Ruins questions: highways, aqueducts, and et cetra

[ddude987]

Hello everyone!

I had a few questions on peoples thoughts about areas around ruins...

first and foremost: If an aqueduct were to break down, would there be enough water coming out to create a river? pond? lake? stream?

Secondly, I am designing a low magic setting set in the dark ages following a previous golden age. There are plenty of ruins of cities, highways (raised above the ground), aqueducts, statues. I am trying to design exploration based adventures but cannot think of things to make such places very interesting beyond the cliche seeming "there is lost artifact/magic item/adventuring party X that went to city/cave/place Y. Go find it!" Any ideas?

Thanks!

[Beta Centauri]

Hello everyone!

I had a few questions on peoples thoughts about areas around ruins...

first and foremost: If an aqueduct were to break down, would there be enough water coming out to create a river? pond? lake? stream?

Yes. Unless your players don't think so, in which case, no.

Secondly, I am designing a low magic setting set in the dark ages following a previous golden age. There are plenty of ruins of cities, highways (raised above the ground), aqueducts, statues. I am trying to design exploration based adventures but cannot think of things to make such places very interesting beyond the cliche seeming "there is lost artifact/magic item/adventuring party X that went to city/cave/place Y. Go find it!" Any ideas?

Thanks!

Yes, exploration is not very interesting.

Nothing wrong with cliches. I can't really think of any other reasons in fiction that anyone has ever ventured into ruins, other than for some mcguffin. In real life, people do it for the academic prestige of it, so maybe the PC are just the escort group for a team of scholars. I can't see an actual academic excursion making an interesting RPG adventure, unless the focus is less on exploring the ruins and more on the complications of getting to it.

Talk to your players. If they don't like the idea of a cliche, then it's more than a little bit on them to explain what they would like and help you craft that.

[LibraryOgre]

first and foremost: If an aqueduct were to break down, would there be enough water coming out to create a river? pond? lake? stream?

Pond, possibly, with a stream coming out of it. It would be a truly grand adqueduct that could make a river or lake.

Secondly, I am designing a low magic setting set in the dark ages following a previous golden age. There are plenty of ruins of cities, highways (raised above the ground), aqueducts, statues. I am trying to design exploration based adventures but cannot think of things to make such places very interesting beyond the cliche seeming "there is lost artifact/magic item/adventuring party X that went to city/cave/place Y. Go find it!" Any ideas?

Consider that the people who lived in the cities during the Golden Age might not have all died out, and might have some very weird ways of relating to the world based on a mixture of old beliefs, superstition, and their actual living conditions.

Consider, maybe, a group that lives near an old, broken, aqueduct. The aqueduct happened to break in a shrine of some deity they no longer really remember, but they worship that deity as the bringer of water and life. If that deity's temples survived outside the ruins into the modern day, a character who comes in wearing that god's symbol is going to be treated oddly... and maybe going to have a real problem when he starts preaching a message that conflicts with what the shamans have been saying. Or there may be a monster living in the pond that they regard as sacred (since it doesn't attack their tribe, but eats their offerings).

Or maybe they took refuge in an old mint or treasury, so have tons of gold and silver that they regard poorly, but are entranced by iron or glass.

If you have long-lived races in your setting (long enough to have lived during the Golden Age), maybe one is badly crippled, but has created a small kingdom among the survivors with his knowledge. Is he eager to get out of here? Or is he afraid that someone will come and destroy "his" kingdom?

[NecroRebel]

I'd think that a lot of aqueducts would end up clogging near their original source if not maintained, so not much water would actually be coming through them. Whatever source they once drew from would simply go back to its original channels if natural, or would dry up or carve new channels if artificial.

Dry aqueducts and their associated regulation systems could probably be explored, though they likely wouldn't have much treasure. They might have monsters nesting inside them - maybe a lord wants to reestablish the ancient waterways but workers can't effect repairs due to things living in them. Actually, people wanting to reestablish the old empire's infrastructure would be suitable questgivers to send your party into said old infrastructure to clear it out and maybe determine where damage is most severe in general.

