Terse Hexcrawl Encounters

Most of these are stolen from fiction, mostly Vance and Clark Ashton Smith. 

1. An ogre living in a house, 12 young kids captive, oldest a tyrant, farming cabbages, eats excess children. Has potions in a cabinet. d20 doses of each. Each sip takes you up or down a size category: min small, max large. (Vance, Suldrun's Garden)
2. Mirrormere. Lake shiny like glass. Shows you how you really are. If you don't know, ask the PC. If the mirror is broken and a PC falls in, the PC can reject what the mirror showed her and change, just like that, if desired. 
3. Tunnels of the centipede people. They inject you with venom to make you love them. Whenever hit on an injection attempt, keep making death saves until you succeed. Success means the injection wasn't precise enough. 3 failures means you love the centipede and all centipedes now; they are your only loyalty. Venom wears off after a week or so. They have sweet loot and will oppose the dragon cult because the world is theirs by right; they have tunneled up to claim it. They speak draconic and are 4d4' long, top chitin AC 20, bottom chitin AC 14. (Arnold K at Goblin Punch, I believe.)
4. Necromancer with tragic childhood in ruined tower with eight apprentices. Building a masterpiece of a necromorph that will express the trait that he himself was mocked for lacking. (Gargantuan size is always great.) Will be done in a week, and then he will use it to wreak havoc across the macro-hex until visiting the nearest city and getting his revenge on those who mocked and scorned him (Clark Ashton Smith). Example: if a dwarf, builds a giant. If ugly, builds a thing of exquisite and horrible beauty. If missing an arm, builds something with four arms. 
5. Naiad pool. The trio desires polite conversation and will reward with riches from bottom of pool. You cannot fight them; they are made of water and can meld into the pond. Magical ice and so forth might work. Offend them, and they will send bees to live in your eyes and blind you. Counts as a curse. Beautiful music agitates them, and they will leave if it is loudly maintained (Vance)
6. Orc camp (generate as cult camp but fewer and more barbarous). They are preparing to ravage a nearby village, which contains a wonderful megalith-library where you will find the answers to three likely questions. If the orcs are not prevented, they will shatter the library in three days. 
7. Sunken library: an elegant tower emerges from the earth (or water). If the window is opened, you may descend into a majestic forgotten library. When a character has a question, roll a d6. On 1-3, the library has the answer.  On a 4, it has a lead to the answer. Per character per day there is a cumulative 1% chance of finding the answer to that question—if the library has the answer. It has a guardian. A huge flying fox who must agree with the reasons for study and has many arbitrary rules. He is suspicious of practicality and is not naive. He is a sad fox, for he has seen much of the world. If he dies, the library begins to crumble and sink. (avatar the last air bender)
8. Blighted land: manor house and village overgrown. Twig blights. Magical secrets inside, and wealth. 
9. Dead field. Bodies not decomposed dead from battle. In the middle of the field are two piles of bodies twice as tall as a person. All armor is the same; they do not appear to have been on different sides. No signs of violence. Rubble around; this used to be a castle. The bodies cover a mound of earth. Inside is a sarcophagus containing a princess who still lives. The other mound has a prince. They were to be married when the oxygen-eater attacked. They don't like each other though and are relieved not to have to marry now. She is prideful, and he is prejudiced, being richer and classier. They have fancy jewelry and clothes. 
10. Exploding parasites from beyond. As you arrive in the village a man climbs to the top of the church and looks to the sun and explodes. Worms burst from his body and enter those standing nearest. The others creep toward people. People are running. Save a kid that's fallen behind or help a mother run inside to get her newborn. Help invalids lying against walls, or help the fallen grandfather left to die by family. What do they do with the worms? The infected? The hard liners? The bleeding hearts? Ask about patient zero, he was a treasure hunter, gone off that way. Meteor impact site. Awesome tech. Also meterorite from which the worms are spreading. They halt at chanted scripture. 
11. Hamlet of Felix. Unwilling ghoul haunting graveyard, still remembering past life. Gnolls in caves. Compromised cleric. Manslaughtering sheriff. Corrupt dwarf merchant. Dragon items / lore for sure in gnoll cave. 
12. Grassy Gnoll. Tough gnoll covered in grass. Animates and tries to pulp you into nutrients. The grass here is pink and is an organism. Those sleeping are encased or used as zombie or else pulped to enrich the soil. Cursed land. Hut nearby. Man with child on leash. Skeletons. Child skeleton is killing another with a knife, and both are eating the third. Necromancy and warlock books. Dispel the curse by burying the child and victim and burning the man's bones.

