Looking for some good ideas

[Ion]

so if you had a party of PCs leading 12-20 commoner conscripts across some mountains, what sorts of side adventurers and obstacles would be really neat for them to encounter?

 

[JoeGKushner]

What level PCs?

What character classes?

How important is it for the conscripts to make it across to the other side?

Even low level encounters can be threatening if the conscripts have to make it to the other side. Orc Snipers and Mountain Barbarians can be dangerous enemies, especially if using rangers for scouts.

 

[Krieg]

Floods, landslides & snow storms (not necesarily in that order), the mountains can be pretty formidable in the right weather conditions.

 

[Ion]

First level PCs, I haven't got the players to make characters yet, so I’m not exactly sure about classes.

I'd like most of the commoners to make it to the other side, but it doesn’t have to be all of them.

I'm looking for stuff like the characters decide to ride into the dark cave looking to hire the mercenaries who live within or something.... but less right out of LOTR.

 

[Hand of Evil]

The bridge is out! Crossing while not hard is made more difficult by a bridge being out, the party has to help repair it!

Is that a coffin in the side of the mountain? Flash flood, earthquake, something has opened up and the group finds it. This can be a quick in and out or hey, lets come back to this later in life plot. I always like skeltons that were trapped in mud to be freed.

Animal attack! Bear, wolf, racoon, it was sick and now what happens!

Meeting the locals - foresters, banbits, lumberjacks, other adventures. Could be future NPCs for the players to deal with.

Broken wagon/hurt traveller - what does the party do? This could be one of their own.

I saw BIG FOOT - legend of the mountain and the party tells the tell of seeing it. No adventure just sights.

Which brings up sight-seeing, the falls, the well of, the biggest damn tree, the steps of... Think of sights that can be used in your game.

 

[Telperion]

First level PCs, I haven't got the players to make characters yet, so I’m not exactly sure about classes.

I'd like most of the commoners to make it to the other side, but it doesn’t have to be all of them.

I'm looking for stuff like the characters decide to ride into the dark cave looking to hire the mercenaries who live within or something.... but less right out of LOTR.

Well, you could do a dream-sequence
Don't know about the world, environment or anything, but here's some ideas:

Assuming that the party isn't going to pass trough the mountains in one day you could have them start dreaming up about some weird stuff. Not in a specific sequence, but randomly. And the closer they get to a suitable mid-point of the mountain, the worse the dreams get.

Let's say that a particularly nasty accident happened here some years ago, and a bunch of ghosts are sticking around to warn other travelers. The ghosts were killed by a bunch of orcs, who use a landslide to kill people, and then scrounge trough whatever is left of the travelers. The ghosts are too weak to manifest, but they can interact with people traveling the same rout they themselves took. Futher more the pc's have to be sleeping (it lowers mental barriers after all) to be particularly receptive.

The characters are going to be walking around, having wild dreams about landslides, fragmented images of an assault and death. Should you actually want to go trough with the orc encounter the ghosts are going to get very persistent about driving the characters towards another pass (or whatever), before the orcs attack. They may even try possessing someone in hopes of directly interacting with the party. Again, this would have to happen during night-time, and the DC to resist would correspond with the lower power of the ghosts versus the lowered mental defences of a sleeping person.

It can be one hell of a scary trip, if you play it out well. And the encounter with the orcs is by no means necessary, although if you want them to pick up some loose XP then it might be okay.

 

[ghrezdd]

one of my favorites, specially if party does not have access to cure disease - have one of the villagers contract the "plague"

Does the party slay the individual, do they drive them from the group, try to quarentine them till they get healing magic, does the villager actually have the a plague?

always good for moral dilemma fun.