[TheCountAlucard]

Perhaps a sorcerer-savant found an artifact from the golden age already, and has decided to use its power to rule over a smallish area as its immortal god-king?

Maybe a confederation of barbarian tribes and farmers have reverse-engineered a piece of golden age tech, with less miraculous results, but still advanced enough to give them an edge over competing nations?

Maybe one of the miraculous works of the ancients has become twisted in its function, and has in turn twisted the behaviors of the local inhabitants around itself? (e.g., maybe a device in the molten heart of a volcano keeps it relatively stable, but degradation has caused it to malfunction, making the fearful locals sacrifice humans to the volcano to appease it.)

[Beta Centauri]

It can work. Even if it's implausible, it can work. You have to find out if you want it to work (which it sounds like you do), decide that it does, and work from there. In the unlikely event you have an aqueduct expert in their game who isn't buying it, ask them what would have to be true for your description to be plausible, and tell them that that is true.

[Maglubiyet]

Hello everyone!

I had a few questions on peoples thoughts about areas around ruins...

first and foremost: If an aqueduct were to break down, would there be enough water coming out to create a river? pond? lake? stream?

Secondly, I am designing a low magic setting set in the dark ages following a previous golden age. There are plenty of ruins of cities, highways (raised above the ground), aqueducts, statues. I am trying to design exploration based adventures but cannot think of things to make such places very interesting beyond the cliche seeming "there is lost artifact/magic item/adventuring party X that went to city/cave/place Y. Go find it!" Any ideas?

Thanks!

Why not combine the two ideas? The village your players are from depends on the flow of water through an aqueduct/canal system built by the ancients. One day, however, the flow mysteriously stops. It's up to the players to follow the crumbling stone channel upstream to find out the reason the water has stopped, otherwise the village is doomed!

[GorinichSerpant]

It can work. Even if it's implausible, it can work. You have to find out if you want it to work (which it sounds like you do), decide that it does, and work from there. In the unlikely event you have an aqueduct expert in their game who isn't buying it, ask them what would have to be true for your description to be plausible, and tell them that that is true.

Alternatively let the character notice that it's off and let that lead the party to some adventure.

[BootStrapTommy]

Might I suggest a fact finding campaign?

Some earth shattering event is on the horizon, but the fabled location has been lost. Party must hunt through various ruins for the pieces of information required for their employer (a scholar) to located it.

Like a search for the El Dorado, except instead of finding loot, its to save the world.

Then again, you could just use the El Dorado trope as is.

[Beta Centauri]

Alternatively let the character notice that it's off and let that lead the party to some adventure.

Sure, but if it's not off in a way that makes sense to the player, you're in the same situation.

[Valameer]

Yes, exploration is not very interesting.

I disagree. I've found exploration and discovery to be very compelling themes in games I've played.

You just need a good set of stories to reveal through the exploration. Have some mysteries to solve. And yes, there is often some treasure or power involved as a reward.

[Jay R]

The amount of water flowing out of the aqueduct is pretty much the amount of water that flowed in. If it causes a stream, it's generally no deeper or wider than the aqueduct itself.*

Yes, it could be wider, in which case it will be spread out and be much shallower, and/or flow much more slowly. It could be forced into a smaller channel, in which case it will flow faster. But in any case, the flow in gallons per second will be the same amount of flow as the aqueduct, minus any water that evaporates or soaks into the ground.

If it empties into a low spot or basin, it will slowly fill it up until it overflows, creating a stream no deeper or wider than the aqueduct, but probably with more water soaking into the ground, reducing the ultimate outflow. Theoretically, this might create a small swamp with no outflow.

[Beta Centauri]

I disagree. I've found exploration and discovery to be very compelling themes in games I've played.

You just need a good set of stories to reveal through the exploration. Have some mysteries to solve. And yes, there is often some treasure or power involved as a reward.