City Encounters for Hoard of the Dragon Queen #hdqRemix

So the players go to a city (as opposed to a village). Here's what you do.

I apologize for having only 6 real encounters. I'm trying to get something written up quickly before tomorrow's game. I'll revisit this and update it with more content.

Cross off each entry as you use it, then replace with a new one of your own devising. Each encounter should present and risk and/or reward (tailored to the campaign, in this case Hoard of the Dragon Queen) or a dramatic situation.

I'll expand in later posts about what I mean by "cult lore". For now, just treat them as rumors—leads to risky reward or simply reward.

By "transition" I mean, effectively, a cutscene or establishing shot. Something brief that establishes where we're resuming the fiction, what's around, and what it looks/feels like.

Procedure:

1. begin turn (I use 6 hours)
2. ask the players what action the want to take (hit taverns for rumors, for example)
3. check for random encounter (1/6)
4. transition into encounter, preempting or interrupting action
5. resolve encounter
6. if players wish to change action, fine
7. transition into action
8. resolve action
9. end turn

Encounters:

1. A hurrying porter drops a book without realizing. It's a freshly copied codex containing 1 item of actionable cult lore (q.v.).
2. The most observant PC notices an elderly man watching them intently, then looking away.
•  That's it. Proceed with the action. 
• For the next turn, if the players say they're looking out for trouble, or are otherwise taking precautions against ambush, they spot an ambush of 3 cultists and can react normally when they attack. 
• Otherwise, DC 15 Perception check using the best stats among the PCs. 
• On a failure, 3 cultists surprise attack a single PC (the weakest looking or most exposed, or randomly). That PC needs to make 3 death saves. 
• The cultists retreat to a safehouse (for instance, Jotan's Jewelers) as soon as possible unless they're positive they can finish the job. 
3. A three year old girl (named Faun, faded flower-pattern dress, yellow ribbon in hair)
• yells "Mommy" or "Daddy" and runs up and hugs one of the PCs
• then looks up to realize it's not Mommy or Daddy. Collapses in sobs.
• A kind-hearted priestess (Aster, shaved head, missing eye) rounds the corner,
• says "Oh, Faun," tries to pick her up and hold her, but Faun resists and cries on ground.
• Aster: "I'm sorry; she's always getting out. She thinks she's going to find her parents."
• She's not. Her parents were killed by the cult. 
• Aster: "The orphanage is over that way. I hate to ask everyone, but we could really use some money. And if you could come by and tell some stories or play some music or whatever you can do, I'm sure the kids would appreciate it."
• Proceed with play. 
• In a few days, if no one has gone to talk with Faun, present this encounter instead of a random one: Faun, half-hidden under a dirty blanket, dead by violence. 
• If, before then, a PC does go to visit her, have her be unresponsive. 
• If the PC remains patient and genuine, Faun will want to sit on the PC's lap and will ask for a story. This will be relaxing for her. 
• She will cry and not want the PC to go and make the PC promise to visit her again. If the PC doesn't, the party will find Faun dead as above.
• If the PC does visit her again, she will be responsive to what the PC says, will grow up and have an ordinary but mostly happy life, taking over Aster's duties, unfailingly loyal to the PC and holding resolutely to the PC's ideals and attitudes.
4. A pair of cult thugs shaking down a merchant for protection money. Can be tracked to their hideout (say the Silver Horn tavern's basement), where 2d4 of their fellows reside. 
5. A busker like Bob Dylan. No one pays attention to him, but he unknowingly spouts a piece of cult lore. He doesn't know anything about it; it's just a story his mother used to tell him. 
6. Three fancy cultists at a mask vendor. 
• They're being real jerks, asking to look at every mask. "No, something with horns on it, don't you have something with horns on it? I was told you have something with horns on it. Anything blue, then?" 
• They're trying to find a lost dragon mask. 
• If the PCs wait to eavesdrop, the fanciest hatted one provides his card to the merchant: "Bertram Wooster, Solicitor—Inquire at the Barded Heifer"
• The Barded Heifer has a locked upstairs wing containing a cult safehouse as well as storage for three wyrms (Alien-ish chestburster leech-things that turn people into kobolds, who later turn into halfdragons) in suspended animation, courtesy of as many vats of amber jelly 

