Anyone else think that this might be a pretty awesome timekiller if the rules were tweaked a bit to make it turn out to be a little less unadulterated chaos and a little more fun randomness? Given the simplicity of 4e Characters, a gaming group of 5, 6, or more could put together an encounter deck beforehand and, on a day where 2-3 people go missing, run random encounters for new 4e PCs built on-the-fly in about 15-30 minutes? It doesn't even have to be a normal 4e group, either.
Heck, anyone on this website willing to actually schedule something like this if the opportunity came up? I'm working on the encounter deck myself right now, so post whatever responses you have.
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EDIT: Some info about how I think the best way to go about building an Encounter Deck...
First thing I wanted to do was to figure out what monsters were available to build this deck. Given their highly developed archetype, I'm going to go with Kobolds for my encounter deck. Since they live in caves, I'm going to throw in some other cave-y type monsters to season and fill out roles that Kobolds are thin on (Skirmishers and Brutes most notably). Since they're closely linked to Dragons, some Dragon-y stuff was also thrown in. The result:
Kobold Slinger (Artillery 1)
Kobold Vermin Handler (Artillery 3)
Kobold Wyrmpriest (Artillery/Leader 3)
Dire Rat (Brute 1)
Guard Drake (Brute 2)
Kobold Piker (Brute 2)
Ochre Jelly (Elite Brute 3)
Young White Dragon (Solo Brute 3)
Rage Drake (Brute 5)
Kobold Spiker (Controller 3)
Kobold War Priest (Controller 5)
Kobold Wild Mage (Controller 5)
Shadowhunter Bat (Lurker 3)
Kobold Slyblade (Lurker 4)
Giant Rat (Minion 1)
Kobold Minion (Minion 1)
Kobold Skirmisher (Skirmisher 1)
Spiretop Drake (Skirmisher 1)
Rat Swarm (Skirmisher 2)
Fire Bat (Skirmisher 5)
Kobold Dragonshield (Soldier 2)
Needlefang Drake Swarm (Soldier 2)
Kobold Rat Master (Elite Soldier 4)
Kobold Chieftain (Soldier/Leader 5)
That's 24 monsters. For 40-50 cards in an encounter deck, that sounds about right. You may be noticing a lack of a Kobold Horde, and that's because I feel that first-level characters can't really take those on, and the experience reward for doing so anyway is lackluster. It's really something that should happen a little later on.
Anyway, looking at the DMG you'll notice right away that they made every Brute and Soldier card count for 2 monsters, something that I think is a little silly: just put in more brute and soldier cards if you want more brutes and soldiers. Whats more, some monsters have abilities dependant on other monsters. For example, the Kobold Slyblade is only really effective if it can deflect attacks onto Kobold Minions. Similarly, Controllers and Artillery in general really need some meat between them and the heroes in the form of Brutes, Minions, and Soldiers. As such, I'm inclined to never have these creatures go alone.
Regardless, it seems that the "optimal mix" of monsters is something like this: 20% Skirmishers, 20% Soldiers, 20% Brutes, 10% Minions, 10% Artillery, 10% Controllers, 5% Lurkers, and a Solo monster.
So if we were to give that sort of weight, it would look something like this:
1 Young White Dragon card
1 Kobold Slyblade card
1 Shadowhunter Bat card
2 Kobold Spiker cards
1 Kobold War Priest card
1 Kobold Wild Mage card
2 Kobold Slinger cards
1 Kobold Vermin Handler card
2 Kobold Wyrmpriest cards
2 Kobold Minion cards
2 Giant Rat cards
2 Dire Rat cards
3 Kobold Piker cards
3 Guard Drake cards
1 Ochre Jelly card
1 Rage Drake card
4 Kobold Dragonshield cards
3 Needlefang Drake Swarm cards
1 Kobold Rat Master card
1 Kobold Chieftain card
4 Kobold Skirmisher cards
2 Spiretop Drake cards
2 Rat Swarm cards
1 Fire Bat card
Resulting in 44 Cards, but like I said some monsters are reliant on others, so I figure we should put more than just one monster on each card.
1 Young White Dragon card
2 Kobold Slyblade + 5 Kobold Minions cards
1 Shadowhunter Bat card
3 Kobold Spiker + Kobold Piker cards
1 Kobold War Pirest + 2 Kobold Dragonshield cards
1 Kobold Wild Mage + 2 Guard Drake cards
2 Kobold Slinger + Kobold Skirmisher cards
2 Kobold Vermin Handler + Kobold Skirmisher cards
2 Kobold Wyrmpriest + 4 Kobold Minions cards
1 Kobold Wyrmpriest + 2 Kobold Piker cards
2 Dire Rat cards
1 Dire Rat + 4 Giant Rats card
2 Kobold Piker cards
2 Guard Drake cards
1 Ochre Jelly card
1 Rage Drake card
4 Kobold Dragonshield cards
2 Needlefang Drake Swarm cards
1 Kobold Rat Master + 5 Giant Rats card
1 Kobold Chieftain + 2 Kobold Skirmisher card
4 Kobold Skirmisher cards
2 Rat Swarm cards
1 Fire Bat card
...so when you make an encounter, depending on the party level and number of players, you go until you have so many XP worth of monsters in your encounter.
Level 1- 400 XP for 4, 500 XP for 5, 600 XP for 6
Level 2- 500 XP for 4, 625 XP for 5, 750 XP for 6
Level 3- 600 XP for 4, 750 XP for 5, 900 XP for 6
Beyond level 3, this deck probably won't work so well anymore, given that so many of the monsters are level 1, 2, and 3.
