Encounters — Legacy Forums — Strolen's Citadel

Encounters

#1

As seen in http://www.roleplayingtips.com/articles/random_encounters.php can ye give me some Random Encounters?

Not of the type Humanoid = Cannon Fodder A, Monster = Cannon Fodder B, Misc. Cannon Fodder C etc. I need something(someone) to provoke role-playing, though some fight can still happen.

Know some?

Some to begin

#2

Loud, horrible, supernatural noise breaks the peace of the forest. Animals run away, earth seems to shake, you get the shivers. Will you find the source of this?

Actually an orcish bard! :) His instrument somehow begins to take on magical powers.

A couple...maybe

#3

Rain slowly builds, thunder and lightning continue to roll in. Road muddies, horse/wagon getting stuck in the mud. Thunder strikes coinciding with a deep hole a horse just walked in, horse panics, breaks its leg (maybe just sprain?). Horse is decompacitated and the rain just went from pouring to an all out monsoon. Shelter needs to be found, horse needs to be taken care of, covered in mud, add the posibility of items being lost to the confusion with the wind and dealing with spooked animals.

Young kid from last town has been following the PCs and doing a rather good job at it. PCs weren't expecting to be followed so weren't worried and the boy/girl was careful. Notice the follower a couple days out of town, kid ran out of food and started getting careless. Followed the 'mighty adventurers' to see if he could join them. Father is a wealthy merchant. Bring him home, bring him with, send him off? What do you do with an unwelcomed guest.

Herbalist in the group mistakes one plant for another and mistakenly poisons the group. Not to death, but pretty darn ill with recurring symptoms until the cause and cure are realized. (Local people may be able to help rather easily. "You ate Dragon's Rot you fool, looks and smells just like mint except it has these small thistles on the root. Only grow in the Hornwood Forest, that must be where ya got them. Eat this and you will feel better in 4 hours."

Another

#4

Could come across a band of refugees. Could have been thrown out of their town by a tyrant taking of their land, bought out by somebody unexpectedly, fleeing a battle they know is coming their way. Could be proof of what they are searching for, hints and tips of what is to come, or just to broaden the reality of the world.

PCs camp for the night in a dry pine forest. Fire skill of the person that made it is usually pretty good, but during the first watch the unexpected happens: a spark lights the surrounding woods and a brush fire quickly starts. Be quick or it could turn into a disaster that could affect the entire region.

Encounters

#5

Free sample!
Effect/City
... you get a sample from the local baker's newest creation, a sweet little cake. The bad news is, it somehow got contaminated and works as a Truth-drug, so you are unable to lie for at least 2 hours! (no problem or very bad news)

Man in the wood
NPC/Woods
1d6:
1. Some old woman collecting herbs
2. People picking mushrooms or fruits-of-the-forest
3. A group of children playing hide and seek
4. A hunter or gamekeeper (or a druid)
5. Lumberjack
6. Poacher or ranger or anyone

Animal in the wood
Monster/Woods
1d6:
1. A squirrel follows them for a while, then runs away
2. 1d4+1 wolwes, aggresive, but will not attack at first
3. A wild boar with offspring. May be dangerous.
4. A fox, will flee, may steal some food if gets a chance
5. A bear, has just eaten a hive. Full and almost friendly.
6. Deer running away

Hunter
Monster,NPC/Woods
A friendly human hunter has a talk with you about what you are doing here etc. Advises to not disturb the animals. Actually a werewolf checking his territory, if you are not to his liking, he may ambush you with his pack. Equipment: crossbow, long knife.

Fight over.
Location/Woods, Wilds, Road
An abandoned camp, marks of fighting. The ash is not yet cold. No corpses or living nearby. Broken items, valuables may or may not be here. Footprints are everywhere, animal and human, not to be sorted out.

Stolen from Strolen.com

#6

Mercilessly ripped from the heart of Strolen's Citadel :twisted:
Let some Ideas shine somewhere else.

Ria Hawk:
If a creature is transformed into another creature (say, a human into a dog), then that creature will become more and more accustomed to the new form until a point is reached where reversing the spell is impossible. A second transformation is possible, but the creature will have to go through the whole process again.
... you meet a dog or another ordinary animal, with surprisingly intelligent look that seems to beg for something. May follow the wizard or cleric or someone looking to be able to break his curse. Help him better fast!

manfred:
Actually a real-world fungus, just heard about it. A fungus that tastes well and all, no ill effects. UNLESS you consume some beverage, even 3 (three) days after eating it. Then you become really sick, pains, vomiting, all the fancy stuff. Was really used to cure alcoholism. May be a joke or to make sure the heroes spend their time focused on the mission.
... the fine soup you had yesterday had some in. :twisted:

ephemeralstability
The peasants of the wood use crudely carved symbols to ward off wolves. They think the symbols are emblems of purity and goodness and that keeps the wolves away. The symbols work, but not for the reasons the peasants believe... The symbols are actually arcance evil symbols which the wolves know and fear, but to which the peasants are oblivious. So how gullible are the peasants going to be when a strange horned man displaying the symbols on his shield turns up and asks for their allegiance?
... if met those peasants before, you may learn this useful thing (may come from character background) and use it. Now you encounter someone who knows what it really means, whether he is good or evil.

