Quick Community Brainstorm -- Road Encounters

[ender_wiggin]

It's a bandit-infested time and place, but there's got to be cooler encounters than the cliche defending a caravan against raiders (which the PCs have already done).

The road is mostly gravel, the surrounding area is temperate plains. A roleplaying scenario, if possible.

 

[diaglo]

mary had a little lamb. the caravan finds a lost lamb.
or billy down the well... lassie finds the caravan and tries to lead them to billy
edit: wolf in sheep's clothing. a variant of the lost lamb

 

[der_kluge]

One of the more memorable ones I ever ran:

The party comes to a line of peasants, all carrying the sick and injured. In fact, everyone appears to be injured or sick in some way. The party comes to a hut where the peasants are offering up all their worldly goods to be cured.

The "curer" is in fact a spellcaster, follower of a trickster god (I used Loki) who is deluding the victim into simply believing that they are cured. I created an alternative use for "suggestion" for this effect.

The party in my game demanded to speak with the healer, but the peasants rejected, saying they needed to get in line like everyone else. It didn't take them long to suspect foul play. When the druid pulled out his medusa head (from a prior encounter) and turned half the villagers in line to stone, the rest of the party decided they'd had enough with him, and ostracized him from the group.

 

[The_Gneech]

Wyverns swoop down, snatch the wizard's familiar for a light snack, and fly off!

The characters encounter traveling priests of Ilmater (FR) or Rao (Greyhawk), who proselytize them.

A lone assassin from a death cult (think Thuggee) stalks the group, hoping to find a person on their own (to bathe or have a rest stop or what-have-you) and strangle them from behind.

"The Midnight Peddler" from Tome of Horrors.

A gnome has created a huge, golem-like walking suit (think steampunk mecha) and is taking it for a spin.

A press gang from a local town or the kingdom attempt to "recruit" the PCs by force.

A small, surreal traveling circus troupe is putting on a show that is creepily applicable to the quest the characters are on (see also Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead). Also, one of them is a werewolf.

Fairies abduct the most attractive PC and carry them off to the seelie court for a night of revelry that will last 20 years if they others don't come to the rescue.

A king's rider coming the other way, riding like a bat out of hell, and mortally wounded. It's iffy whether he'll get wherever he's going with this message that was important enough to pay for with his life.

-The Gneech

 

[theodinheadbasher]

who says they need to be defending a caravan? If it's a bandit infested time and area, they could simply be walking down the road, and an arrow thuds into a tree beside one of the PC's and highway men demand payment or their death.

simple encounter

 

[diaglo]

now you can also use nonencounters as events..

such as a bad storm, a flashflood, a tornado, wildfire, earthquake, or something similar.

 

[ender_wiggin]

A small, surreal traveling circus troupe is putting on a show that is creepily applicable to the quest the characters are on (see also Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead). Also, one of them is a werewolf.

Should I include Alfred too? Maybe he's the werewolf.

I like the travelling priest idea a lot.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Chain gang: road/bridge - PC are asked to help to locate some escapees.

Broken down wagon: help an old man out will you?

Footwear problems: shoes wear out and a player finds out just how unforgiving a road can be!



Rules of the Road:
You always pass on information on the places you have been.
You never approch a camp with out calling out.
Sharing of a meal is a 'good' act.
You never sleep in someones barn without asking.
Never leave a fire unattended.
You don't kill 'live stock' (define)

 

[shaylon]

I was in a parth once that was ambushed on a road that had some tall grass. Orcs were throwing Javelins at us, not pretty. We made it out alive though.

Protecting the caravan was already done, what about transporting something of importance from one town to the next? A little Cliche as well, but could be doable if you have an interesting hook.

Later,
-Shay