling tends to be a bit jumpy. FYI, this is for Emerald Spire combined with Thornkeep so there are at least three different random encounter tables/topics, the one for the spire is long. Should I put all the mug-shots of the different encounters into one topic (in alpha order) to prevent the jumpy scrolling? Or would the large Mug-Shots topic have the same issue? Thoughts and ideas are welcome.

On a side note, I have to say that this is when it would be nice to have anchor links within a topic so the Gray Ooze in the table can link its mug-shot and portfolio. sigh

Next question. I also create the encounters in Hero Lab in a folder for that group of encounters. I'm not sure what to do with encounters that include something like Bandit Gang that includes 3–6 warriors of 1st–2nd level plus a leader of 2nd–5th level. The leader is a fighter (30%), ranger (30%), or rogue (40%).

Thanks.