Ria Hawk
One of the most wanted assassins in the realm looks exactly like an important person (local nobility, PC, etc.) This may or may not be common knowledge.
... seems like someone mistakes your PC for someone else.

ephemeralstability
The ochre sands stretch for miles around. Something kicks up the dust. It's a yak. A desert-yak. It ambles slowly, nuzzling the ground for the low-growing shrubs. The ranger freezes. "Stay very still," he warns. "Don't move at all." "What is it?" you ask, breathlessly. "It's the most dangerous creature in the whole Ocadian desert. And it's about to eat that yak..."
... this I call an encounter :!:

Strolen
Diseased people, (leprosy or any other such fear inducing disease) when traveling, will often times wear a cloak that entirely covers their body and ring a bell as they travel, used as a warning for any others to stay away. Could be used for a disguise or safe passage.
... you meet strangely cloaked people, sometimes ringing a bell. "Please give us something to eat, mighty heroes!" This is time to show how good they are.

Strolen
Mining in a certain area turns all exposed skin (maybe just parts that are actively disturbing the chemicals that cause the reaction) of the those doing the mining to a dark blue color. Will wear off taking as many years/days spent in the mine.
... meeting a party of blue-skinned humans armed with pick-axes etc. Strange disease? Demon offspring? Curse?
If they meet only one ex-worker, they will very carefully listen to any stories he says, no matter if drunken or insane, or just makes up to get a beer :wink:

Strolen
Small tavern in an out of the way town. Serve a wonderful delicacy that is simply outstanding. It is a creamy white consistancy, sweet, good to eat alone or a sweetener on any dessert. If the explore or ask they are shown where they get it. They breed a group of large catipillars or some other type of insect that basically spit the product onto a setup that they created for that particular reason. Or maybe the delicacy is the byproduct of feeding them something.
... no comment

Strolen
A religious group has a vow of poverty. They have nothing except what is donated to them. Once a day the group walks through the town holding small baskets for offerings. Main purpose is to recieve their food for the day. Most families believe it is good luck to give the group small foods that they can spare. The group is very grateful for the donations and all bow in unison to each that gives a donation much to the amusement of many kids that enjoy giving the donation.
... great generic City encounter!

Strolen
A revolt or attack happens against a strong city/kingdom. All the losers of the battle that can be captured are brutally crucified along the roads that enter the kingdom to show their strength and as a demonstration of what happens to their enemies.
... a long road, decorated with hundreds of dying crucified soldiers... You see them bleeding, you hear them screaming and whispering for help. Do you really want to enter this reportedly peaceful kingdom?

manfred
Temple of some malign being invites you warmly and offers help (curing, needed spell etc) for some minor sacrifice . Sacrifices must be everytime bigger to work - up to living inteligent creatures. Maybe you pay some other price,too, with your soul...
... Road encounter

Strolen
Something lives in the fog in a certain region and travels with the fog. Kidnaps or kills, or is simply heard and "felt".
... fog is rising, heed the warnings the elders spoke!

Encounters

#7

Playing with fire

The characters are wandering through the bustling crowds of Lasopolis. A street conjuror is performing a simple summoning spell, something for the kiddies. A bit of odious purple powder in the fire, an incantation and out pops a saak-lizard or a muhmentarsh, writhing from the flaming brazier. But the conjuror has only a poor grasp of the arcane magical tongue. A few stuttered syllables could lead to Other Things coming through the brazier and giving the crowd more entertainment than they had paid for...

What's he doing here?

On route from Geli to Nekrass the characters meet a peasant boy on the road. He's wandering in the direction from which they've just come. If this seems a little bit incongruous, they may wish to ask him a few questions. He's perfectly willing to talk: he's called Lamish and he's run away because he knows he is the heir to the throne of Geli and his parents didn't believe him. How far is his home? About five weeks walk from here. How much has he eaten? Nothing. Has he drunk? Only from the filthy roadside ditches. In short, it's a wonder he is still alive. And yet he seems perfectly healthy.

Is he a thief, waiting for travellers to trick? Is he lying because there's something more sinister under all of this? Is he telling the truth? And anyway, what should the characters do? Do you take him to Geli? Do you try to find his parents? Or leave him to make his own way?

Encounters

#8

I think very often encounters and games are too character-centred: nothing goes on in the world except that which directly affects or is affected by the PCs. It might be a more believable world if, every so often, they came into contact with a little bit of other people's lives; something about which they can do nothing except observe.