[Hoard of the Dragon Queen] General Wilderness Encounters

HAIL TIAMAT

These are 20 encounters for hexcrawling around Hoard of the Dragon Queen's sandbox map.

I'll give more on the actual procedures to use for hexcrawling later, in case you don't know, or in case you're not satisfied with your existing procedures, or in case you just think I know better. (I've never done a hexcrawl; why would you think that?!)

1) white knight->(obviously breathing, not looking up) in full plate->(dented, bloodstained, white, five-leafed flower with black eye and crimson petals) with buster sword->(red ribbon trailing from grip; detects as magic; 2d8 damage; he who takes it gains 10% of XP value to next level each time he takes chivalrous action) sitting against willow->("GRISTE EG' roughly carved in trunk above him) in fungal circle->(30' radius, red lengual bulbs with bright yellow flowers, spotted black, reaching up like five arms); AC 18; HD 12d8 (96); +8 2d8+4 x 3; S*C*; from long ago, cursed by the Cult of the Dragon; his love, the princess Yss, sacrificed to dragon; bound to tree to slay any people who approached the dragon's lair behind him; the lair still exists->(lead to dragon's lair—improvise or use one page dungeon); will eventually see someone who looks like Yss, is distant ancestor with heirloom of a crystal hound; he will break into tears and apologize to her; he must be persuaded to be in her presence, such is his guilt. 



2) falling wizard Tarhiel falls from sky, dies. Wizard hat, wizard robes, whole deal. Has journal->(excited scrawls about new spell research, was mocked as a boy for his scrawniness; those jocks will surely be red-faced when they see him now!). Has two scrolls of jump secured in cases. If trained in Arcana, can learn and copy into spellbook a during downtime. Target jumps spell slot squared x 100' high. When cast as cantrip lets you double jump your normal jump height. If trained in athletics or acrobatics can double jump after wall jumping/running. 





3) God asking advice. Lone traveler hails party. Listens to clerics > pallies > martials > casters.

• If they react with hostility for no reason, turns them into boars with posteriors and faces reversed. Then teleports them into nearest city, where dwellers will 50/50 try to slay and stuff them or else show them in circus. 
• If they are reasonable, asks them about nearest city. Tells them things about it. Terrible things. Do you think it would be just if it were destroyed? 
• If no, hmm, walks away, says I would visit maybe. People love now them there without knowing why. 
• If they think it should be destroyed, suddenly nuked. Hmm, that's strange. Disappears. 

4) Serial killer alchemist. Marcion cooking in his portable lab. Gives good sample for free, makes you feel great, insta-full hp or max 1HD temp hp. Sells additional doses steeply and poisoned. If you check his lab, someone trained will recognize the deadly thanatuxor seed pods, their distinctive ozone smell and raisin-like appearance, gathered around lairs of green dragons or wherever pine trees are blighted, and someone who can touch him will detect the trace of ozone on his clothes. 

5) Lost drake. Confused, scared drake->(azure with yellow neck frill, armored with rusted iron plates for AC as chain, '86' branded on left rear leg) wandered away from cult camp. Will warm to party of treated well and become loyal. No check if PC trained in animal handling and presents decent plan. Otherwise, make a reaction roll to see how drake responds. 

6)  3 deserters from the cult. Concealed identities, normal but smell of sweat and fear. Have done very bad things. Not sorry about it, just don't want to die in increasingly dangerous raids. Have  telltale dragon-chaised goods in sacks. Total of 300gp. Want to be pointed to next town. Say they were captured by bandits and escaped. 

7) Terrified refugees. Will run. Into trouble. The most vulnerable looks back with wide eyes but is pulled along by the strongest. 