I guess I just never find the stories and mysteries as good as the GM thought they would be. The treasure that's offered is usually boring too, particularly if it was generated by the module writer or a random table.

[ddude987]

Might I suggest a fact finding campaign?

Some earth shattering event is on the horizon, but the fabled location has been lost. Party must hunt through various ruins for the pieces of information required for their employer (a scholar) to located it.

Like a search for the El Dorado, except instead of finding loot, its to save the world.

Then again, you could just use the El Dorado trope as is.

Love this idea. Thanks bootstrap. El Dorado may be a trope, but I sure forgot it existed.

Why not combine the two ideas? The village your players are from depends on the flow of water through an aqueduct/canal system built by the ancients. One day, however, the flow mysteriously stops. It's up to the players to follow the crumbling stone channel upstream to find out the reason the water has stopped, otherwise the village is doomed!

Thanks! I know how I should start my campaign now :D Was looking for a good way to start it. I'll have the players be from the same town, definitely a town not a village, and have the aqueduct stop. Of course, nobody knows how they work, and perhaps doesn't even call them aqueducts, so the players have to go into the tunnels and see what is wrong.

Perhaps a sorcerer-savant found an artifact from the golden age already, and has decided to use its power to rule over a smallish area as its immortal god-king?

Maybe a confederation of barbarian tribes and farmers have reverse-engineered a piece of golden age tech, with less miraculous results, but still advanced enough to give them an edge over competing nations?

Maybe one of the miraculous works of the ancients has become twisted in its function, and has in turn twisted the behaviors of the local inhabitants around itself? (e.g., maybe a device in the molten heart of a volcano keeps it relatively stable, but degradation has caused it to malfunction, making the fearful locals sacrifice humans to the volcano to appease it.)

I like the idea of twisting the works in function, I got that idea from Wheel of Time actually. The sorcerer-savant is a nice idea, its low magic, so a sorcerer with some magic item would be double trouble. Thanks.


Guess another question I've got is for those of you who have liked exploration adventures, what did you like about it, and those that didn't or haven't had one, what would you look for in an exploration adventure?

[Gritmonger]

I guess I just never find the stories and mysteries as good as the GM thought they would be. The treasure that's offered is usually boring too, particularly if it was generated by the module writer or a random table.

Heh - in one of my recent campaigns, the PC's started in an abandoned drainage system, and stumbled on a set of hidden traps, which looked way too old to still be functional but were, and ended up discovering a hidden treasure room.

Spoiler

Show

The treasure turned out to be a trove of ancient manuscripts, and one free-willed neutral undead. Most of the documents concerned clerical preparations, holy documents, and some scrolls, but mostly how to perform a certain spell. The undead fellow, who greeted them when they entered, was another kind of "document" - for an associated mage spell. Took a while to sort out, but not all treasures are of the ancient tomb kind. But it was a long-forgotten cache from a time when the city was under siege, and the drainage pipes had been forgotten, and were subsequently under a cemetery. The entrance was only discovered when somebody was commissioned to move the dead to another location to be re-interred.

It's a lot about the history of the place - Pompeii is just another ruin until you learn some of its story - how it was buried under volcanic ash and so-on, and a lot of the stories that follow from simply looking around the ruins.

Not all ruins are dungeons and castles. Some of them are bakeries. Some are plazas near old temples. Some are old homes, with fantastic murals. Some hide a treasure of artwork instead of gold or swords. Some are built in layers, so it's not just one era, or one set of occupants, or one disaster, but like above: a cache in a drainage system under a cemetery so old it's being moved.

And not all ruins are isolated. There are some great etchings of one of the temples in Egypt, half filled with sand, being used as goat pens.

[Jarawara]

Secondly, I am designing a low magic setting set in the dark ages following a previous golden age. There are plenty of ruins of cities, highways (raised above the ground), aqueducts, statues. I am trying to design exploration based adventures but cannot think of things to make such places very interesting beyond the cliche seeming "there is lost artifact/magic item/adventuring party X that went to city/cave/place Y. Go find it!" Any ideas?

