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View Full Version : DM Help Interesting Mundane Encounters (What do I see on the road?)



Lacco
2015-04-20, 01:44 PM
Due to a bad case of inspiration loss, I would like to ask you for your help with ideas for interesting mundane encounters on the road.

In best case - short vignettes or encounter description that provide potential hook for a scene, memorable landmark or just something for the PCs to see during overland travel.

Part of my players moved out of city, another part has job issues and we had a kid too, so I have to keep stalling the campaign for some time. We figured that a long travel with several smaller adventures will be fine. The story and PCs support this. But I need to change the style from „story“ to „episodic sandbox travel“. And I’m a little burned out.

Requirements:

no system specific entries.
no magic/low magic. Mysterious places, remains of old civilizations and mysterious occurrences are all OK.
nothing that can be found in random tables („two bards who want the PCs to judge their songs“ is ok, "2d6 elven bards" is not helpful).
interesting combat/duel/ambush places are also welcome.


Two knights in a trial by ordeal. They must stand straight, in full armour, without movement. One of them may see the PCs as help/sign from his god, the other one asks them not to interfere.

A 20 feet high column made of strange wood, covered by markings. It seems that people leave messages on it. Last one reads as „...and meet me at the Four Winds Inn. Have the gold ready and your family will...“.

A valley, covered by small blue flowers. A deer grazes by a large rock in the middle of valley. Watching it you notice a wolf, sneaking to it.

Let's get creative :smallcool:
And thank you in advance!

Milodiah
2015-04-20, 01:51 PM
Remember that unless it's absolute wilderness, there will be the occasional farmstead on the side of the road.

If I want to (playfully) mess with my DM, I will opt to have the party spend the night there instead of just making a generic campsite, and subsequently force him to provide intricate details out of his ass.

Maybe the owners are on the verge of being considered elderly and could use a few strapping young lads/lasses to do some physically-demanding tasks like mending fences, or the most technically-inclined party member could make some repairs to their busted plow harness.

Maybe, as the sun sets, they start to worry about their son, who went to the next farm over to see his sweetheart this morning and should by all rights be back by now.

Maybe they're just willing to give your guys a good meal in exchange for a few stories of their heroism and stuff.

Kavos D.
2015-04-20, 02:10 PM
When you get loot in D&D, Pathfinder, or any other pen and paper game, its almost always important - you never just happen to find a mundane Spyglass or a regular non-magical empty lockbox. Sometimes its more exciting to get that mysteriously mundane item over the +1 Chainmail.

Of course, if you do that too much though... :P

Lacco
2015-04-20, 02:17 PM
Remember that unless it's absolute wilderness, there will be the occasional farmstead on the side of the road.

If I want to (playfully) mess with my DM, I will opt to have the party spend the night there instead of just making a generic campsite, and subsequently force him to provide intricate details out of his ass.

Maybe the owners are on the verge of being considered elderly and could use a few strapping young lads/lasses to do some physically-demanding tasks like mending fences, or the most technically-inclined party member could make some repairs to their busted plow harness.

Maybe, as the sun sets, they start to worry about their son, who went to the next farm over to see his sweetheart this morning and should by all rights be back by now.

Maybe they're just willing to give your guys a good meal in exchange for a few stories of their heroism and stuff.

Thank you, that is exactly the type of idea what I meant. Mainly I like the possibility to show the IC side of character, roleplaying opportunities - we have covered a lot of "story" in last years, so a short break for immersion is welcome.

Keep them coming if you have more :smallsmile:


When you get loot in D&D, Pathfinder, or any other pen and paper game, its almost always important - you never just happen to find a mundane Spyglass or a regular non-magical empty lockbox. Sometimes its more exciting to get that mysteriously mundane item over the +1 Chainmail.

Of course, if you do that too much though... :P

In this context, "mundane" was meant as "non-magical", maybe even "low fantasy". Still, thank you for reply.

Milodiah
2015-04-20, 03:30 PM
Also, I dotted the map of my homebrew setting with small garrison towers maintained by the local military, which is always good for a variety of reasons. The PCs can make camp there, report observations, barter with the quartermaster, get forcibly recruited by the secret-police-equivalent to help investigate a mysterious rift appearing beside a road which seems to lead into an elaborate cave network, etc.

Also, I made extensive use of this generator (http://donjon.bin.sh/fantasy/random/#town) when making said map. You can weave up some nice plot hooks or just background fluff from what you end up with. For example, I got a hamlet with a population of ten. I decided it was the tavern owner, his wife and kids, the general store owner, his wife, another employee or two for each, and Stinky William. Stinky William being the alleged "town guardsman", but is in reality a Half-Orc Hexblade merc washout who doesn't mind being paid in ale, and the only Orky trait he inherited from his highly-diluted pedigree is their intense body odor.

