Party walking through a wood? Got a d6 to hand? Well then, here's a table of random fantasy rpg encounters for you to use. Enjoy!
One
Butterfly Swarm A swarm of brilliantly coloured butterflies swoop through the trees and circle the party members. They alight briefly on each before swirling upwards in a complicated dance and fly off into the high branches.
Two
Treant Appears As the characters are about to collect firewood for the night a tree where they were looking to collect wood from comes alive – it is a treant (tree person) and they demand that the party don’t burn any wood that night. The region of the forest they are in is special and must be preserved they explain. In exchange, they will answer any two questions relating to the forest.
Three
Badger Visit A badger appears on the edge of the camp light just before the party fall asleep.
DM Notes
If fed or at least treated kindly it will scratch in the dirt an arrow showing the best route for the party to take the following day.
Should it be mistreated it will attempt to draw in the dirt an arrow showing a correct, but a more dangerous route, for the party to take. If unable to do this it will leave and not return.
Should the party kill the badger then I have to wonder what kind of people you have in your gaming group! (And feel free to enact whatever Forest God revenge you wish!)
Four
Musical Stream A stream that lies across their path shimmers in the light and if knelt close to faint snatches of ethereal music can be heard. No words can be made out, but the tune is haunting and mellow.
Five
Fire Sparks As the night-time fire burns some of the sparks that fly up but don’t disappear. Instead, they come together in the air to form animal shapes – deer, antelope, wolves etc. The sparks move in a circular pattern around the fire in the air appearing to chase each other. After about five minutes they fade away into nothingness.
Six
Wolf and Girl You can hear voices from up ahead. Peering through the trees you spot, perhaps twenty feet away, a girl in a red cloak arguing with a wolf who is standing on his hind legs and wearing a sun hat. You hear the girl saying “Stop it, you aren’t that wolf and I’m not that girl. Now come on, before we are late. And give me my hat back.”
The wolf slumps down onto all fours, tosses the hat to the floor with a flick of its head and walks dejectedly past the girl into the tree line. After retrieving the hat whilst tutting the girl follows.
DM Notes The second paragraph assumes the players don’t burst into the scene which conceivably they might do. Handle that as best you wish although if you don’t want this to derail your adventure have the pair of them fade into mist when the players approach. This was simply some strange echo of events past.
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Some material from thegrinningfrog.com
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Picture Credit
Manipulation: The Grinning Frog team