Encounter Charts for GURPS
Introduction
I created these charts in the early 1990s. I found that I had books full of neat creatures but that I routinely used only a few of them. In an attempt to present my players with more variety and get more use out of those books, I created a set of charts. Recently, various folks have been asking for them. Also, after a long hiatus, I plan to get back to GMing. Consequently, I'm putting many of my old charts online.
These charts rely on GURPS books from the second and third editions, specifically GURPS Bestiary, GURPS Fantasy Bestiary, and GURPS Space Bestiary. There are also a few monsters that I have created myself.
How to Use the Charts
The encounter charts work differently for dungeon encounters and outdoor encounters.
Dungeon Encounters
- Determine the level of the dungeon where the encounter takes place.
- Roll 1 die to determine the monster level from the chart at the top of the file.
- Once you have the monster level, pick a monster from the list of monsters for that level.
Outdoor Encounters
The outdoor encounter charts span several files.
Outdoor Encounters is the master file. The other files (listed below) contain lists of monsters per terrain type and sorted by level.
Note: Depending on what you roll on the
Outdoor Encounters chart, you may not need to consult a terrain-specific file. Consult the terrain-specific files only if you get a value of "Critters" on the
Outdoor Encounters chart.
To use the outdoor encounter charts:
- Consult the Outdoor Encounters file.
- Find the terrain through which the party is traveling.
- Roll 3 dice.
- Consult the chart for that terrain type. Stop here if you get any result other than "Critters".
- If you get a value of "Critters", consult the Encounter Level chart on the second page.
- Roll 3 dice.
- Determine the level of the encounter.
- Consult the encounter file for that specific terrain type.
- Pick a monster from the list that matches the level you generated earlier.
Here are the terrain-specific encounter files:
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