Players love to explore, sometimes to the extent of ignoring the plot and the imminent threats in order to explore a new area. Most frustrating to say the least!

As to how to design it, I find it best to develop it in two layers - first design what the place was originally and map it out to be a occupied as a functional place of business (or whatever it is supposed to be). Then I figure out what has happened to it (what caused it to fall into ruins, how much damage, how much is left), and then figure out what is occupying it now. Plus consider what the current occupants might have modified to make this place their own.

So you have these ruins of a city. A city's gotta have a bakery, right? (actually, other culture's might not, so your mileage may vary). The city fell when the water supply was cut off (aquifers are destroyed), and in the resulting riots much of the city burned and business were broken into. The bakery didn't burn down but it was raided for the food supplies as society broke down. So the door's busted in. Time has passed, and the roof has crumbled, but many of the shelves are still there though many have collapsed. The ovens are still in the back, but watch out, the chimney is likely to collapse (consider that a hazzard for the players to avoid!). What the riots didn't know is that the owner kept his lockbox behind one of the shelves. The poor unfortunate died in the riots, so the lockbox is still there and the players can find it if they search through the collapsing shelves.

But of course, first thing first - the players will see the ovens, the shelves, and countertops, and even that nice stonework bench in front, completely covered in thick webbing. Because a giant spider has found that the backroom of the place is the perfect place to make a nest. It might not be worth the trouble to fight though all that just to get an old baker's lockbox, but perhaps the spider also caught a few unfortunates in more recent years to provide a little incentive for a bit of combat.

And a savy player will try to collapse that rickety looking chimney down upon the spider, ending the fight before it began.


Try out that technique on the rest of your ruins. It takes alot of time to make a whole city, but the example above took me less time to dream up than it did to type it up. Once you have the theme of the place and the basic facts, you can probably make the rest of it up on the fly. Good luck.

[LibraryOgre]

Guess another question I've got is for those of you who have liked exploration adventures, what did you like about it, and those that didn't or haven't had one, what would you look for in an exploration adventure?

Don't get so caught up in the new places that you forget new faces. Make the weird cultures you encounter weird, not just "Hey, they have the exact same social structure, but call people 'Baron' instead of 'Earl'! How bizarre!"

Throw in religious twists.
Throw in incongruous (to you) social things. Maybe they spit to show approval, or tap a staff on the ground to show that they are finished talking and you can start now. Something that is weird and memorable and keeps them from seeming like "White people just like us, but with an indeterminate accent."

[Flickerdart]

The best thing to do when adventuring in an area like that is play up the 3rd dimension. Encourage the PCs to climb up to vantage points, use climbing or flying enemies, take advantage of crumbling infrastructure to make fights extra-exciting and dangerous.

[GungHo]

first and foremost: If an aqueduct were to break down, would there be enough water coming out to create a river? pond? lake? stream?

A mundane one, no. A pond at best. Aqueducts are good for a regulated flow of water, not a deluge, even with the large scale ones. That being said, a magical one that went awry... sure. Hell, if it was linked to the elemental plane of Water, it could even be the basis for a large-scale disaster.

Secondly, I am designing a low magic setting set in the dark ages following a previous golden age. There are plenty of ruins of cities, highways (raised above the ground), aqueducts, statues. I am trying to design exploration based adventures but cannot think of things to make such places very interesting beyond the cliche seeming "there is lost artifact/magic item/adventuring party X that went to city/cave/place Y. Go find it!" Any ideas?

Thanks!

Monsters could be taking root there. There is a plague/great evil that was once conquered by a precursor civilization, as referenced in lore, and now it's back, and now you need more than just some stories, but need actual research. Maybe a portal puts them there and they need to find a way home.

[Valameer]

I guess I just never find the stories and mysteries as good as the GM thought they would be. The treasure that's offered is usually boring too, particularly if it was generated by the module writer or a random table.

