Worldship encounter tables, Levels 1-3

So, all this work for a few random encounter tables... Why are they so important?
For a theme specific setting like the world ship, I feel they are very important.
Random encounter tables set the mood, they set the flavour of a setting. This is because once every hour of gameplay the players tend to trigger an encounter (3 times an hour at 5-6 chance on a d6), as such they are a common interaction with your setting.

Here are the first three levels for the Worldship setting:

Roll	Monster Level 1	Monster Level 2	Monster Level 3
1	Bog’ans (1d8+proxy; Blog)	Bugmen (1d6; BCK p.66)	Doppelgänger (1d6; ACK p.161)
2	Brigands (2d4; ACK p.183	Barbarians (1d6; ACK p.183)	Ogre (1d6; ACK p.187)
3	Visitor (2d4; BCK p.88)	Revenants (1d6; Blog)	Visitor soldier (2d4; BCK p.88)
4	Fire Beetle (1d6; ACK p.156)	Bombardier Beetle (1d8; ACK p.156)	Tiger beetle (1d6; ACK p.156)
5	Giant Centipede (2d4; ACK p.159)	Crab Spider (1d4; ACK p.194)	Giant Black Widow (1d3; ACK p.194)
6	Giant Cockroach (1d8; BCK p.68)	Grick (1d4; BCK p.77)	Ettercap (1d2; BCK p.73)
7	Giant Killer Bee (1d6; ACK p.156)	Giant Carnivorous Fly (1d6; ACK p.169)	Giant Ant (2d4; ACK p.154)
8	Thief Birds (2d6; BCK p.73)	Claw Birds (1d4+1; BCK p.71)	Grin Lizards (1d2; BCK p.72)
9	Stirge, Lesser (1d10; see below)	Archer Fungus (1d4; BCK p.75)	Violet Fungus (1d4; BCK p.75)
10	Scout Drone (1d3; BCK p.81)	Darkmantle (1d3; BCK p.68)	Security Bot (1d3; Blog)
11	Rogue Clockworker (1d6; Blog)	Rogue ironwright (1d6; Blog)	Rogue Spider Ballista (1d8; Blog)
12	NPC Party, Lvl 1 (1d4+2)	NPC Party, Lvl 2 (1d4+2)	NPC Party, Lvl 4 (1d4+2)

Why not levels 4-6? I'm still working on them, and in playing ACKs normal I noticed that the table as presented became easier as the players leveled. The prevalence of solitary random enemies at upper levels tended to see my groups wipe them out easily in a single round (noting that this is my experience, yours may differ). I observed that the average experience for a group actually flattens at later levels, while the characters continue to advance. As a result I'm trying to build in enemies that are not solitary to my upper tables, I have also adjusted the random encounter numbers lower in some cases to tune the difficulty.

What are my design goals? Unlike standard ACKs I have only placed humanoid, or intelligent, monsters in slots 1-3 on the 1d12 roll, slot 11 is for Rogues and slot 10 is for robots, slot 9 I reserved for fungus and 8 for dinosaurs. Thematically I'm going for lots of insects as a neutral form of enemy, they set the scene for the ship being in disrepair (plus they can be mercilessly slaughtered). I'm also trying to make sure a range of enemies can be at play at any level, but emphasis is that these "random" monsters be both of hostile intent and likely to wander.

Level 1 Notes

• Visitors are one of the toughest encounters, but the items they drop are worth it. Plus if this is known then they can be avoided/negotiated with as they won’t want a direct fight.
• Thief birds are Velociraptors, scientific names for animals are not generally in the common vernacular. These things steal livestock and are a general pest, thus the name.
• Lesser Stirges are the same as normal stirges (ACKS p.196), just smaller and more pesky. They have a hit dice of 1d4* but are otherwise the same.

Level 2 Notes

• Grick tend to have adapted to the environment having metallic tones of grey to slightly blue.
• Claw Birds are Deinonychus dinosaurs from BCK, again this is the peasant term referring to their large claws and vicious nature. I dropped the number encountered in a dungeon a little.
• Darkmantles are a very weak encounter. There is no reason you couldn’t encounter a few. Bumping to 1d3, so solitary is still possible.

Level 3 Notes

• Grin lizards are Timurlengia dinosaurs named after those big mouths full of swords, their grin being the last thing you will see.
• Visitor soldiers and all their tech are nominally a level 2 encounter, but they can be brutal with that high AC and damage so I bumped them to level 3. Plus that loot salvage is good.

Exploring the maths

So, obviously I have a spreadsheet, which means I can examine this data set more intensely. One of my goals was to get a smoother group encounter XP amount from these tables, outside the flavour within. Lets rank this by average group experience then chart this, both in linear terms and log terms.

Overall the transition between levels is much smoother, but this may not hold at upper levels so much and in log terms relatively linear. Given the "doubling" growth of player experience this should fit well in play, given that I am testing it I will tell you how I go. Overall I am happy with this progression.

As a curiosity, here are some other fun facts.

Monster table stats

	Monster Level 1	Monster Level 2	Monster Level 3
Hit Dice	⅕ to 1+2	1 to 2+1	2+1 to 5
AC Avg. (max)	2.9 (5)	3.2 (7)	4.5 (7)