8) Orphans, leader plays lute. The weakest want to go. The leader enjoys his power, won't let them.

9) Pack of domesticated dogs, will follow.

10) Glas, blue dragon. Hide immediately, or he spots you. Presuming there's someplace to hide.

11) Cult on the move. Follow them to town/camp (50/50).

12) Elk-man. Hannibal. Fancy, mind-games. Wants to turn you into an elk-man as well. By getting you to murder and eat people. Being an elk-man of the woods is sweet, just ask.

13) 1d12 faction members (odd: returning to faction w cult activity intel; even: heading out to scout cult activity)

1. Gauntlet
2. Alliance
3. Enclave
4. Zhentarim
5. Harpers
6. Military of nearest city-state

14) Bandits. Use this table. 

15) Owlbear. Running from 12 zombies of level 5 Red Wizard of Thay, which should be revealed only once owlbear has run past PCs and they have has a minute to react. Wizard is Calabraxos, doing this for kicks, occupying nearby grave-mound; needs drake skins for spell research, will trade in potions, scrolls, castings, but not currency (too pedestrian). 

16) Mercs looking for cult camp, lost.

17) Druids. Uh oh. (Content warning: dead wolves, live wolves eating things.)

18) Itinerant prophets of god of knowledge (Oghma in FR), will tell prophecy if given 1cp 1sp 1gp and spit in their palm when they ask. They smear sopha-powder mixed with your saliva on their tongue, freak out, and sing the prophecy. Reveal next random encounter. Or, if you tick them off, reveal breaking a leg or something. Then it happens.

19) Fungus people, secretive. If attacked and not taking precautions, Int save to hold breath, close eyes, cover nose. Deadly spores in 10' diameter cloud. Dead unless remove poison applied in 3 rounds. Spores settle in 10 minutes. 

20) Birds circle, squawk. Earth starts to buckle slightly beneath them. Dull rumble, as of thunder afar off. Sink hole opens beneath in 30 seconds.

• Start counting up.
• Dex save to jump out of way.
• Fail by 4 or less, hold onto edge.
• Save again.
• Fail, fall, take 3d10 damage.
• If you have > 0 hp, you only have broken leg. Otherwise, broken leg, and another injury for each death save you fail.
• You can see a cave deep in the bedrock. This leads to a lair of telepathic mantis-people who are not particularly hostile but nevertheless wonder what you might taste like; you are not people to them. They fear discovery and invasion; they need secrecy and delicate surface-fruits, for which they will trade lovely gems and ancient writings from the sunken library in which they nest.

[Hoard of the Dragon Queen] Village Encounters Remixed

HAIL TIAMAT

When you roll a random encounter (ON WHICH MORE LATER, there's a whole new procedure to go along with this, but I'm trickle-trickling that content out), roll all the dice.

Just grab em.

And let em fall.

Click image for random encounter generated courtesy of Logan Knight.

WARNING: if thou art sensitive to the reading of the kinds of things that happen in war, read thou no further. It's a bit darker than the module.

Procedure:

1. roll all the dice
2. consult the d8 to determine what kind of encounter
3. these tables are overloaded (on which perhaps more later); so be sure to read the right part of the entry.
1. Pay attention to the slash-divisions.
2. For instance, if the d8 indicates people only, then only look at the stuff after the slash on the d6 table
3. For exact monster/people numbers encountered, you can roll separately or just give a general idea and make things specific later. Honestly, saying "a handful" is fine and dare I say more immersive until they get close. 
4. The features d10 table tells you what kind of tactical features you should tell the players about. 
1. go prone in depressions for cover
2. same for crests, but they also provide more cover when the enemy approaches
5. On the horrible what the monsters are doing portion of the d12 table, they're always doing it to people unless the entry explicitly says no villagers are present
6. If monsters are doing things to people, the d20 table tells you about the victims
7. If only people are encountered, the d20 table tells you who they are
8. Whenever you roll an encounter, check for encounters again. If it comes up a success (1/6), then generate an additional encounter. Hard choices now, huh? 

