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Books and movies often use time spent traveling to help establish the characters and relationships between them, but it’s sometimes hard to model this in a game, especially if your players aren’t used to un-prompted role-playing. Sometimes, giving them something that looks a little more like a traditional RPG “encounter” can help. Roll on this table to generate interesting events that can serve as jumping-off points to role-playing.
- The party gets lost.
- The party encounters someone who is clearly insane.
- Something happens that gives a character a chance to demonstrate knowledge from his back-story.
- Something happens that gives a character a chance to demonstrate an ability that the other players haven’t seen him use before.
- The party encounters someone who wants to tag along/hitch a ride with them.
- Highwaymen/bandits/pirates attack!
- The PCs encounter someone who has been wounded.
- The party encounters police/guards/soldiers.
- Monsters/wild animals attack!
- The PCs encounters someone or something behaving strangely.
- The group encounters travelers who have recently been through the area where the PCs are bound.
- The party encounters someone in need of assistance.
- The PCs have a to solve some minor problem (flat tire, tree blocking the road, etc.) before continuing on their journey.
- The party comes upon an unusual landmark.
- The characters come upon the scene of an accident.
- Bad weather forces the group to seek shelter.
- The characters discover an abandoned building.
- The group encounters a major landmark or town that isn’t on the map.
- While camping at night, the PCs hear strange noises, see ghostly figures, etc.
- The party has a seemingly paranormal or supernatural experience (time slip, missing time, UFO encounter, bigfoot sighting, etc.)