I statted him up with the intent of the PCs, who were running light on actual front-liners, hiring him as a follower. The battlemage ended up engaging him first in a drinking contest, then a fistfight. Which the battlemage won by the absolute skin of his teeth, by dint of one more level and being a half-dragon.

Lord Torath
2015-04-20, 04:27 PM
A "caravan" of pilgrims on their way to a significant religious site. Led by a low-level cleric, the rest are just regular peasants. They are probably friendly, and may ask to PCs to travel along with them, or (if the PCs are moving faster than they are) take word of their coming to the site.

Or they can be under attack by bandits (or recently robbed by them) and need the PCs help.

A rider in the livery of the king (president/prime minister/dictatorial tyrant with Little Man's disease) galloping along the path.

A party of nobles out for a picnic or falconry (or both).

Maglubiyet
2015-04-20, 09:49 PM
PC's come upon a gibbeted criminal, a notorious highwayman, hung in a cage by the road. According to the posted notice, he is Deamal of the Brown Coat, sentenced to remain until he dies of thirst. By royal decree, anyone helping him will suffer the same fate. His two young children sit nearby watching.

Characters encounter a well-groomed horse walking slowly, dragging its rider by one boot. The rider fell drunken from his saddle the previous evening and his foot remained tangled in the stirrup -- he was dragged all night and is barely alive. His gear and clothing mark him as high born, though he is young, a mere teen. Just another rich kid out partying.

Ilyusha is beside himself. His dancing bear, Pikin, has eaten some poison mushrooms and is very ill. The full-grown animal is now lying by the side of the road in pain. The pair are traveling entertainers on their way to the next big city. Ilyusha cannot move the 400 lbs bear (180 kg) to the nearby village where they might find a healer and he does not want to abandon his friend (and meal ticket).

NomGarret
2015-04-20, 10:10 PM
Here's a mundane encounter:

Road construction.

Maglubiyet
2015-04-20, 10:33 PM
Edh-Dhib and his brother are nomadic goat herders who recently discovered a cave in the desert. Inside they found an unusual scroll casing full of blackened pages covered with an ancient dialect. They are on their way to the city to hopefully sell the pages to a trader they know who is interested in the odd things they find in the wild. They can't read themselves, but they are sure this is worth at least a few silver coins.

Lacco
2015-04-21, 02:05 AM
A "caravan" of pilgrims on their way to a significant religious site. Led by a low-level cleric, the rest are just regular peasants. They are probably friendly, and may ask to PCs to travel along with them, or (if the PCs are moving faster than they are) take word of their coming to the site.

Or they can be under attack by bandits (or recently robbed by them) and need the PCs help.

A rider in the livery of the king (president/prime minister/dictatorial tyrant with Little Man's disease) galloping along the path.

A party of nobles out for a picnic or falconry (or both).

Great! Thank you.


PC's come upon a gibbeted criminal, a notorious highwayman, hung in a cage by the road. According to the posted notice, he is Deamal of the Brown Coat, sentenced to remain until he dies of thirst. By royal decree, anyone helping him will suffer the same fate. His two young children sit nearby watching.

Characters encounter a well-groomed horse walking slowly, dragging its rider by one boot. The rider fell drunken from his saddle the previous evening and his foot remained tangled in the stirrup -- he was dragged all night and is barely alive. His gear and clothing mark him as high born, though he is young, a mere teen. Just another rich kid out partying.

Ilyusha is beside himself. His dancing bear, Pikin, has eaten some poison mushrooms and is very ill. The full-grown animal is now lying by the side of the road in pain. The pair are traveling entertainers on their way to the next big city. Ilyusha cannot move the 400 lbs bear (180 kg) to the nearby village where they might find a healer and he does not want to abandon his friend (and meal ticket).

Great ideas, do you have any for wilderness too?


Edh-Dhib and his brother are nomadic goat herders who recently discovered a cave in the desert. Inside they found an unusual scroll casing full of blackened pages covered with an ancient dialect. They are on their way to the city to hopefully sell the pages to a trader they know who is interested in the odd things they find in the wild. They can't read themselves, but they are sure this is worth at least a few silver coins.

I will use this for sure :smallsmile:

Maglubiyet
2015-04-21, 08:25 AM
You know Edh-Dhib is the name of the real guy who found the Dead Sea Scrolls -- that is pretty much how the actual story went.