THE DICE

d4: Where the monsters are doing it or where villagers are hiding:

1. in the open
2. against terrain (wall, tree, rock)
3. behind or below or on top of terrain (ceiling, rock, rubble)
4. inside structure

d6: what monsters / people are carrying:

1. grisly trophies / dead child
2. food and clanking dinnerware and pottery (1gp total) / few loaves of bread and cups
3. Jewels and coin (1gp per monster) / pet 
4. art and/or holy objects (bulky, 10gp total) / injured person gagged to muffle screams
5. casks of beer (rolling), amphorae of wine (carrying carefully) [very bulky, 10gp] / infants 
6. captives ~= # of monsters in encountered group / booze 

d8: encounter type

1. Monsters, very few, one type
2. Monsters, few, two types
3. Monsters
4. Monsters
5. Monsters, many
6. Monsters, very many, with leader
7. People only, few
8. People only

d10: features

1. depression
2. crest
3. hedge or shrubbery
4. trees
5. walls / fences
6. household junk piled up
7. cart piled with goods
8. pile of corpses (people, monsters, and/or livestock)
9. tall grass / crops, crates, or outcropping
10. statue, gazebo, or rubble

d10: opportunities / dangers

1. all distracted / monsters nearby
2. alert guard / lone monster approaching unaware
3. cover nearby, can flank
4. exposed
5. elevated place available
6. sentry or scout in elevated place
7. monsters or people packed densely
8. monsters or people sparsely distributed
9. winged kobold scout in air (hide immediately, or 50/50 chance of being spotted)
10. unattended prisoners

d12: what the monsters are doing / villager reaction:

1. drowning or burning / flee from you, screaming
2. loading goods into cart (no villagers) / flee from you
3. executing / too scared to move
4. binding / too scared to move
5. carrying off / too scared to move
6. the worst thing you can imagine / follows orders, take no initiative
7. torturing / follows orders, take no initiative
8. sorting through goods (no villagers) / follows orders, take no initiative
9. cooking and eating / hardened and brave for now
10. surrounding and breaking in / hardened and brave for now
11. pursuing / hardened and brave for now
12. seeking / will join fight: AC 11; 5hp; +3 d6+1; S+1 D+1 C+1; simple weapons; light armor

d20: villagers encountered

1. elderly with children, Clint Eastwood-like 
2. elderly, movement impossible or very slow due to health or injury 50/50 will accept death / terrified of it 
3. family, frantically searching for missing member
4. children, saw parents eaten
5. parent and children, parent soon to die 
6. militia, 50/50 fleeing / planning assault
7. children with pets, one child without
8. couple engaged to be married, one covered in blood and torn, will survive if treated
9. children and adolescents 
10. unrelated adults and children
11. related adults
12. husband and wife 
13. pregnant woman alone, great with child, what destiny for the child if born this night?
14. women, friends
15. men, friends
16. boys, friends
17. girls, friends
18. family, trying to persuade father not to go back to rescue daughter
19. parents and children, child gravely injured but may survive with care
20. adults who hate each other

TWENTY SAMPLE ENCOUNTERS

WHERE ENCOUNTERED in the open

MONSTERS / PEOPLE CARRYING grisly trophies / dead child

ENCOUNTER TYPE People only, few

FEATURES hedge or shrubbery

OPPORTUNITIES / DANGERS exposed

MONSTER ACTION / PEOPLE REACTION  torturing / follows orders, take no initiative

PEOPLE elderly, movement impossible or very slow due to health or injury 50/50 will accept death / terrified of it 

----

WHERE ENCOUNTERED in the open

MONSTERS / PEOPLE CARRYING grisly trophies / dead child

ENCOUNTER TYPE Monsters, very few, one type

FEATURES trees

OPPORTUNITIES / DANGERS sentry or scout in elevated place

MONSTER ACTION / PEOPLE REACTION  executing / too scared to move

PEOPLE children with pets, one child without

----

WHERE ENCOUNTERED against terrain (wall, tree, rock)