A Letter

A fragment of letter drifts down to the street. You catch it, and unfold the charred edges.

"...know I will always lov..
..at never dies. It is th...
..f my passion that b...
...nd it cannot be ext..
....n heaven or....n hel..
....ill be by you...ide an...
......
...... yours foreve.........
... Mendates ........
..................................."

Looking up from the fragmented text you glance around at the rooftops. There. A minute snowfall of scraps of letters is cascading from the chimney of a half-timbered house nearby.

To make the characters feel more like one of the mundane inhabitants of the world, the following city encounter could be quite interesting.

Hustings

In a crowded marketplace, a man is standing on a soapbox, orating. Some of the crowd are cheering, some hissing, some standing around saying "I can't hear a bl**dy word he's saying". It's a hustings for an election. The PCs can either leave, or stay and listen. If they do the latter, then they can vote too, and they might get quite involved in the cheering. Depending on who wins they might get quite involved in the post-election brawl too...

There are numerous possibilities with this encounter: the PCs might end up talking to one of the nervous candidates before their speech, and offer encouragement and support. Of course this candidate may well turn out to be someone with outspokenly unorthodox views, and the crowd don't take kindly to s/his supporters. Or maybe the seemingly innocuous candidate turns out to be a complete racist, and the PCs wander off embarrassedly, pretending they weren't talking to this person five minutes ago.

Encounters

#9

Marriage

The PC's enter a town amid a giant celebration, the Spring Wedding Festival. Unmarried men and women from all over the provinces gather her every spring to be matched by the most sacred matchmaker ever to live, Holly Lovard. Holly is now ancient and must be carried everywhere she visits and rumors are that this will be her last visit to the Wedding Festival so any matches made this spring will be doubley blessed.

Enter PC's, wrong place at the wrong time. Molly sees one of them, calls him/her out of the crowd and that are unable to resist the push and pull of the mob. Brought in front of Molly Lovard, the PC is declared the lifemate of

Encounters

#10

Something I noticed when read the encounter cards article was that the author seemed concerned that an encounter would derail or overtake the original adventure. I suggest adding a little severity note for hw much the encounter is likely to take on a life of it's own. Simple encounters, like a pack of wolves, seldom throw the campaign in to chaos, while more complex encounters, like a noble that frequents the king's court being found dead by the roadside could make things a bit more sticky.

Simple:

Rainy day - Only travel 3/4 the normal distance, hope you brought your own dry wood.

Woodcutter - Will readily exchange a night's lodging by his fire for a change in food.

There's a snake in my boots - Some type of serpent or insect has made it's bed against your body or in your clothes. Time for some animal handling/lore rolls or maybe just healing or combat. "Was it black before yellow or yellow before black? I can never remember which one is deadly." :shock:

Complex:

Late for an ambush - You happen upon a tax collectors wagon that has been stopped just short of a fallen tree. The gaurds are several days dead, the horses have been stolen, and the lock on the door has been beaten open.

Don't we know that guy? - The players are passed by a man riding as a fast gallop away from the last city they were in. Though cloaked and wearing a large hat, one of the pc's gets a glimpse of the fast moving individual and it looked alot like a merchant/barkeep/functionary they spoke to. Why is he in such a hurry?

It's what's for dinner - The players spot a horse breaking free of the trees ahead, closely persued by a pack of wolves. Whether or not the players act, the horse soon dies from it's wounds. It had been saddled with gear bearing the markings of a local noble. But, where's the noble?

Encounters

#11

Woodcutter - Will readily exchange a night's lodging by his fire for a change in food.

... a cannibal in the woods? :twisted:

Hey people, I said Random Encounters, not Plot Hooks :wink: Great work done here!

Simple:

Dancing in the city
NPC/City
A few musicians play their instruments and a beatiful maiden dances to the music. Wonderful to look upon, you surely will spend a few coppers, will you? In addition, two thieves move through the on-looking crowd. Spare the coppers, loose the silvers your father used to say.

Taxes!
CP/City, Road
Run away who can, a tax collector on the road! Sturdy wagon with riches inside, well-trained and -payed guards to even it up. You get a serious look, you are shown the documents of his authority and he starts to estimate all your property...

Religion on the Road
NPC/Road
1d6:
1-2 Pilgrims travelling somewhere
3 A lone worshipper is building a chapel to his deity
4 A small path leading to a local hermit
5 A minor shrine to some minor local deity. No sacrifice=no good. Wrong sacrifice=Very Bad News!
6 Ritual cleansing of many people: stand naked in the river and pray. Women and men, children and elders... Will you join them?

Headless rider
NPC?/Road,night only
If you are that late on the road, you may find strange company. A headless knight rides next to you, without a sound nor leaving a trace. May ride with you for a while, or look through your camp. Then leaves, his horse can get twice as fast as any living one. Will get sooner or later out of sight and vanish.