Random wilderness sites:


The mist-cloaked ruins of an old stone hill fort loom over the road. A pair of ravens sit on a wall and squawk at passers-by.
A large dead hollow tree stands by the trail. It has room enough inside for two or three people to sleep side by side. As evidenced by the ash of countless campfires, many travelers have used it for shelter for a night. The walls inside are covered with carved names and phrases -- "Boldai slept here", "Magnus", "Felicia is my true love", "Arnus stinks". Outside, over the hollow entrance someone has hammered a nail and hung a rusted, worn horseshoe.
A dead man lies on the trail where it fords a stream. He is naked save for his undergarments. There are no signs of trauma and his tongue is black and swollen. His only possession is a battered tin cup with the word "Gram" inscribed on it.
A mother wolf has her leg caught in a bear trap. She is weak and barely alive. Her three pups are frolicking nearby and frequently come lick her head and wounded leg.

The Evil DM
2015-04-21, 09:08 AM
I must commend Maglubiyet on those, great descriptions and imagery.

Mini dungeons and caves make great additions to a wilderness encounter table. One or two room burrows that are either occupied or unoccupied depending on the current needs.

If the game has a survival or man vs wild flair I include opportunities to hunt or forage as encounters.

You can also think of random encounters as opportunities to trigger events.

A fun event I rarely see used is a change in weather. What do you do as you walk down the trail and a thunderstorm starts to build up. Or a the characters wake from a nights rest to a thick heavy fog. All perfectly natural, no monsters hiding in the fog but they have difficulty seeing the trail for the first few hours in the morning.

The fog almost always makes players squirm a little and get paranoid.

Jay R
2015-04-21, 12:33 PM
Ruins.

An old mill. Was something hidden there? Was it destroyed by the nixies or other denizens of the stream?

A still smoldering cottage. Who set it on fire? Are there any survivors? A single living baby in a crib requires them to try to find somebody who can adopt it.

A collapsed mine entrance. It's not an entrance to a huge dungeon, just a mine with a few shafts - and maybe some tailing outside indicating gold ore.

Any old house with a trap door to a cellar.

Note that ruins are great places for a single monster or family of monsters to take up residence.

Ideally these are complete in 20 minutes, and they don't all have adventures attached.

Lacco
2015-04-21, 01:07 PM
You know Edh-Dhib is the name of the real guy who found the Dead Sea Scrolls -- that is pretty much how the actual story went.
Random wilderness sites

I didn’t know that. I learn something new every day :smallsmile:
And thank you for great entries, I must join with The Evil DM and commend you on those. To be honest, this was the reason why I signed up for this forum – to get to know really creative people and maybe learn a thing or two.
So if you have more, please keep them coming.


Mini dungeons and caves make great additions to a wilderness encounter table. One or two room burrows that are either occupied or unoccupied depending on the current needs.

Oh yes, they will have their share of burrows and barrows. But I must say that I would like to do more than caves & barrows. Ruins, abandoned towers, burned forts – I try to keep the travel interesting this way, but I am really a little bit burned out. Usually when I feel this way, I switch to Shadowrun or a Noir York Stories (Fate campaign), but currently the players asked me to do this.

So, do you have any interesting places I could borrow?


If the game has a survival or man vs wild flair I include opportunities to hunt or forage as encounters.

Done and done. First adventure in Riddle of Steel? Their carriage broke down. In the middle of snow storm. They have little to no food and small not-really-abandoned house in the middle of forest. Good times. It keeps them in touch with their character when they sometimes just do the survival stuff. And maybe I'm a bad GM for this, but I fondly remember the one time when they spent the whole session sitting around the fire and discussing IC issues without moving the story.


You can also think of random encounters as opportunities to trigger events.
What do you have in mind?


A fun event I rarely see used is a change in weather. What do you do as you walk down the trail and a thunderstorm starts to build up. Or a the characters wake from a nights rest to a thick heavy fog. All perfectly natural, no monsters hiding in the fog but they have difficulty seeing the trail for the first few hours in the morning.
The fog almost always makes players squirm a little and get paranoid.
Sir, you truly deserve the title you bear. I like it. And I will use it. :smallbiggrin:


An old mill. Was something hidden there? Was it destroyed by the nixies or other denizens of the stream?
That reminds me of an old TV fairy tale – an old abandoned mill. Each midnight a black carriage appeared in front of it, with no tracks. Every person that stayed after dark got mad.
Hmm... good idea!


A still smoldering cottage. Who set it on fire? Are there any survivors? A single living baby in a crib requires them to try to find somebody who can adopt it.
Unfortunately done it. Not in this combination (smoldering village was separate issue - the baby in a crib was found in their room after they got drunk...I have a random table inspired by Hangover movie which I sometimes use when they go carousing).


