On the Road you Meet...

[Zappo]

I've found that a great way to make the party waste lots of time and prolong the session a bit is to have them stumble on the ruins of something. No monsters, no treasure, no secret passages, nothing. Sometimes an abandoned building is just an abandoned building.

 

[RangerWickett]

I liked explaining what the road was like, giving the party a flavor for the world. But I discovered that didn't fit with my players' styles. After describing a road that they found while cutting through a wheat field, one player cleared his throat and said, "So we walk to Seaquen, resting every once in a while, until we get there."

I hurried along, letting them get out of the local area and then moving on to describe the next terrain they got to, a wide open plain. As I was describing signs that an army had marched by in the past few days, again the player said, "So we walk to Seaquen, resting every once in a while, until we get there. Do we get there?"

That happened about three more times before I got the hint, and just rushed them to an actual major encounter. The game shifted from 'survive the world' to 'have high adventure.' But the phrase stuck with the party, and got used for all sorts of things, from military marches, to sailing ships, to exploring empty dungeon rooms. It got rather funny once they got the ability to teleport.

"So we teleport 500 miles, resting every so often, until we get there."

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

A short travelling story. The PCs are travelling somewhere and when it got near dark, they stopped off at a roadside inn and tavern. Typical, ordinary inn/tavern stuff. In the middle of the night one of the PCs woke up, smelling smoke. Everyone else in the building was asleep and he went to investigate and found that, in the tavern, a cask had broken loose and rolled into the fireplace. The remaining cinders caught fire and a small fire was spreading. The PC put the fire out and went to bed. The next day, the PCs left the roadside inn and an hour later came to a town. The first person that they met greeted them and suggested that they stay in the inn in town because it is the only inn for 8 hours of travel. When the PCs inquired about the inn that they had stayed at just out of town, the townsperson told them that the inn had burned down years ago and everyone inside had died!!!

B

GOLD! Consider it stolen.

 

[Umbra]

The little old lady

I had had a hell of a week at work, hadn't prepared and could barely think straight. So to slow the party down I had them meet a very old, very frail woman hobbling along the road. The 'good' characters of course stopped to talk with her, wondering what she was doing in the middle of nowhere and a little paranoid she was more than she seemed.

She explained (in a very slow round about way) she was on her way to visit her sister in the village several miles ahead. An hour or so passed as we roleplayed the journey with her commenting on every flaw she could see in the party, stopping to pee every half mile or so, refusing to get up on the only horse in the party to speed things along, and when finally she agreed to ride if the fighter sat behind her holding on, fouled herself, the saddle and the fighters groin.

The party, now frustrated and very annoyed, almost cheered when they spotted the village. The old lady directed them to a farm on the near side of the village where her sister lived. They arrive to find no sign of life. Suspicious, and thinking the DM was finally giving them an encounter worthy of their skills, the party stealthily prepare for combat and begin searching the area.

At this point, I wondered whether to continue with my plan knowing I was possibly going to get dice thrown at me. But, what the hell...

The party enter the farm house kitchen where they find a note from the sister to a farmhand saying she had set off to visit the old lady.

 

[LordHavok]

I wish I could make claim to coming up with this idea, but it was in an old Dungeon magazine. I used this short scenario as a side adventure for a long campaign. The PC's were traveling from point A to point B when it started to rain really heavy and the road they were traveling on started to flood. The found a trail leading up a hillside and followed it. A short time later they came across a small town. They saw no one but didnt think much about it because of the rain. As they approached a "church" bell started ringing furiously. Once in the "town" square, all the buildings started to move.

They had came across a town of large mimics...

Mean huh?

 

[jerichothebard]

...When the PCs inquired about the inn that they had stayed at just out of town, the townsperson told them that the inn had burned down years ago and everyone inside had died!!!

B

Tell 'em, Large Marge sent ya'!

 

[tarchon]

I usually make up small encounters for highway journeys, but I try not to make them too elaborate unless they're really integral to the campaign. I think the last time, I had one where a dragon flew by, way overhead, and a bit later they ran into a party of haughty, young, and obviously rather foolish dragon-watching nobles, who treated the PCs rather obnoxiously. Like a week later they heard that the Marquis of Whatever had been eaten by a dragon on that very same road.

 

[dren]

On the road...you can meet just about anything. Well, that depends upon which wandering monster chart I use.

 

[wedgeski]

When the PCs inquired about the inn that they had stayed at just out of town, the townsperson told them that the inn had burned down years ago and everyone inside had died!!!

Oh that is very, very good. (Makes note.)

 

[Dark Jezter]

During their travels, the party I am DMing encountered a bronze dragon in the form of a dog. They ended up befriending it.