Help me Populate a Caravan

[HKR]

Hello everybody,

In my campaign world, the wilderness between population centers is pretty dangerous, so travellers normally group together in caravans. My players are going to start our next campaign as members of one of those caravans. The caravan should consist of at least 50 people to stand a chance in the gnoll infested hillside they´re travelling through. Here´s what I have so far:

the PCs (3)
a carpet merchant and his family (4)
several sellswords/adventurers hired to protect the caravan (~6)
a cavalier and his squire (2)
a group of priests of a foreign deity led by a low level cleric (4)

... and here i´m at a loss. I need 30-35 interesting NPCs to add to the group.
Please help me, playgrounders. Any ideas for interesting merchants or other travelling people are welcome. I´m also looking for suggestions for encounters on the road or internal conflicts within the group.

[Palanan]

Another group of priests of a local divine power will add a few more heads, and also add the potential for significant tension with the foreign priests.

I would also add a travelling bookseller, which was an idea I really wanted to use in my current campaign, but didn't have the chance. A bookseller would have his own cart and would be more than willing to travel with a larger caravan.

Apart from being an interesting character in his own right, he might have certain books which could be of interest to the PCs, and which (after a careful reading) might confer a minor bonus on this or that skill check.

[Inferno]

A group of bards are always good. Complete with Dancers, Jugglers, Acrobats, Actors, Poets, Storytellers and anything else entertainment related you can think of. All fun, interesting NPC's with good reason to travel with a troupe.

[J-H]

A traveling Psion (level 4+) and his apprentice (level 2)... Or his wife (Commoner 1/Expert 2) and their two teenage children (Soulknife 1, female, Psion 1, male).

An Awakened cat rogue (Level 2) and his henchman/friend, a Warrior 1.

A small team of cooks/quartermasters for the caravan

What class is a horse doctor? You may need one. Veterinarian... cleric/Adept/Druid?

4 young men seeking fortune with their friends (3 Warrior 1s and a Rogue 1)

A moderately wealthy heiress/wizardess (Enchanter 4) with her bodyguard (Urban Ranger 3) and two servants.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Inferno
A group of bards are always good.

Including an investigator who's traveling undercover, on the trail of a murderer.

(Lifted straight from Last Act in Palmyra (http://www.amazon.com/Palmyra-Marcus-Didius-Falco-Mysteries/dp/0446404748). Be sure to work in a water organ.)

[Beelzebub1111]

Pilgrims and Refugees are always a good start. Poor people who just managed to scrounge and beg up enough for the trip, looking for a new start in a new country.

[HKR]

I like the pilgrims and refugees idea. That´s something i had not thought of. I also need some inspiration for encounters on the road. What challenges do caravans face (apart from brigands)?

[andromax]

Probably going to be some rogue guild/gang members along in some capacity if not doing surveillance on any number of your other interesting characters, then pursuing their organization's interests along the route.

[Sliver]

A mysterious pit trap that was dug up by a shady order in order to catch wild animals. Team Rocket go!

There are always the dangers of weather, depending on the environment. Wildlife will usually stay away from large groups, but hungry animals might still attempt to steal some during the night.

The shaky road might lead to some of the crates and barrels to crack or break. Perhaps the moist of the cold night caused some of the produce to spoil. A storm caused the bridge to collapse and now the caravan has to find a less traveled, probably dangerous, route.

One of the refugees had a sick baby hidden among his rags and the whole caravan now faces the risk of disease. The foreigners' immune system isn't used to the area and they are extremely ill as a result. One of the horses got spooked and ran rampant, one of the carriage wheels broke as a result.

[Silverbit]

There could be a lycanthrope hidden in the band, just awaiting detection on the full moon.
Maybe some heavy handed guards try to confiscate some (illegal) smuggled goods from a merchant, and the ensuing conflict draws the attention of the PCs?

[Sgt. Cookie]

Scholars are always going to be traveling from place to place. They also make for a decent excuse, if you need some obscure or important knowledge to get into the hands of the PCs.

[jaynus006]

If this is common practice you might add a caravan company, a ten leader a few guards, and a few laborers, cooks wheelwrights and the like, who actually organize an lead these caravans when people need to travel. This also opens up fun hooks.

Maybe the caravan leader has an agreement and "loses" some of the travelers every trip for various reasons and the PCs can investigate. Or the caravan leader and a small group of traveling mercenaries come at odds.

Someone important is being smuggled out by kinappersbpretending to be ordinary travelers , or maybe try are moving a high profile person for after and tht are instead taken in the wilds. Either sets up the PCs for a rescue mission and maybe even a friendly contact where they are headed.

Regardless of direction every morning the caravan wakes in the same strting location Seemingly trapped.

A dangerous criminal, a wizard with various mind control abilities, is caught and needs to be transported. The caravan begins to ten on each other seemingly from his influence.

Just a few ideas

[genmoose]

I really like the refugee idea, and it got me thinking. What if one (or maybe a few) of the refugee's are the last of a proud and powerful family that was wiped out long ago. Since then they are considered cursed and bad luck.

At lower levels this could lead to conflict as the caravan enters towns and perhaps encounters superstitious folks that either want the refugees out or killed.

As the group grows, the refugees could come under targeted attacks to kill or capture them.

Long story short, eventually the PC's find out that the refugees are key to opening a lost family vault. One faction wants the vault opened and will use its contents for evil purposes. Another faction wants the refugees dead so the vault can never be opened.

The PC's get wrapped up in the whole mess. They could choose to protect the refugees and keep them safe, or they could convince the refugees to work with them and open the vault for themselves. Inside could be almost anything that could take the campaign to the next level (once they are tired of playing caravan guard). Maybe it will release a BBEG. Maybe the PC's screw up and let one faction get the McGuffin they need to do some horrible thing. Or maybe it's full of enough power/money for the PC's to become a force that could change the world. With great power comes great responsibility, lots of strings attached, yadda yadda yadda.

[HKR]

I really like the refugee idea, and it got me thinking. What if one (or maybe a few) of the refugee's are the last of a proud and powerful family that was wiped out long ago. Since then they are considered cursed and bad luck.

At lower levels this could lead to conflict as the caravan enters towns and perhaps encounters superstitious folks that either want the refugees out or killed.

As the group grows, the refugees could come under targeted attacks to kill or capture them.

Long story short, eventually the PC's find out that the refugees are key to opening a lost family vault. One faction wants the vault opened and will use its contents for evil purposes. Another faction wants the refugees dead so the vault can never be opened.

The PC's get wrapped up in the whole mess. They could choose to protect the refugees and keep them safe, or they could convince the refugees to work with them and open the vault for themselves. Inside could be almost anything that could take the campaign to the next level (once they are tired of playing caravan guard). Maybe it will release a BBEG. Maybe the PC's screw up and let one faction get the McGuffin they need to do some horrible thing. Or maybe it's full of enough power/money for the PC's to become a force that could change the world. With great power comes great responsibility, lots of strings attached, yadda yadda yadda.

It´s really funny you suggest that. You´re coming pretty close to what i actually had planned for later:

The PC´s have been hired by a rich merchant to take part in an auction on his behalf and purchase a ruined mansion that once belonged to a legendary "cursed" family. That´s their mission at the destination of the caravan. I´m not sure about the nature of the curse yet, but I imagine this family to be something between the Kennedy clan and the Templar knights (huge clan, many family branches in different regions of the world, outlawed and killed by the government for heretical activities)