Need Non-Combat Wilderness Encounters

[Arrgh! Mark!]

Darnit, we stayed a good five hundred feet from that mysterious Gazebo with it's treasure inside...

Evil DM, see .

Try a wandering group of monks distributing food. The food might turn them into zombies if they die or something, but only when they die of natural causes/get hacked up. So they don't know.

A clearing in the forest, a white stag, a pool of water under sunshine. In the pool is a magical item that draws worthy adventurers. If they keep going, they don't get it. If they investigate and solve the riddle of the stag - I have both peaks and valleys, and yet I top all things but mostly kings - (Crown) they get a magical crown of some power. Everyone wants it and will kill for it.

 

[Greatwyrm]

Thanks, all. There are a number of things in here that got me thinking again. Just what I needed.

 

[Chaldfont]

I don't remember what game I got it from, but somewhere there is a monster that is basically a fairly intelligent, dextrous nocturnal rodent that likes bright shiny things. They like to dig in adventurer's packs and steal treasure.

Since the thing is just an innocent animal following its instincts, a party conflict might arise over the morality of killing the things. The rodents, if left alive, might even be tracked back to their warren where they have collected all kinds of interesting things.

Or maybe a druid uses them as thieves. Or a baby dragon...

 

[Hand of Evil]

Also any kind of bulding task - say road work, damn construction/repair. You also have trade route deals, mapping, and animal management (tag and count wildlife).