What happens next is based on the players, GM, robots programming, etc. Does it hang back and track the PC's? Is it alone or a forward observer for a larger force?
In TME, initiative is a good rule for who spots who first.
We do know that another encounter check isn't necessary for 20 min. If you need, place a hash mark on your notes to show that this first encounter check is done, or at least generated if not resolved.
These charts and tables are
great for new GM's or anytime you don't have something planned for that game session. Heck, players love to look at the maps you've detailed, let you start into carefully scripted flavor text and say.. "but we want to go that way!", just outside of your map. Someplace you didn't fully detail on your only day off this week.. When that happens, I pull out the charts and roll with gusto, hoping for something sinister.
My players might lose focus and momentum if I stopped to make 10 or so rolls at the start of a game. Sometimes we need to start with an initiative roll (the cattle prod technique) just to keep them vested in the game.
I like to have encounters planned out
as much as possible, before we sit down to game.
Having a few, (sometimes) randomly rolled encounters for areas they're likely to travel, let's up spend more time with "gaming" and less time with "roll, roll, "wait a minute.." roll, roll.. "ok, just a second".. roll, roll.." Other GM's might be super fast at this with patient players and it works fine.
My head also over thinks this and makes me wonder about the ecology in an area populated by (wandering monster) encounter checks.
Rolling 10 times in this environment gives me 7 encounters. 7 encounters in 200 min are entirely possible just walking through these ruined streets during the day..?
Jaw Plant, Ruin Vulture, Rubble Spider, Skullocks, Humans, Green Walkers and another Robot encounter are all possible in 200 min!? Is this a major highway? Are the intelligent ones coming to trade? Did the sounds of combat attract the others?
How do all these beings impact their environment and each other?
I love TME. I just like to plan encounters as much as possible, before they're needed.
If I know the encounters and the layout of the land, I can now populate the area. Maybe the (2D6) skullocks are just passing through the ruined town on their way to another location. Our (D4) rubble spiders lives in the wreckage of an old cargo truck. The family is getting bigger and it's time to kick the young'uns out of the nest. The (3D6) ruin vultures have been slowly tracking the skullocks. The Human Encounter (refer to pg 136) is determined to be (2D6) families (?!) that are trying to make a living in the town, but are losing people to all these darn encounter checks! The leader makes a decent tequila-like brew from jaw plant root and will be upset if the PC's hack up his "garden". That extra robot encounter turns out to be a heavy combot! Maybe the first bot
was just a scout.
By making these rolls before the game, a GM can weave an entire session out of these helpful tables.
(Oh, I only made 10 rolls because I decided you could walk all the way through this town (encounter area) in about 3 hrs; 20 min checks x 10 rolls = 200 min/60 min = 3.33 hrs.)