Fog
Event/Swamp, Wilderness, Woods
Fog. Your ordinary standard fog, carrying strange smells, queer sounds and
depressive feelings. Reduces visibility under d6*50 yards. May have other special effects attached (as mentioned before).

Great Leech
Monster/Swamp
A 4-5 inches long leech, knows how to suck on without being spotted, mostly on uncovered body parts exposed to fetid swamp-waters. Uses a weak anesthetic and is rarely spotted or felt by the victim itself. Sucks a few HPs and falls of. Not really dangerous and defenseless in combat, but weakens its victim (or a horse). Usually spotted later as a bite of three little teeth around a circular wound.

Lost ship
Location,Monster/Swamp
Many strange things may be seen in the Great Swamps, not all real. But I tell you, there was a ship and it was real! Sure it was old and all sails torn and had many holes in the hull... but anyway it was hundreds of miles from the Sea! How it came to be there, I can only wonder. (probably used by wererats, so usable for both combat and roleplaying)

Watch the beauty!
Location, NPC/Woods, Wilderness
A wonderful scene of nature: a waterfall and a pool, embraced by the trees and bushes. The only thing not fitting into this peacefull place are the bones strewn around the pool. An old hill giant lives in a cave behind the pool. He is peaceful a craves company.

Wild Lands
Location, Effect/Wilderness
With each spell attempted to cast, the probability of succesful casting changes by about (1d6-3.5)*20% If the change is bigger than 20% and the spell succeds, DM may feel free to adjust some of the spells properties upwards/downwards. Oh, not to forget: Any critical miss is considered normal failure(simply does not work), any normal failure is considered a
critical one (AKA fumble AKA wild surge).

Wild Lands, Dead Lands
Location, Effect/Wilderness
No magic works here. Wizards and similar are slowly drained of their powers. Will even drain weaker magical items like potions with enough time.

Meet The Hangman
Location,NPC/Wilderness
A good camping-place with something extra: a gallows with a hangman, reduced to bones and a few rags. It marrily hovers in the wind. Any manipulation will make it fall apart. Really good as a camping place, except for the midnight hours, when ghosts of those executed haunt
here. Some wail for their crimes, some re-live their execution over and over, some want to have a talk, and still some others want to scare the Living for fun.

Complex:

Land for a good price
NPC/City
Ladies and Gentlemen of Worth, please come closer and have a look... In a little stand with numerous maps, the human Advantos sells land-rights with a shining smile and jovial talk at bargain prices.
Sells even squatter rights (first to settle=you're the owner).

About 20% of the lands do not exist or belong to someone else. About 30% do not have even that value, or other problems attached- swamp, cursed, haunting, Old Indian/Pet Cemetery (tm), ...
Be assured you will not see this man in the same city twice.

Encounters

#12

A headless knight rides next to you, without a sound nor leaving a trace. May ride with you for a while, or look through your camp.

He doesn't look around for long however, because he realizes he has no head. He walks out of the camp and trips and falls over the fire spreading burning ash over the dry pine needles instantly catching a flame. Taran's wife, that he was matched with in the last village, screams and a horse twists its ankle in the confusion. Traveling Pilgrims enter the site and attempt to smother the flame while a hedge wizard, in an attempt to dispell the fire, conjures up a greater demon. The stray noble that ran away from home climbs up the anchor of the harbored floating ghost ship as a talking bear arrives in camp with a hat and a shovel and attempts to put out the growing blaze, "Only you can prevent forrest fires," it chants as it shovels. The chant sends the traveling refugees into a frenzy and they are nearly plowed over when they enter the path of some, faintly recognizeable man galloping by on a horse. Just then a large clap of thunder shakes the ground and a rain front pounds in from the north. The rain on the fire creates a heavy mysterious fog that awakens the ghosts of those executed in a spot very near by and leeches start falling from the sky. The clop of a horse and the jingle of a wagon make the camp aware of a nearing wagon train. From the looks of it they are tax collectors, and well armed. The tax collector comes upon the campsite, has a short look around at the muddy, burnt, leech bloodied, haunted, newly weds and shakes his head at disgust, "Lowly peasants," spits from his mouth as he guides his group away. That is one way to avoid road taxes.

Encounters

#13

You were feeling evil, weren't you?

Encounters

#14

Thought I'd add the obligitory beginning to every rpg. I mean, have you noticed that in rpg's, everyone is an orphan, gets ship wrecked and there's always a good guy who did a bad thing once upon a time? Here's the condensed version.

You awaken from your sea voyage to a tremendous crash as the boat load of orphans from the town of God's Only Know crashes through a taven wall. When you arrive on deck, you can see a evil wizard with a sharp pointy face and slicked back black hair striding towards the door with a princess suspended imobile in some evil spell beside him. A bearded wizard with a pointed hat with a floppy point points at the evil wizard and shouts "I know where you live!"

The evil wizard smirks and replies "Like you did last week when you killed off the parents of every child in God's Only Know?"