A collapsed mine entrance. It's not an entrance to a huge dungeon, just a mine with a few shafts - and maybe some tailing outside indicating gold ore.
Any old house with a trap door to a cellar.
Note that ruins are great places for a single monster or family of monsters to take up residence.
Ideally these are complete in 20 minutes, and they don't all have adventures attached.
Thank you for suggestions, I will try using them.
And what about interesting landmarks? Or am I too „gluttonous“? :smallsmile:

darkelf
2015-04-21, 03:21 PM
http://donjon.bin.sh/fantasy/random/#encounter

set the second dropdown to 'on the road' or 'in the wilderness'

Sith_Happens
2015-04-21, 05:34 PM
1. Start a new save file in any Bethesda game.

2. Take notes.

Calen
2015-04-21, 05:52 PM
Here's a mundane encounter:

Road construction.

I loled

On that theme you could certainly have a caravan that got bogged down in the mud from last nights rainstorm. Maybe they will ask for help, maybe they fear the party are bandits.

Or a overturned carriage, empty on the side of the road. It can't have been here to long, but were are the passengers?

Or maybe the road is under construction. However the workers are suspicious of travelers since lots of tools (or something that the PC's have) is being stolen at night.

The Evil DM
2015-04-21, 06:22 PM
So, do you have any interesting places I could borrow?

If on a coastline - a partially destroyed and submerged ship just off shore in some rocks. Ship has been there for a while but maybe a few interesting pieces of cargo remain for salvage.

Classic trope is the troll under the bridge demanding a toll, but that trope can be modified infinitely to any creature or group extorting money from players. The problem with this is, the amount demanded needs to be reasonable enough such that the players are not forced to fight and it sparks some dialogue. If your players are murderous it doesn't work so well.


What do you have in mind?

The change in weather was one sample of an event to trigger.

I tend to run games with several backdrop storylines that have nothing to do with the players - unless the players involve themselves.

So assume I have two kingdoms in your campaign area. I might have the game start out in a state of peace, but have an intended plot line that will slowly degrade from peace, to border raids towards open warfare and end with a marriage to regain peace. This very simplistic and trope like but it serves to the describe the processes.

I don't know what sort of random encounter methods you use, but I have one where the most rare events hit 1% of the time. - one in 100 probability. I fill that spot with event trigger.

So the first event trigger might switch the state between the two kingdoms from peaceful to tense. At which point I change the way NPCs react. The players may overhear rumors of attacks. The players may encounter mild hostility if people think they are from the other kingdom.

The second event trigger might switch the state between the two kingdoms from tense to hostile but no open warfare as of yet. When this occurs I increase the number of guards on patrol at border locations. The players might observe troop movements towards the borders. Where the troops are moving away from bandits may take advantage of the opportunity.

The third event trigger switches it from hostility to open war. The border is closed.

The fourth event trigger brings up a cease fire but tensions remain high.

And the fifth event trigger makes the wedding happen.

That is a single series of events. I then put multiple threads like that in the background and when an event trigger rolls I randomly - or sometimes not randomly - determine which series of event advances.


Sir, you truly deserve the title you bear. I like it. And I will use it. :smallbiggrin:

If you want to be really evil....

Day 1 its foggy - paranoia sets in
Day 2 its foggy - paranoia remains high
Day 3 they leave the lowlands and adventure in hills and mountains for a few days.
Day 8 back in the lowlands its foggy - players are beginning to be accustomed to the fog and forget about it some
Day 9 repeat
Day 10 arrive at village, spend gains from adventures in hills.
Day 11 back into the lowlands, its foggy in the morning again by this time the players start to drop their guard
Day 12 Its foggy again, but this time something reaches out of the fog and grabs Bob while sitting at the edge of the camp on guard duty.

You repeat the same mundane event over and over, it becomes human nature to ignore the details over time. This is part of the reason most auto accidents happen close to home. People drive the same routes and they begin to lose focus on the small stuff.

Don't abuse the technique though if every time something mundane turns into something bad it becomes unreasonable. But the 1 in 10 where something unexpected happens under the cover of fog or other mundane cover it will really keep players on their toes.

YossarianLives
2015-04-21, 06:51 PM
You encounter three people sitting by a campfire after a long day of travelling. They offer you food and conversation if you gather some more firewood for them. When you return from the nearby forest the people have vanished. All their belongings are perfectly intact.

A terrified looking man bursts out of the woods and runs towards you. He hands you a golden sewing needle, tells you to hold onto it and vanishes.

3WhiteFox3
2015-04-21, 08:33 PM
You've been traveling for hours through a smelly, hot forest with trees that are both cluttered, but not enough to truly shade you from the afternoon sun's relentless assault. You start to feel the tug of fatigue as your feet begin to tire and the weight of your gear begins to become very noticeable. Suddenly, men and women, donning green cloaks and long hoods appear in front of you with a look that makes clear that they wish to relieve you of your belongings.

