I am extremely bad at this.

In the beginning, Dungeons & Dragons had a definite structure for how you handled dungeon exploration. It went something like this:

• Exploration is broken into ten-minute turns
• On the party’s turn, they can perform one of these activities:
  • Move up to their speed – assumed to be slowly and while mapping, so 120 feet per 10 minutes was fast!
  • Search their current area for secrets (treasure, clues, secret doors, etc.)
  • Engage in one combat
• At the end of the turn, the DM makes a check to see if Wandering Monsters arrive (the default was a 1 on a 1d6, but this could change).
• After five turns of exploration, the party needed to rest for one turn
• Torches, lanterns, and the like would burn down with time and had to be replaced
• After eight hours of exploration, the party were exhausted and had to go home

This structure allowed the game to run smoothly, and also allowed time to pass.

And, as I mentioned, I have proven myself to be extremely bad at following this structure.

Why? Because, for the most part, it does not matter. It adds something to the game, but that something is quite forgettable for many – and that is why it does not appear in the current rulebooks.

However, if you are starting out, then having a stricter structure can prove useful until you understand when it is time to move beyond the structure and concentrate on the things that you and your party find fun.

The Encounter

Another of those old structures was devised around the encounter – which often was not set in stone and might even be generated randomly.

The steps went something like this:

• Determine if either group are surprised (a roll of 1-2 on d6 indicated it were so; these days you can use Stealth and passive Perception).
• Determine the reaction of the monsters to the party (roll 2d6, on a 2 they are hostile, on a 12 they are friendly, with 7 indicating neutrality).
• Allow non-surprised party members to choose to:
  • Parlay
  • Flee
  • Fight
• Determine monster reactions to the party actions – combat if necessary, perhaps a chase or ignoring them, or even a negotiation.

Although I never saw this expressed in a grid, consider the following:

One modifier to this would be if the monsters perceived the party as stronger or weaker than them. Weaker monsters would flee if possible or talk; stronger monsters would fight!

And, of course, your sense as a DM of the situation overrides everything!