LMOP - Looking for random casual events suggestions

[SiCK_Boy]

There was a thread a month ago by Pinjata (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?560575-Super-casual-events-in-generic-Plains), where he asked for suggestions of casual events happening in a plains setting.

I loved that thread (as well as the earlier one it pointed to regarding events in a village); I've been looting all the suggestions posted within to build a random casual event table I could use in my own games.

I'm looking for more suggestions, especially for the following "settings": forest encounters, hill encounters, and nighttime encounters. For the nighttime encounters, I'm looking for events that can come to the party, assuming they are camping with one PC standing guard (so it has to be something that the PC spots without moving, or that comes to the camp).

The suggestions I'm looking for are casual events that are not "encounter" (in the combat sense). Instead, I use those to add flourish to travel descriptions, and to determine what happens when I roll for random encounters (the traditional ones, which mostly turn into combat) and there is no such encounter.

I specify LMOP in the subject, as I am playing this campaign, so if the events could somehow be linked to the campaign or its region, it would be even better.

Finally, if there is some resource somewhere to generate these kind of mini-events randomly, I'd love to get pointed to it. I tried Googling a bit, but with little success.

So, please feel free to make your suggestions of random casual events that can befell a party in a forest, hill, or nighttime environment.

[smcmike]

These sorts of details are closely tied to the ambient tone of the campaign, so it might be worth categorizing them by the tone you are trying to set, and/or tying them into the actual encounters the party might face.

Bucolic Forest

A stand of aspen with lover’s hearts carved into them.

A surprisingly loud squirrel that seems angry at the party for entering his territory.

Bright red mushrooms sprout from a fallen oak.

A burbling stream crossing the path, with well-worn stepping stones.

Creepy Forest

The stench of carrion, without an identifiable source.

A stand of aspen with disturbing messages carved into them.

Bright red mushrooms sprout from a corpse.

A surprisingly loud squirrel attacks the party.

A burbling stream crosses the path. The plants on its banks are blackened and dead.

[SiCK_Boy]

Thanks for these. I actually love how I can combine them to mark a change in scenery (say they meet the angry squirrel first, then later in the day, they are immediately attacked by the second squirrel).

[McSkrag]

I am currently running LMOP for the first time.


One thing I've done is have the Black Spider use the doppelgängers to spy on the party since he has come to realize they are a threat to his plans.

I set up an encounter as the party was heading back to town, and had them meet a doppelgänger posing as an NPC they knew and trusted heading out of town. The "NPC" asked some oddly probing questions about their plans then continued on their way out of town. When the party got back to town they saw the real NPC going about their business.

The ensuing paranoia was glorious.

[smcmike]

Some things for hills:

People like to put things on top of hills. Cairns are the simplest. Maybe the goblins or orcs in LMOP expose their dead on hilltop platforms. Maybe they string up victims. Maybe there’s the remains of a signal fire or an old ringfort.

Hills and mountains also can provide much greater visibility than is often described in D&D campaigns. A sweeping panorama can be memorable, and can include some plot elements or landmarks that you insert, as a sort of local map or to foreshadow encounters.

Hills also include impassible or difficult terrain, which is another way to create foreshadowing “encounters,” as the party sees something on an upper reach of the hill that is inaccessible or gone by the time they get there.

Monsters also might like hills. A massive pile of bones around a high place might indicate the feeding ground of a roc or some other winged terror.

For camping details, it’s largely sound. The sounds of a forest at night are something. Frogs, crickets, night birds, howling, screeching, rustling, creaking. Sudden silences might be creepy. Biting flies or mosquitoes. Raccoons or other scavengers might raid the food supplies. Thunderstorms or midnight rainshowers can topple tents, soak supplies and people, and make fires impossible. Also, traveling NPCs.