Don't they know who you are? You've been fighting trash like these bandits for months now...

What do you do?

---

Walking down a sandy path along the edge of the ocean, you see a strange shape in the distance. Coming closer, you see it's a seagoing craft of some sort, but you've never seen anything quite like it.

It's been beached somehow, lying on it's side with it's mast and figurehead broken. The ship's massive and regal hull is adorned with foreign symbols. All along the ship is a lot of blood, but no bodies in sight, except one man who's lying unconscious in front of it. Clearly something's happened here recently...

What do you do?

WarKitty
2015-04-21, 08:34 PM
Bandits that don't attack. They're obviously lying in wait, but don't seem inclined to attack the (presumably heavily armed) party.

JAL_1138
2015-04-22, 05:42 AM
Bandits that don't attack. They're obviously lying in wait, but don't seem inclined to attack the (presumably heavily armed) party.

"People who are rather more than six feet tall and nearly as broad across the shoulders often have uneventful journeys. People jump out at them from behind rocks then say things like, 'Oh, sorry, I thought you were someone else.'" --Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!


*The party could meet a trade caravan whose wagons are pulled by centaurs rather than horses. It could just be an opportunity to buy some supplies and talk to someone of a rarely-encountered species, e.g., "Eh, it's a living, pay's not half bad and the work's not half hard, can't complain too much--say, though, you wouldn't happen to know a decent blacksmith anywhere nearby? I lost a shoe a mile back and my hoof is killing me" or some such--or it could be that the caravan's masters are slave-drivers, treating the shackled, manacled 'taurs as nothing but beasts of burden.

*You meet a strange-looking, long-bearded old man in a broad-brimmed hat on the road, furiously smoking a long-stemmed pipe. He introduces himself as "Farmer Jenkins from up the road a piece" and asks if you happen to have seen an ostrich lately. If not, he curses, says "I'll turn that gods-d***ed bird's neck into a belt when I catch him" and continues on. (He's not a magic user of any kind, he really is just an ostrich-farmer. He just looks wizardly, and complains loudly and at length about being mistaken for one so often.)

Probably more system-specific than you want, but:
*You see a group of people with shovels and buckets headed toward a nearby cave. They're harvesting bat guano to sell to mages for spell components, and would appreciate it if you don't disturb their bats. The bear, you can disturb the bear all you like, they'll pay you to disturb him, so long as they can take the meat home if you kill it. But they do have bows, if you're too busy to deal with the critter. Just don't bother the bats.

goto124
2015-04-22, 10:31 AM
Mundane use of bat guano: Fertiliser :D

JohnTheSavage
2015-04-22, 11:38 AM
I was once in a game where the DM had us being constantly pranked by an eccentric high level rogue NPC for weeks on end. He'd sneak into the camp at night and hide our belongings or make it look like one of the PCs was stealing loot from another or vandalise the wizard's spellbook or something and by day he'd heckle us from the forest on the road's edge or bean us with rocks then slip away whenever we tried to catch him.

Good times.

No brains
2015-04-22, 12:32 PM
What if you had a regular encounter with a wild animal, but did something a little different?

Have some wolves eating a carcass on the side of the road. When the PCs arrive, the wolves run away. The wolves only run about one round's run away and just look at the PCs. If the PCs get closer to the wolves, they run away again, but keep watching the PCs.

See how long it takes for the PCs to figure out the wolves just want to finish their dinner alone.:smallwink:

Alikat
2015-04-22, 12:50 PM
I was once in a game where the DM had us being constantly pranked by an eccentric high level rogue NPC for weeks on end. He'd sneak into the camp at night and hide our belongings or make it look like one of the PCs was stealing loot from another or vandalise the wizard's spellbook or something and by day he'd heckle us from the forest on the road's edge or bean us with rocks then slip away whenever we tried to catch him.

Good times.

This made me laugh really hard.. oh god, I can picture it.

Joe the Rat
2015-04-22, 01:25 PM
Mmm, fodder for my encounter tables.

Here's some of mine:

You encounter a patrol (road) or scouting party (wilderness), sent out by one of the local rulers. They will likely try to stop the party and ask questions. It could be sharp and aggressive, or quite amicable, particularly if the party is helpful or provides them with information about problems in the area (where the bandits are, the farm half a day back that you found in ruins, etc.)

(wilderness/ off-road) You encounter a scouting party, sent by one of the local rulers. Except that they are actually from a different barony/duchy/nation, and were sent to spy. They are as likely to avoid the party as try to approach. A sharp eye and local knowledge might help you see through their ruse.