The bearded wizard turns red and shouts back. "That was an accident! I've got my charts right side up this time!"

"We shall see." The evil wizard smiles and transforms into an undead dragon as he steps through the door and into the night sky.

The bearded wizard looks at you and says "Well, c'mon, a prophesy as weird as this one is hard to mis interpent. Let's go save your cousin."

Encounters

#15

Oh, never in mine RPGs. Maybe they are children-of-rich-and-well-to-do-families-but-ran-away-because-of-conflicts-and-need-of-adventure, more often than not. And shipwrecks happen from time to time, so what? :roll:

Slightly off-topic conversation, heh? I was asking myself when the Encounter-geyser stops working, I was slowly running out of ideas and place to write yours :wink:

Encounters

#16

Just a couple of quick encounters:

1. The PCs are setting up camp at the end of their first day of walking through the Esh-Inel Mountains, when they hear in the distance a low rumbling, like thunder. It grows progressively louder until it echoes off the mountainous bowls around them, then dies away again. At its worst the ground starts trembling. It happens every day at this time, and it is the noise of the Great Carts on the dwarfish underways returning home after a day mining, laden with many tons of ore.

2. Magical forests are never a good place to sleep, especially seeing as much of the population is nocturnal. Firewood taken from the wrong tree can turn against its collectors, and a strangling onslaught of angry twigs and branches can be surprisingly severe and difficult to disentangle yourself from. Fires themselves attract enemies, and not only malevolent predators. Giant moths and gloomwings are tempted by the heat and light, but are often misunderstood.

3. A little way up the narrow valley, before they reach the woods, the PCs notice the squat, tumbledown buildings by the riverside. They are hardly big enough for a human to stand in, and the complex cogs and shafts that occupy the central cavity of one of the buildings are perplexing. What were these buildings? And how safe are they to explore?

Alternatively a desolate place is the perfect setting for a derelict chapel or croft. There needn't be any actual physical encounter involved, but it adds atmosphere to a place to see its dead history. For instance, in the Outer Hebrides there are whole deserted villages which were razed to the ground by the English during the Clearances. Such stories give a setting authenticity and character.

4. There are more ways than one to encounter a dragon. With a low level group it's obviously not feasible to meet one in its lair and fight it. But standing on a bleak moorland, utterly exposed and vulnerable, it can be a chilling experience to see something flying far far overhead. Something that could just be an eagle, but you never know...

5. In Azur, the streets are crowded, and the PCs' poor grasp of Azuran makes it hard for them to find out why. Still, they shoulder their way through the crowds, trying to get to the house of the renowned wizard they seek, when suddenly they realise they are standing very much alone. The crowds have ceased their talking and their gazes are fixed on the PCs. The imperiously clothed man standing before them smiles and speaks in Azuran: "Ah! Volunteers! And so eager too!"

Might have to start a section of the website for these!!

#17

In nature, for instance, a rhino has flies and ticks etc, that live on the hide and live off the blood. Rhino will visit and lie in ponds where turtles will clean the underwater portion of the ticks and a species of bird will clean the the top of ticks and other parasites. What if where the characters camp there were a species of animals that lived off wounds of the creatures.

PCs camp. Anybody with wounds on there body are soon covered with small rodent - insect - shadows - whatever. Would immediately see it as a threat I would imagine. But perhaps one of the wounded didn't wake up when it happened, and when they did finally wake they were completely healed. Perhaps somebody was warned of something attacking them but they were able to notice that the wound was actually getting smaller instead of larger. Or maybe they successfully beat the creatures off them and don't notice an improvement, marking this place never to rest at ever again....later learn that villagers send their wounded there but they keep it a guarded secret because they don't want all the attention or traffic and what comes with such a special gift. Could turn into something more too if characters decide to start blabbing about it.

Encounters

#18

As they travel they notice a horrible rotten smell. As they travel it gets stronger and stronger forcing them to cover their noses and mouth less they choke on the horrible smell.

Investigate could be:
Rotting animal carcass that has been ripped apart and tracks all over, covered in maggots.

Stream full of dead fish. Spawning trout die in mass quantities after they spawn littering areas with dead fish dying and deteriorating in the sun.

Encounters

#19

Other sources of rotting stinks:

A small goblin tribe preparing a wedding feast. The wedding is between two tribes as a gesture for peace, if the PC's intefere, feirce fighting could break out :twisted: .

Steam billows out of a cave as an Ogre paces to and fro in front of it. If pressed for information, he will tell the PC's his mother-in-law is visiting and cooking his wife's favorite childhood dish, fermented squid, snail, and skunk casarole :P . His wife has confided in him that she never liked the dish, but the mother-in-law won't listen to either of them and blames any changes in her precious daughter on him. If the PC's can help drive off his mother-in-law, he will be most grateful. Mind you, as much as he'd like her dead :twisted: , his mother-in-law is his wife's mother.