MONSTERS / PEOPLE CARRYING Jewels and coin (1gp per monster) / pet 

ENCOUNTER TYPE Monsters

FEATURES tall grass / crops, crates, or outcropping

OPPORTUNITIES / DANGERS monsters or people sparsely distributed

MONSTER ACTION / PEOPLE REACTION  executing / too scared to move

PEOPLE elderly with children, Clint Eastwood-like 

----

WHERE ENCOUNTERED in the open

MONSTERS / PEOPLE CARRYING food and clanking dinnerware and pottery (1gp total) / few loaves of bread and cups

ENCOUNTER TYPE Monsters

FEATURES household junk piled up

OPPORTUNITIES / DANGERS winged kobold scout in air (hide immediately, or 50/50 chance of being spotted)

MONSTER ACTION / PEOPLE REACTION  drowning or burning / flee from you, screaming

PEOPLE husband and wife 

----

WHERE ENCOUNTERED against terrain (wall, tree, rock)

MONSTERS / PEOPLE CARRYING Jewels and coin (1gp per monster) / pet 

ENCOUNTER TYPE Monsters, very few, one type

FEATURES tall grass / crops, crates, or outcropping

OPPORTUNITIES / DANGERS alert guard / lone monster approaching unaware

MONSTER ACTION / PEOPLE REACTION  sorting through goods (no villagers) / follows orders, take no initiative

PEOPLE adults who hate each other

----

WHERE ENCOUNTERED inside structure

MONSTERS / PEOPLE CARRYING Jewels and coin (1gp per monster) / pet 

ENCOUNTER TYPE Monsters, few, two types

FEATURES crest

OPPORTUNITIES / DANGERS sentry or scout in elevated place

MONSTER ACTION / PEOPLE REACTION  executing / too scared to move

PEOPLE children and adolescents 

----

WHERE ENCOUNTERED inside structure

MONSTERS / PEOPLE CARRYING food and clanking dinnerware and pottery (1gp total) / few loaves of bread and cups

ENCOUNTER TYPE People only

FEATURES tall grass / crops, crates, or outcropping

OPPORTUNITIES / DANGERS alert guard / lone monster approaching unaware

MONSTER ACTION / PEOPLE REACTION  torturing / follows orders, take no initiative

PEOPLE militia, 50/50 fleeing / planning assault

----

WHERE ENCOUNTERED in the open

MONSTERS / PEOPLE CARRYING captives ~= # of monsters in encountered group / booze 

ENCOUNTER TYPE Monsters

FEATURES household junk piled up

OPPORTUNITIES / DANGERS exposed

MONSTER ACTION / PEOPLE REACTION  carrying off / too scared to move

PEOPLE boys, friends

----

WHERE ENCOUNTERED behind or below or on top of terrain (ceiling, rock, rubble)

MONSTERS / PEOPLE CARRYING art and/or holy objects (bulky, 10gp total) / injured person gagged to muffle screams

ENCOUNTER TYPE Monsters, very few, one type

FEATURES hedge or shrubbery

OPPORTUNITIES / DANGERS cover nearby, can flank

MONSTER ACTION / PEOPLE REACTION  the worst thing you can imagine / follows orders, take no initiative

PEOPLE parent and children, parent soon to die 

----

WHERE ENCOUNTERED inside structure

MONSTERS / PEOPLE CARRYING Jewels and coin (1gp per monster) / pet 

ENCOUNTER TYPE People only

FEATURES depression

OPPORTUNITIES / DANGERS unattended prisoners

MONSTER ACTION / PEOPLE REACTION  torturing / follows orders, take no initiative

PEOPLE couple engaged to be married, one covered in blood and torn, will survive if treated

----

WHERE ENCOUNTERED behind or below or on top of terrain (ceiling, rock, rubble)

MONSTERS / PEOPLE CARRYING Jewels and coin (1gp per monster) / pet 

ENCOUNTER TYPE Monsters, very few, one type

FEATURES household junk piled up

OPPORTUNITIES / DANGERS monsters or people sparsely distributed

MONSTER ACTION / PEOPLE REACTION  drowning or burning / flee from you, screaming

PEOPLE men, friends

----

WHERE ENCOUNTERED behind or below or on top of terrain (ceiling, rock, rubble)

MONSTERS / PEOPLE CARRYING casks of beer (rolling), amphorae of wine (carrying carefully) [very bulky, 10gp] / infants 

