Encounters
Source GM Core pg. 74
A robust set of encounters forms the backbone of your adventure. Encounters often feature combat with other creatures, but they can also include hazards, or you might create social encounters in which characters duel only with words. The rules for building encounters appropriate to your group's level begin below.
Some adventures have a clear and direct progression, with encounters occurring at specific times or in a specific order. Others, such as a research station filled with interconnected rooms the group can investigate in any order, are nonlinear, and the group can face encounters in any order—or even avoid them entirely. Most adventures are somewhere in between, with some keystone encounters you know the characters will need to contend with, but others that are optional.
Additional Guidance: building your own creatures, building your own hazards, encounter design
Some adventures have a clear and direct progression, with encounters occurring at specific times or in a specific order. Others, such as a research station filled with interconnected rooms the group can investigate in any order, are nonlinear, and the group can face encounters in any order—or even avoid them entirely. Most adventures are somewhere in between, with some keystone encounters you know the characters will need to contend with, but others that are optional.
Additional Guidance: building your own creatures, building your own hazards, encounter design