Absolutely. Random treasure has absolutely no appeal in an exploration-based adventure. You don't go to Cairo, put your staff in the orifice to have it shine a light to a specific location, then dig up the treasure that's buried there to find two +1 swords and a potion of protection from arrows.

You know better than anyone else what kind of treasure your players are going to find fun and cool, and one item you've designed with them in mind is always going to be better than loads of random treasure, or the balanced treasure some module writer put there.

Also, I find that mysteries shouldn't usually have a clever answer. The DM will think it is clever, and the player will say "so, what is the point of that, anyway?" I'd rather that answers always beg more questions - and that maybe the true answers are lost to time. Now, that sounds a little pointless... but maybe I can somehow explain below.

Guess another question I've got is for those of you who have liked exploration adventures, what did you like about it, and those that didn't or haven't had one, what would you look for in an exploration adventure?

I need to give some examples without writing too much (which I'm prone to do).

Say there is an island in your campaign world that has gone mostly ignored through recent history. Because it is known to be inhabited primarily by worthless goblinoids, and they don't have a reasonable navy, so they don't really bother people across the water. Then, suddenly, a group of explorers from a rival kingdom finds a great MacGuffin on the island and returns with it, telling of other great treasures. Well, your kingdom is suddenly very interested in sending expeditions to this island to uncover other great treasures. But only the brave and bold can go... The island is called Zarazuul by the goblins, but humans usually refer to it as Starsee Island - a translation of the name the elves have for it.

There is a frontier town set up by the kingdom that is well defended from the lowly goblin's attacks. In fact, this frontier town was set up next to the bay on top of some previous ruins. The ruins seem too sophisticated to be goblinoid, but also don't seem dwarven or elven. Probably some human civilization, but who knows how long ago. It's not on any of the kingdoms records - but you know what - no one really cares because it isn't that important. The old town had a ruined wall, which was a convenient starting point for the kingdom to construct their own wall.

One of the nearest points of adventure is another ruin - but this one is on the record books. 50 years ago another kingdom attempted to set up a colony on this island, but the colony was beleaguered and eventually dropped out of contact. It was determined by a scouting party to have been destroyed and overrun with undead. The official 'why and how' was never determined. Again, that's not really on the top of anyone's to-do list. Undead spring up all over the place, and this colony just happened to be vulnerable. End of story.

But the colony had an extensive library (for some reason, perhaps a retired monkish scholar who helped found the colony) and there may be some magic treasure or at least some important records there. The goblinoids are warlike and have superior numbers (for now) so your kingdom would like any bit of intel it can get on how the goblin tribes interact with each other, etc. You, as adventurers, can be the first ones to go to the ruined colony to dig up treasures, or find out what happened there (so that it doesn't happen to the frontier town).

On the journey there, you pass by some ancient white ruins, that are probably not human in origin. If they are explored, you find that one structure still stands, and in it, one relief wall has survived the elements enough to show a carving of a dragon chained to a mountain underneath a large crescent, and ancient elven runes that need deciphering by an elven scholar. This ruin has little else of import, although it is curious that elves would have at one point inhabited this island, as there are no elves known to be indigenous here anymore.

When you get to the lost colony, the scene has shades of a horror game. Though it fell 50 years ago, the buildings are still remarkably intact. It seems that nothing has been looted (the goblins avoid this place?) Plates are still set on the table for a dinner that never happened. Beds are made neatly. But every door was left open, and some have swung off their hinges throughout the years of weather. Wooden homes stand empty, with peeled paint, and are warped awkwardly from the rain.

A monastery, the only stone building in the village, is where the final signs of life can be found. Broken skeletons of men, women and children are all huddled together in the worn wooden pews of the worship area. Remains of women cradle the remains of their children, and some corpses have been left by time knelt over in eternal unanswered prayer. Most of the men seem to be near the front of the worship area, surrounding and facing towards the pulpit. But there is no sign of anyone who was at the pulpit - if there indeed was someone leading them in prayer that night.