Two baskilisks are mating. Who ever thought mythical beasts could smell so bad? :twisted:

A harpy has hatched. The newborn has a baby's face and fluffy down for feathers, and Tourette's syndrome. The smell is the shattered harpy egg.

Encounters

#20

Traveling through a dense forest. Road or path or trailblazing, whatever, see a red fox sitting watching the characters (or any animal for that matter). See it multiple times as they travel to the point where it is getting weird. Any attempt to catch it will fail (unless deamed otherwise).

It is the forest's druid shapeshifted into an animal watching the party ensuring their good intentions. Druid has been having trouble lately and is paying closer attention to groups of armed warriors. Wants to be seen to try and cause unease and make them leave or at least fear nature a little more readily.

Could be used as a plot hook if the DM needs it. Otherwise just an odd occurance.

Encounters

#21

Those are not Enderleaves, it is Poison Ginder. And so the characters are plagued with an itching, burning rash over every exposed portion of their body. "I knew we should have stayed on the road."

Encounters

#22

A few sheperds bringing their sheep down the road to a town where they will be sheared. Effectively block the road making riding or moving through them difficult to impossible until they are all passed.

Could just find all the tracks on the road and may not know what it is.

Entire meadow is flooded. Looks like a lake, could cover part of the road and have to deal with locals that have a flat bottomed boat to get across it.

Encounters

#23

Reminds me of that old: The path simply vanishes, and continues a few miles on.

What if it happened in slightly changed enviroment, like at night or in deep fog, when they need to keep their direction to not get lost...

Location: Road, Plains

Encounters

#24

Vampire Bat
Road, Woods, Night only
Event

You, or to be exact your animals are visited by a vampire bat. Unless you guard them at night carefully, one or more of them might serve as blood-donor. Signs are a minor wound and weakness, which may take a few days. The animal will be 10-20% slower, problematic if speed is needed. There is a 1% chance of some disease, possibly much bigger if there is a cattle-plague or a similar disease in the area.

Encounters

#25

The Poor Zombie
Dungeon
Monster

On a location with numerous webs, and at least one big spider, there is a something inside a cocoon. It is humanoid in shape, still moving. If the heroes free it (not before they kill or drive away the spiders), they meet a ... zombie!

The poor zombie wandered the dungeon alone, and tried to kill a big living creature (= a spider). The spider used the usual treatment, even if this victim did not look tasty. The zombie can be easily killed as any other zombie. It got but several doses of spider-poison, so can be something worth if it is extracted. You can mention to a druid or ranger the fact the spider had no poison anymore.

Encounters

#26

At least a bit...

Cowboys!
Road
NPC

Five men are herding fifteen horses down the road. They won't be very talkative, but are willing to sell a horse, or more horses if the heroes are interested. These men are horse thieves. They are already sought by regional militiamen. Anyone with a stolen horse (all are marked) may get into trouble. If found guilty, horse thieves face prison or even a hanging execution. Similar thefts have happened only a month before, and a reward is offered.

A gift from the dead man
Village
NPC

You meet a large number of villagers, walking and weeping beside the coffin of an old bearded man (or adapt to your funeral customs). If asked properly, you learn about an old wizard, a wise man that long helped the tiny village to grow and prosper. Even after death he shows his favour: he gave most of his possesions to the poorer members of the community. All the villagers show him now respect this way. Why do you ask, are you adventurers? (As a last wish, he left a tiny case for the first group of adventurers that crosses the village).

A beauty of the most unique kind
Woods
Creature

A slight rustle of the wind... and it stands before you. A Unicorn, whiter and more beautiful than you ever imagined it. It has deep wonderful eyes, and you can't help but admire this creature. It came to have a look at you, and now it freely goes. You have not the heart to stop it, and it silently vanishes between the trees.
Note: unless specially needed, this encounter should never happen again.

Encounters

#27

The Den
Rocky hills, mountains, mountain passes
Creature

The heroes are climbing through a small canyon in the snowy mountains, cloaks wrapped tightly against the wind. Two their left, many caves burrow into the hill. Suddenly, from one of the caves springs a great Troll Cat, eyes flashing, saber-tusks scything, a mother hunting for her cubs.

By the way, about these: They seem a lot like either plots or ideas, or both, so why make a seperate category?

Encounters

#28

Some of you may have noticed a Wilderness Encounters thingy in the Roleplaying Tips. In Issue 176 it is complete and... wonderful, excellent encounters have been created. Sure there are some weaker ones, but the few can be easily ignored.

It is explicitly mentioned to be 'free to share' everywhere, so I decided to post it here.

I simply must share at least one with you:

When A Tree Falls In A Forest...
================================
There is an old philosophical question that is often posed
along the lines of "If a tree falls in a forest, and no-one
is there to witness the event, does it make any sound?". The
usual answer is yes, of course, it makes a sound.