Merchant caravan. Willing to hire on able-bodied guards, willing to trade (offload treasure without getting back to town!).

(River) A fisherman on a boat watches you pass by. Just as you pass him, a giant fish leaps up and pulls the fisherman in. (Okay, so that one isn't that mundane)

Massive flocks of birds are roosting in nearby trees / in the water / standing around in the field. They simply watch you pass by.

Half-and-Half. You run into a halfling merchant and his half-ogre companion. More mundane: George and Lennie.

Rivals. You encounter another adventuring party, headed in the other direction. Depending on how well known the group is, they could be haughtily condescending, or bitter up-and-comers looking to take you down a peg. Note that they may not be actively hostile (attacking), but simply unfriendly, and with the intention to beat them at their own game.

Colorful local personalities. A particularly (in)famous person or group is coming your way. well-known performers, a knight or company of some reknown, the crackpot hermit, the shifty snake-oil salesman, the local friendly lummox/ogre. The point is, the party knows them, or knows of them, and may or may not want to hang out with them. Made doubly bad if it happens at camp.

Toll bridge. A bridge over a river or stream is being guarded, and the keeper demands payment. The legitimacy of this toll may vary. Fantastic Version: Troll bridge. the guard is/has a troll. Crazy version: The bridge is a troll. Meta version: The bridge is a gazebo.

Esprit15
2015-04-22, 04:06 PM
1. Start a new save file in any Bethesda game.

2. Take notes.

You arrive in a peaceful mountainside town to rest, staying at a local inn. When morning comes, you come upon an argument between the inkeep and a man (DC 10 Sense Motive: Who does not seem the most trustworthy, likely with some criminal background) arguing. As things finish, he storms out, after reminding anyone who listens that he'll be back with some friends if they don't decide soon.

Surpriser
2015-04-22, 05:20 PM
Nearby some landmark or crossroad is a shrine for the local god of traveling. People deposit supplies and equipment and take what they lack in return.

The bridge over a river has been swept away in a rainstorm (a classic). Similarily: An avalanche or mudslide has destroyed the road. A large tree has fallen across the road.

A dog runs up to the PCs, obviously happy to find someone to play with. He seems well groomed and is wearing a finely wrought collar that looks expensive.

An old watchtower in ruins far away from any streets or settlements. Below the partly collapsed roof is a campfire that is still warm.

A snare or pit trap set by some hunters. What are they hunting for? And why do they employ silvered chains instead of normal rope?

A lone hunter, pale and visibly terrified, wielding a broken longspear. He tells the PCs that he inadvertently came upon a mother bear and her cubs who is not too happy about having the top half of his spear stuck in her paw.

The entrance to a small cellar hidden behind a large boulder. Inside are some prisoners (slaves?) begging the PCs to free them - but the next settlement is a day's march away and these guys seem too weak to make it.

Lacco
2015-04-23, 02:51 AM
Again, thank you all! You are very helpful.


I don't know what sort of random encounter methods you use, but I have one where the most rare events hit 1% of the time. - one in 100 probability. I fill that spot with event trigger.

I don’t use random encounters usually – the encounters are not rolled randomly, they are selected/designed according to what I want the PCs to come upon.
My usual modus operandi is that I write down ideas into one sheet and when a game is near, I check which PC’s storyline is going to be pushed further and take the most appropriate (fun/tense/interesting/whatever) encounters and form a flowchart – scenes and transitions that I need for the storyline to continue. And next to it I write the “random” part – the ideas I like but are not necessary for the story.
And I insert them according to the pace and PC actions, not as random encounters.


If you want to be really evil....
You repeat the same mundane event over and over, it becomes human nature to ignore the details over time. This is part of the reason most auto accidents happen close to home. People drive the same routes and they begin to lose focus on the small stuff.
Don't abuse the technique though if every time something mundane turns into something bad it becomes unreasonable. But the 1 in 10 where something unexpected happens under the cover of fog or other mundane cover it will really keep players on their toes.

I think I am sufficiently evil – and sometimes I also do some of the entries from the “bad GM” thread (I often change events from PC’s backstory – they are not what they seemed to be at the time).
And this technique – yes, that works quite well. Should be added to the GM handbook, especially for horrors. :smallsmile:
My favourite in this field is the living nightmare.


You encounter three people sitting by a campfire after a long day of travelling. They offer you food and conversation if you gather some more firewood for them. When you return from the nearby forest the people have vanished. All their belongings are perfectly intact.

Nice!