The reports said there was an undead attack that destroyed the village - but there are no signs of violence here. Fear, maybe... but not violence. Were the reports wrong?

There is a small library in the monastery. The library holds only some popular religious texts, and nothing of true value. In a not-so-secret (now) door at the back of the library, there is a tunnel leading to a dungeon underneath the monastery. It appears to be a small crypt for important individuals, but only one body is interred down here. He is dressed auspiciously, but his holy symbol and markings are not familiar (but the monastery was dedicated to a well known deity). For some reason, there are old traps in the crypts that pose a danger to explorers. There are also small crawlspaces behind the crypt 'shelves' that someone might be able to crawl through (very uncomfortably). Every now and again the explorers hear a long hollow scraping sound in the distance down here - sometimes coming from one of these crypt holes.

The explorers pass the final trap and find the true treasure of this place - the real lost library. There may be a few books here that the DM has written up (in the Elder Scrolls style) that hint at other peculiarities of this island, thought they are all at least 50 years out of date. "Speculation on the Elven Ruins", "The Hierarchy of the Goblin Tribes", "The Purpose of Dark Crystals", "Oh Great Al'thwch", "The Treasure Beyond Bearing", "Finding the Twisted Tower", etc. There is also an ebony chest with a magic item someone in the party is really going to like, that has a monkish or priestly theme to it (plus a few other standard pieces of loot). Or the treasure was interred with that important corpse back in the crypt, if the glowing-treasure-chest-at-the-end-of-the-dungeon thing is too cliched for your players.

There is also a gigantic ominous black door built into the floor in a room beyond the library - it has clearly not been built by the colonists, but instead was uncovered by an excavation crew, and then buried back up again underneath the monastery. There are runes on the door in a lost language that is similar to draconic (they are ancient necromantic), and a fist sized triangular slot missing from the door that may be a keyhole. There is no way to open the door yet, but this door (and doors like it) will become very important a little later on in the campaign.

Oh, and at night time, zombies and skeletons of goblinoids absolutely seek out and attack living people that still lurk in or around the Lost Colony. They return to a death-like state around the outskirts of the town during the day.

Also, if I were DMing this, I really wouldn't worry about having all the answers ready to go. That makes it mysterious for me, too - and maybe one of my players will come up with a theory that is way better than anything I could make up, and I would modify or go with it instead.

I hope that painted a decent picture. The theme for places wouldn't always be Shadow over Innsmouth, either, that just kind of came to me in the moment while I wrote this. Other places would be more traditionally Elven Ruins (overrun by goblins) old human fortresses, goblin burrows, wizards towers, labyrinths, giant spider dens, etc. But each place hints that something happened here on this island, that there is something sinister going on, that there are treasures that have been lost, and here are some clues so you can discover it all.

[ddude987]

The best thing to do when adventuring in an area like that is play up the 3rd dimension. Encourage the PCs to climb up to vantage points, use climbing or flying enemies, take advantage of crumbling infrastructure to make fights extra-exciting and dangerous.

Certainly. I need to work on interesting encounters. I've read a few guides, but I feel it requires lots of practice as well. I certainly think raised highways and grand aqueducts will have 3d geometry. Perhaps if the aqueducts the players explore are enormous, I could have plant growth as well as rubble and similar things in them. This makes me think of another question, which is, how does one properly start encounters? (details to question below)

Don't get so caught up in the new places that you forget new faces. Make the weird cultures you encounter weird, not just "Hey, they have the exact same social structure, but call people 'Baron' instead of 'Earl'! How bizarre!"

Throw in religious twists.
Throw in incongruous (to you) social things. Maybe they spit to show approval, or tap a staff on the ground to show that they are finished talking and you can start now. Something that is weird and memorable and keeps them from seeming like "White people just like us, but with an indeterminate accent."

Hrmmm... I do indeed need to work on culture in depth. The world is just so large though, its so many cultures. I should program a random culture generator.