But what happens when a party of adventurers are journeying
through a wooded area, and a slight movement catches their
attention. It is a mighty oak tree, tall and majestic, but a
bough shakes, and then the tree itself shudders. Finally,
the massive trunk splinters and the great oak comes down in
a cloud of leaves, broken branches, and split wood. But, it
comes down in absolute silence! Not a sound, not the merest
trace of a noise, despite so many tons of timber falling.

The party may choose to investigate immediately; after all,
it is a very strange event. With some form of detection,
they may realize that the tree was silenced (i.e. a silence
spell) before it came down. But why? And why did it need to
fall anyway? Was it natural, or something more sinister.

There may be many reasons behind the silent felling of a
tree, ranging from a dying ent (tree-being) wishing to die
in silence, to stealthy orcs trying to destroy an ancient
grove without attracting any attention from a nearby
village.

However, one plot line could be that a mage wishes to
acquire the "heart of the forest" - a natural artifact -
which is encased in this great tree. However, in order to
remove this treasure, the tree must be destroyed, thus
enraging the fey (dryads, nymphs, etc.) who make it their
home. In order to avoid their wrath, the mage casts silence
on the entire area, to thwart their magic while he makes his
escape.

Even if the party doesn't investigate the tree, they could
encounter the mage himself, fleeing the area, or the fey-
creatures in his pursuit. Or perhaps the fey mistakenly
blame the party.

And of course, the reason that the mage wants this natural
artifact in the first place could be the hook for a new
adventure or side-quest.

One I created after reading a few bandit-encounters:

Working On the Road

Road
NPCs

As the PCs travel the road, right after a bend they hear a sharp whistle and call: "Heeey, not so lazy, move your asses!" It is a large man that calls, and there are unwilling workers that listen. A small company, 10-15 men work on the road, push boulders aside, dig up roots from under the road, etc. The large man that shouted turns to you, smiles fast and mutters something under his breath, sounds like cursing some lazy worker. "Where does the road bring you from, travellers?" And does a little small-talk.

Now what is really happening? A group of bandits is 'adapting' the road for shady purposes. The road will not be wider, but tighter, and will become an ideal spot for ambushing travellers or even caravans. The bandit-leader wants them all to appear harmless. The 'lazy worker' he cursed was actually a guard that should give warning before any travellers come around (fallen asleep).

Encounters

#29

I just wanted to remind everyone that created encounter(s) here, to not be shy and post them. Choose the ones close to your heart, as there are really some good ones here.

Encounters:
http://www.strolen.com/random/encounter/index.php

Encounters

#30

Mountain betrayal

The journey had been a long one and now they had entered the mountains. After an entire day spent on paths cut into the mountainside and through moss covered coniferous woods, they encounter a desperate young mountain tribal. He is searching for his beloved wife and his elder brother, both of whom he got separated from after an unsuccessful attempt to kill a cave bear. The last thing he saw was the cave bear in full pursuit of his wife. He could not help her as he had been knocked to the ground by the raging beast, and was struggling to regain full consciousness. The tribal will be clearly nervous and urges them to look for his wife during their travels. He will stay in his village a couple of miles to the north and pleads for assistance should they recover his wife, whether she be dead or alive.

On the next day of travel, they will journey upon a dim track in the forest and while they are preparing to ascend another path cut into the mountainside, they hear moans of lust from somewhere nearby. Upon closer inspection they will spy a young tribal woman in the heat of the act with an elder tribal male. They are consummating their forbidden love on the cold mountain moss, and beside them lay the skinned and slaughtered carcass of a huge bear.

Ancient altar

The air had grown chill the minute they descended into the strange valley, which was unmarked on any of their maps. It was so strange here, devoid of animal life and completely silent. The horses were nervous the entire journey through the vale. As they set about to collect firewood for the campfire they could hear their own voices as dim echoes through the eerie silence.

The food didnÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t taste anything that evening and their sleep was cold and troubled by nightmares. While they are clearing camp the next morning, one of them stumbles over a piece of stone jutting out of the ground nearby the horses. On closer inspection there seems to be runes engraved into the polished surface. The symbols true meaning is no more known among mere mortals and if they decide to dig deeper, they will discover that it is an ancient altar buried within the soil.

Any historically oriented party member will recognize the largest symbol to be the insignia of the powerful warlock who ruled this realm several centuries ago. At their departure from the area, something will seem amiss with one of the party members and all will remember the stories of the warlockÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s thousand curses.

Full Retreat!

While travelling near the edge of a forest the air is filled with the wailing of battle horns. Soon a large group of mounted cavalry will gallop by in a panicked rush. Some will spot the party and shout ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…â€œFlee! Flee for your very lives!ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬?

