On the Road you Meet...

[RandomUsernamehmimo71]

There are so many hours and days spend in many games traveling, walking from one city to the next, in search of a quest item, or important NPC to talk to..

But those trips aren't just dead time, or time to run into the a wandering monster. It's a time the PCs get to experience the world, and get a taste of the people who are just out there someplace.

I'd love to hear about any interesting, thought provoking, or memorable encounters people have had.. Things that don't necessarily advance plot, but give the PCs something to think about for a while..

The remnants of a fresh battle, or a horse with out a rider.. Children on the side of the road because they've lost their way.

I'd love to get any input on ideas for what has happened to you, or what might be an interesting distraction, beyond the entire Bandits theme, yet again.

Colin

 

[Nebin]

The party hears two horses aproching one with a rider with his head down and the other with a body straped to it. On closer inspection the rider is dead as well from a wound , and has a sheriff's badge/ID on his person. In the sheriffs saddle bags is a wanted poster for the body on the second horse.

 

[diaglo]

read the story hour in my sig.

a good 30% of it is made up.

okay maybe more but who pays attention.

make stuff up...that's what imagination is all about. it also helps keep you interested.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Unfortunately our gaming time is so limited and precious that if we were not advancing the plot or having a "meaningful" encounter, it would be seen as wasting time and would irritate the group. I would rather do a little more to keep them on their toes and realize that not everything is an encounter or attached to a plotline, but it is hard to justify the lost time.

Someday I will once again have a group that meets regularly...probably in the retirement community or nursing home I end up in...

 

[Belbarrus]

I had a Dragon Magazine that listed 100 "interesting things". They were not meant as encounters or even plot devices but simply interesting things that PCs may encounter on the way to somewhere. One of the, which I used once, was a meteor. During the night when the PCs camped, they say a shooting star, then a day or two later, the encountered an impacted meteorite by the side of the road. No encounter, no magic, just a simple meteor fall, but the PCs spent a lot of time exploring the area

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

 

[Rel]

A Man.

But not just any Man: This Man has seven ( ) Wives!

And these Wives, they have large Sacks.

Whatever is inside the Sacks is MOVING!!!



Scary, no?

 

[SpuneDagr]

Nice, creepy, outside-the-rules kinda stuff, Belbarrus. I may use that one sometime.

 

[Altalazar]

I like it when seemingly random encounters like that turn out to be pivotal at some later time. Perhaps by design, perhaps out of later inspiration.

 

[LGodamus]

Belbarrus, what issue number was that dragon?

 

[Hand of Evil]

My players have learned to talk to other travellers, just to ask road conditions, news, or what is over the hill. Part of this is the unwritten rules of the road, some of those rules:

Always share information on the road
Always anounce yourself before entering a camp site
Offer to share your fire
Ask before you sleep in someone barn
Do not kill livestock
Never leave your fire unattented​

The broken down wagon - maybe it is a stage, maybe a poor lone tinker but the players stop and help.

The washed out bridge - players have to wait for water to fall or spend time looking for away around or help repair.

The herd on the way to market - herders in the area.