ENCOUNTER TYPE Monsters

FEATURES hedge or shrubbery

OPPORTUNITIES / DANGERS sentry or scout in elevated place

MONSTER ACTION / PEOPLE REACTION  cooking and eating / hardened and brave for now

PEOPLE parent and children, parent soon to die 

----

WHERE ENCOUNTERED against terrain (wall, tree, rock)

MONSTERS / PEOPLE CARRYING grisly trophies / dead child

ENCOUNTER TYPE Monsters, many

FEATURES walls / fences

OPPORTUNITIES / DANGERS monsters or people packed densely

MONSTER ACTION / PEOPLE REACTION  surrounding and breaking in / hardened and brave for now

PEOPLE related adults

----

WHERE ENCOUNTERED inside structure

MONSTERS / PEOPLE CARRYING captives ~= # of monsters in encountered group / booze 

ENCOUNTER TYPE Monsters

FEATURES pile of corpses (people, monsters, and/or livestock)

OPPORTUNITIES / DANGERS monsters or people packed densely

MONSTER ACTION / PEOPLE REACTION  torturing / follows orders, take no initiative

PEOPLE family, trying to persuade father not to go back to rescue daughter

----

WHERE ENCOUNTERED inside structure

MONSTERS / PEOPLE CARRYING Jewels and coin (1gp per monster) / pet 

ENCOUNTER TYPE Monsters

FEATURES tall grass / crops, crates, or outcropping

OPPORTUNITIES / DANGERS exposed

MONSTER ACTION / PEOPLE REACTION  cooking and eating / hardened and brave for now

PEOPLE children and adolescents 

----

WHERE ENCOUNTERED behind or below or on top of terrain (ceiling, rock, rubble)

MONSTERS / PEOPLE CARRYING casks of beer (rolling), amphorae of wine (carrying carefully) [very bulky, 10gp] / infants 

ENCOUNTER TYPE People only, few

FEATURES walls / fences

OPPORTUNITIES / DANGERS monsters or people sparsely distributed

MONSTER ACTION / PEOPLE REACTION  cooking and eating / hardened and brave for now

PEOPLE boys, friends

----

WHERE ENCOUNTERED against terrain (wall, tree, rock)

MONSTERS / PEOPLE CARRYING casks of beer (rolling), amphorae of wine (carrying carefully) [very bulky, 10gp] / infants 

ENCOUNTER TYPE Monsters

FEATURES hedge or shrubbery

OPPORTUNITIES / DANGERS alert guard / lone monster approaching unaware

MONSTER ACTION / PEOPLE REACTION  binding / too scared to move

PEOPLE children with pets, one child without

----

WHERE ENCOUNTERED in the open

MONSTERS / PEOPLE CARRYING grisly trophies / dead child

ENCOUNTER TYPE Monsters, few, two types

FEATURES pile of corpses (people, monsters, and/or livestock)

OPPORTUNITIES / DANGERS monsters or people sparsely distributed

MONSTER ACTION / PEOPLE REACTION  executing / too scared to move

PEOPLE couple engaged to be married, one covered in blood and torn, will survive if treated

----

WHERE ENCOUNTERED behind or below or on top of terrain (ceiling, rock, rubble)

MONSTERS / PEOPLE CARRYING captives ~= # of monsters in encountered group / booze 

ENCOUNTER TYPE People only, few

FEATURES tall grass / crops, crates, or outcropping

OPPORTUNITIES / DANGERS monsters or people sparsely distributed

MONSTER ACTION / PEOPLE REACTION  drowning or burning / flee from you, screaming

PEOPLE family, frantically searching for missing member

----

WHERE ENCOUNTERED in the open

MONSTERS / PEOPLE CARRYING food and clanking dinnerware and pottery (1gp total) / few loaves of bread and cups

ENCOUNTER TYPE Monsters, few, two types

FEATURES hedge or shrubbery

OPPORTUNITIES / DANGERS alert guard / lone monster approaching unaware

MONSTER ACTION / PEOPLE REACTION  pursuing / hardened and brave for now

PEOPLE unrelated adults and children

----