Several minutes later, hundreds of running infantrymen will be spotted. A large group of white clad knights fiercely chanting a battle song is in full pursuit. One of the white knights carries a banner of a white horse on a black background. The horse is rearing under a gold crown, indicating the presence of the Paladin Prince. As the horrified infantrymen struggle to flee into the forest, the zealots charge into their midst and cut them down by the tens and hundreds.
As the party decides what to do, they recollect the tales of the Paladins holy bloodlust which can only be sated by the killing of all infidels.

They better be pure of heart or else hiding would be a great idea. Of course there is ample opportunity for glorious battle

(I entered these into the encounters section, but lost half of the last encounter. There was no edit option so it'll seem a little brief.)

Encounters

#31

The Door

Deep in the woods, a massive bare rock occupies a clearing. There is a large door, almost a gate on it, so tightly fitting that it almost seems to be one with the rock around. Hearing on it will help little, feint sounds are heard, but not discerned.

A part of the stone stands out, it seems to be used, but is certainly no handle, at least not for a human-sized hand. With great force and precision, the door can be pulled open.

But even as it finally comes free, the door's owner shows: a beast of a man, or perhaps a small giant? His is an ugly face, and there he screams insults and curses on the visitors! No matter the arguments, no matter the gifts or threats, he withdraws back and closes the door, and no one will open it, as his power is unbeatable...

---

Oh, and by the way: it's a red herring.

The whole thing is an illusion. Certainly, the delicate ornaments of the door, the semblance of a gap, and the slightly worked 'handle' are a result of manual work. Yet whoever tries to open a door that is not there, surrenders his mind to the spell.

The giant does not pull the "door" shut, because it was never open in the first place! The solid piece of rock can resist most attempts at forcing or breaking in.

What remains is the question of why is it there? Was there an illusionist with way too much free time? Or did it serve some evil mind to get rid of heroes for a moment? Or could it be a test of some kind? You decide.

Encounters

#32

1 - When walking through a dense black scraggely (possibly dead) forest, players come to a break in the brush and find themselves at the edge of a large crystaline lake. the place is quite the contrast to the forest that surrounds it. From the trees to the water their is some measure of a sandy beach, the sand is the finest any of the players have ever seen and is heavan white in color, the air of the place is comfortable and their are no clouds hanging over the lake even if their are clouds hanging over the forest around the lake. If it is anywhere near high noon when the players get to the lake they would probably exspect the sand to be burning hot under the sun but if time is taken to test that theory by taking off their shoes they descover the sand is incredibly comfortable to walk on, and even more comfortable to lay on. unknown to the players resting naked on or under this sand will cause all wounds carried by the PC's to be mended in only the 8 hours of rest it takes to heal one hit point of damage naturally. if the players swim in the lake they find that near the edge the water is freezing, not to the point of damage but to the point of sevier discomfort but closer to the center the players get the warmer the water gets and at the ceter the water is boiling and indeed dangerous. the beach and the lake are completly uninhabited and in fact no foot prints or evedence of other activity of any kind other than those the player leave behind are noticable at all. If the players swim to the bottom of the lake they see a statue of the god or goddess of vitality and life in what ever world standing at the bottom at the centre where it boils. If the players are crazy enough to try and endure the scorching water bubbleing around it and touch the statue a save versus spell is not made as the one who touches it begins to age backwards. getting younger as fast as he or she was gettign older. no remove curse or restoration spellof any kind short of a wish spell can stop this magic.

2 - One night as the players make camp, the PC that is sleeping so that he or she is in eye view of the embers of the fire, drowsily notices the remaining light from the fire reflect for a fleeting moment off of the abdomin of a rather large wasp like creature scurrying silently and across the ground through the camp. their is a 12% chance that the player will not even notice the being. unknow to the players this creature is an Azab, These wasp shaped beings are about the size of a full grown mans fore arm all in all, they can fly but prefer to scurry along the ground and only fly when absolutly nessecary for they are pretty heavy. When encountered unexspectedly they apear a pale white color, what happens next depends on the feelings the character has in responce to seeing it, if the player worries as to his or her safty in the presence of the creature or feels discusted or hostile toward it the creature grows translusent and scurrys away at a speed that is actually directly as much as the amount of worry the player is feeling, the more passonatly the player worries the faster and more invisible it becomes (calculated how? I dont know dm's call i guess) if the player reacts with feelings of intrest and amazment at the bizarr creature and or a will to learn and befriend it the creature draws closer to the player and slowly peacfuly seeks out physical contact with the player, when physical contact is made if it is endured for an exstended amount of time, the Azab begins to form sparkkeling arrays of colorful patterns all over its shell. this creature will stand by the player it has made contact with until it dies or is forced away by a change of heart from the player in which he begins to fear. Azab never fights, it uses its sense of fear to avoid all violent situations. After ten days of staying with the player the Azab will die leaving the player to beleive sadly that that is that, but the player will fail to realize that the Azab's body is now a shell for its young who are now growing inside it, this "morbid pregnancy" is a result of its connection with the players positive feelings.