Walking down a sandy path along the edge of the ocean, you see a strange shape in the distance. Coming closer, you see it's a seagoing craft of some sort, but you've never seen anything quite like it.
It's been beached somehow, lying on it's side with it's mast and figurehead broken. The ship's massive and regal hull is adorned with foreign symbols. All along the ship is a lot of blood, but no bodies in sight, except one man who's lying unconscious in front of it. Clearly something's happened here recently...

This makes me sad that this part is in a landlocked country. But thank you, I will surely use it someday!


Bandits that don't attack. They're obviously lying in wait, but don't seem inclined to attack the (presumably heavily armed) party.

"People who are rather more than six feet tall and nearly as broad across the shoulders often have uneventful journeys. People jump out at them from behind rocks then say things like, 'Oh, sorry, I thought you were someone else.'" --Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!

“You there, stop! And give us…err… umm… some time to prepare cookies and tea. Yes! Cookies and tea for free!”


*The party could meet a trade caravan whose wagons are pulled by centaurs rather than horses. It could just be an opportunity to buy some supplies and talk to someone of a rarely-encountered species, e.g., "Eh, it's a living, pay's not half bad and the work's not half hard, can't complain too much--say, though, you wouldn't happen to know a decent blacksmith anywhere nearby? I lost a shoe a mile back and my hoof is killing me" or some such--or it could be that the caravan's masters are slave-drivers, treating the shackled, manacled 'taurs as nothing but beasts of burden.

Good idea, but no centaurs available. Could be replaced with people who look as obvious slavers, but in fact are good employers.
“We only replaced the horses with them because horses are hard to come by around there.
“The whips? Oh, they just for setting of tempo. We tried shouting but I lost voice.”
“Free me…? No! The pay is good and we have free weekends! And healthcare!”


*You meet a strange-looking, long-bearded old man in a broad-brimmed hat on the road, furiously smoking a long-stemmed pipe. He introduces himself as "Farmer Jenkins from up the road a piece" and asks if you happen to have seen an ostrich lately. If not, he curses, says "I'll turn that gods-d***ed bird's neck into a belt when I catch him" and continues on. (He's not a magic user of any kind, he really is just an ostrich-farmer. He just looks wizardly, and complains loudly and at length about being mistaken for one so often.)
*You see a group of people with shovels and buckets headed toward a nearby cave. They're harvesting bat guano to sell to mages for spell components, and would appreciate it if you don't disturb their bats. The bear, you can disturb the bear all you like, they'll pay you to disturb him, so long as they can take the meat home if you kill it. But they do have bows, if you're too busy to deal with the critter. Just don't bother the bats.

I would combine these two. A group of people with shovels and buckets harvesting bat guano for a strange-looking, long-bearded old man in a broad-brimmed hat. “He is a wizard! He will turn us all into frogs if we don’t harvest the s#@t for his magic! He did it to Orin – he disappeared and we found this frog!”
And the guy just wants to fertilize his crops… “Orin? I gave him a job – he wanted to get out of this village so much…by the way, did you see my pet frog? I seem to have displaced it…” :smallsmile:


What if you had a regular encounter with a wild animal, but did something a little different?
Have some wolves eating a carcass on the side of the road. When the PCs arrive, the wolves run away. The wolves only run about one round's run away and just look at the PCs. If the PCs get closer to the wolves, they run away again, but keep watching the PCs.
See how long it takes for the PCs to figure out the wolves just want to finish their dinner alone.:smallwink:

Again, nice idea!


Massive flocks of birds are roosting in nearby trees / in the water / standing around in the field. They simply watch you pass by.

I did this once – a bit differently, but they were so freaked out…


You arrive in a peaceful mountainside town to rest, staying at a local inn. When morning comes, you come upon an argument between the inkeep and a man (DC 10 Sense Motive: Who does not seem the most trustworthy, likely with some criminal background) arguing. As things finish, he storms out, after reminding anyone who listens that he'll be back with some friends if they don't decide soon.

This is something I will definitely use. Thank you.



Nearby some landmark or crossroad is a shrine for the local god of traveling. People deposit supplies and equipment and take what they lack in return.
The bridge over a river has been swept away in a rainstorm (a classic). Similarily: An avalanche or mudslide has destroyed the road. A large tree has fallen across the road.
A dog runs up to the PCs, obviously happy to find someone to play with. He seems well groomed and is wearing a finely wrought collar that looks expensive.
An old watchtower in ruins far away from any streets or settlements. Below the partly collapsed roof is a campfire that is still warm.
A snare or pit trap set by some hunters. What are they hunting for? And why do they employ silvered chains instead of normal rope?
A lone hunter, pale and visibly terrified, wielding a broken longspear. He tells the PCs that he inadvertently came upon a mother bear and her cubs who is not too happy about having the top half of his spear stuck in her paw.
The entrance to a small cellar hidden behind a large boulder. Inside are some prisoners (slaves?) begging the PCs to free them - but the next settlement is a day's march away and these guys seem too weak to make it.