Absolutely. Random treasure has absolutely no appeal in an exploration-based adventure. You don't go to Cairo, put your staff in the orifice to have it shine a light to a specific location, then dig up the treasure that's buried there to find two +1 swords and a potion of protection from arrows.

You know better than anyone else what kind of treasure your players are going to find fun and cool, and one item you've designed with them in mind is always going to be better than loads of random treasure, or the balanced treasure some module writer put there.

Also, I find that mysteries shouldn't usually have a clever answer. The DM will think it is clever, and the player will say "so, what is the point of that, anyway?" I'd rather that answers always beg more questions - and that maybe the true answers are lost to time. Now, that sounds a little pointless... but maybe I can somehow explain below.

I agree with the treasure point. Why explore for nothing special, and even more so because this will be rather low magic. Also, thanks for the long example. I enjoyed it.


For an exploration campaign, or just when adventuring in general, how does one start encounters? "The giant bear jumps out of the woods and attacks" or "the bandits ambush you" just feel arbitrary and contrived. I suppose I'm mostly wondering, what are some good practices for leading up to an encounter.

[Lord Torath]

I'd say start by checking for surprise. Neither side will likely be expecting the presence of the other, so there's a chance they will fail to see each other until very close. If the PCs surprise a bear, tell the lead PC he sees/hears a bear in the woods just off the side of the path 20-100 feet ahead (depending on the density of the trees in the wood they're moving through). If the bear surprises them, the PC passes a large tree and suddenly hears a roar and sees a bear rear up. If they surprise each other, the PC looks up and discovers a bear with a red mouth turning away from the raspberry bushes 10 feet away. If neither side is surprised, let them know they see the other side from a greater distance (again, the distance depends on the density of vision-blocking terrain in the area).

Then ask the PCs what they want to do.

[LibraryOgre]

Hrmmm... I do indeed need to work on culture in depth. The world is just so large though, its so many cultures. I should program a random culture generator.

One thing that might help, if you're wanting to think really deeply about it, is decide what the culture before was like, and how it might change in certain circumstances. If the previous cultural was decidedly Roman, you might make one group that reveres exotic animals, and keeps a menagerie of completely out of place creatures. Why? Because their ancestors kept the menagerie of the gladiatorial arena, and were able to survive because of this, lending sacredness to it. Or a group of non-magical people who worship a spellbook, because they were founded by a mage who used that spellbook to protect them in early years... then died without training an apprentice. Or they worship a magic item that provides something for them (or used to, "before their faith got weak"), or some monster that's decided it's easier to get fed than hunt and so encourages their worship.

There should be antecedents for their beliefs... reasons they come out that way.

[Gritmonger]

For an exploration campaign, or just when adventuring in general, how does one start encounters? "The giant bear jumps out of the woods and attacks" or "the bandits ambush you" just feel arbitrary and contrived. I suppose I'm mostly wondering, what are some good practices for leading up to an encounter.

Depends on the kind of encounter.

Are you stumbling into the lair of a carrion crawler? The fluff text says they like to "season" their corpses, so a few partially-buried bodies in various states of decay may litter the area nearby where they stay. They may also wait until there are only a few people, or one lone person, to initiate a combat. Give cues that something may be up rather than randomly throwing an enemy at them.

Are you on the edges of an intelligent race that might have patrols? Roll for each party's perception - if neither makes it, they surprise each-other. If one makes it, they have a choice to engage or not, and you might have the patrol decide to go back for reinforcements.

Are you in an area that is frequented by a bear? It has to eat, drink, and rest - so it could be about any of those activities when the players stumble upon it - again, have both make checks, and if you have a ranger you can give them advantage on perception checks if their survival or nature checks thell them there is recent animal sign, and make them more wary.

Think about it less in terms of a trap and more in terms of if you stumbled into somebody's house - what would they be doing? Would they be lying in wait by the door, on the random chance somebody might stumble through? What would be their routine?

I don't know if these are "good" practices - but they seemed to work for my party so far.