These are great! Thank you.



1. Start a new save file in any Bethesda game.
2. Take notes.
Good idea, but not a chance – I don’t have so much time. I take the advice I get here and directly use it for next game. When my life gets a little slower and I will have time, I will do as you suggest. :smallsmile:

Yesterday they spent night on a farmstead as per Milodiah’s suggestion, continued around the mist-cloaked ruins from Maglubiyet’s suggestion (they didn’t go in, didn’t like the birds around there…) and helped pilgrims to pass through area with bandits.
So thank you all – your suggestions are helping a lot. If anyone has more ideas, I will be glad to hear/read them!

Storm_Of_Snow
2015-04-23, 07:26 AM
What if you had a regular encounter with a wild animal, but did something a little different?

Have some wolves eating a carcass on the side of the road. When the PCs arrive, the wolves run away. The wolves only run about one round's run away and just look at the PCs. If the PCs get closer to the wolves, they run away again, but keep watching the PCs.

See how long it takes for the PCs to figure out the wolves just want to finish their dinner alone.:smallwink:
And whether it's before or after they decide wolf pelts/wolf claw necklaces are just the thing for this years fashionably dressed adventurer. :smallfrown:





Walking down a sandy path along the edge of the ocean, you see a strange shape in the distance. Coming closer, you see it's a seagoing craft of some sort, but you've never seen anything quite like it.
It's been beached somehow, lying on it's side with it's mast and figurehead broken. The ship's massive and regal hull is adorned with foreign symbols. All along the ship is a lot of blood, but no bodies in sight, except one man who's lying unconscious in front of it. Clearly something's happened here recently...
This makes me sad that this part is in a landlocked country. But thank you, I will surely use it someday!

Are there rivers? One of them might be wide/deep enough to get oceangoing vessels up, at least as far as a major market town. Or what about it being a caravan train from a foreign land?

Or it is the ship, and part of the investigation is around how it got however many miles in land with no suitable body of water to sail it up (perhaps it's a prize of war that's being transported on massively strong carts, rolling logs or some kind of a magic supporting frame to the capital to be shown off). :smallwink:

My thoughts.

A marker for the site of some old battle - maybe there's some undiscovered treasure buried under the earth. Maybe all that's there are skeletons that want to remain at rest and really don't want people digging there. Maybe there's nothing to do now, but some necromancer will get there in a few months and raise himself an army.

A farmer ploughing his field, who offers some food and ale/cider/whatever to the party if they help him. If they do, near the end of the day, the plough will bring a nice shiny plot mcguffin up to the surface.

A lost sheep/goat/cow/whatever farm animal, possibly with a farmer trying to recapture it and a gap in the dry stone wall to the field. Or a small wild predator (say a fox) that takes one look at the party and runs off into the undergrowth.

What about simple natural behaviours for animals - if it's spring, maybe there's a couple of hares boxing in the field the party's going past.

A fallen tree - not due to bandits trying to ambush someone, but because it's old and partially rotted. But just watch the PCs assume the worst. :smallamused:

Or make the party roll a spot check - if they pass it, they notice a bird of prey high above, that suddenly stoops and dives to the ground after a rodent. If they don't pass the check, instant paranoia. :smallwink:

I like The Evil DM's idea of just having a change in the weather.

JAL_1138
2015-04-23, 11:18 AM
A scrawny-looking fellow in a bird costume runs past at marathon pace, pursued quite a distance behind by a group of academics with hunting-horns who shout "Ho! The Megapode!" whenever they sight him. No explanation beyond "It's tradition" is ever given by any party involved.

(With apologies to Terry Pratchett, may he rest in peace)

Stellar_Magic
2015-04-24, 01:56 PM
One thing I always do is include a 'Roll twice and think of a reason why both results would be present' on my random encounter chart... that and my random encounter charts are rather elaborate possible encounters.

So, lets say I've got a bunch of adventurers walking along on a road in the woods. I roll the 'Roll twice' result and then.

Roll 1d8 centaurs.
Roll 1d4 hunters.

The party then encounters a band of hunters or poachers in a standoff with the local centaur tribe. Do they aid one side or another? Do they try and negotiate a settlement? Do they walk away?

I will admit this method has led to the hilarious situation of a band of bandits running screaming across the road being chased by a dinosaur, but eh... it was fun.

Also, if I'm running a sandbox game... I do not have any sort of 'level adjustment' to the encounter chart. Just much greater rarity for high CR encounters.