120 Benign Wilderness Encounters
From Chris Buono
Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0301
120 Benign Wilderness Encounters
Chris polled members of the GMMastery Yahoo group for benign wilderness encounter ideas and then added a few of his own to come up with this awesome list you might find useful for your own campaigns. Editor Isaac added a few more as well. Thanks Chris and GMMastery contributors!
Try using this list a few different ways:
- To help with impromptu descriptions.
- An injection of scenery when designing wilderness encounters and locations.
- Encounter hooks. These items are perfect micro-situations on which to layer a larger conflict, clue, or circumstance. For example, pick an item from the list and use it as a distraction while the real encounter triggers. Your players will enjoy the one-two punch.
- Inspiration. If you’ve got writer’s block, these items are perfect for getting the ideas flowing.
The List
- Large patch or hill of flowers
- Squirrels chasing each other
- Something stirs below the water’s surface
- Birds of prey circling overhead
- An earsplitting squawk
- A shadow passes across the ground
- Smoke rises in distance
- Deja vu
- Many thousands of ants crawl
- Howling/barking in the distance
- Patch of vines strangling a tree
- Skeleton of an animal
- Skeleton of a humanoid
- Writing carved into tree
- Large patch of brightly colored mushrooms
- Few scattered and broken arrows or bolts
- Snake slithers away
- 1′ hole penetrates the ground
- Rainbow in the distance
- Group of bats rise in the distance
- Tree falls in the distance
- Broken, rotted wagon wheel
- Bear tracks
- Deer tracks
- Wolf/dog tracks
- Unusual patch of very lush growth
- Sudden sun shower
- Wind kicks up
- Dead, rotted, burnt, headless troll body
- Giant mushroom grove
- Discarded, tattered cloak
- Rusty weapon
- Dark storm cloud approaches
- Large beetle buzzes around head
- Large boot tracks in mud
- Dug, shallow hole
- Remnants of old campfire
- Sandstorm
- Small dust whirlwind
- Puddle/nearly dry watering hole
- Few sun bleached papers
- Large bird (heron) seems to follow you
- Stack of rocks piled high
- Giant feather
- Sweet smell of honeysuckle
- Small pond
- Bog
- Stand of birch trees
- Stench of feces
- Ray of sun light hits tree or bush
- An unusually cool breeze
- Couple of rats are following you
- You get a dull, throbbing headache
- Injured woodland creature lies helpless
- Skunk smell
- Eerily quiet
- Field of dead trees
- Humanoid statue (flesh to stone)
- Stung by a bee
- Arid dust coats your mouth
- Odd crystalline growth
- Ogre skull
- Abandoned shack
- Very friendly skunk
- Wild boar
- Wild horses
- Find a copper piece
- Caterpillar or grub-infested tree
- Coyotes fighting over a kill
- Mother bear protecting cubs
- Hatched eggs below abandoned nest
- Large insect moult
- Something scurries away (chipmunk)
- Patch of berried bushes
- Large splatter of bird droppings
- Old, rotted horse carcass
- Large tree with face image in bark
- An oasis
- A rusty suit of armor
- Active bees nest
- Howling gust of wind
- Approaching lightning storm
- Crow squawks repeatedly on approach
- Disabled wagon with nearby dead campfire
- Disheveled shrine or grave marker
- Rats are rummaging through PCs’ food
- Cloud of insects moves across path
- Rocks falling in the distance
- Pair of small birds harass PCs
- Feral cat trails the party
- Large animal crashes through the brush
- Cloud shaped like a holy symbol scuds out of sight
- Shopping list for potion is found
- Old ring sticks out of the dirt
- One person’s ears begin to ring
- One person has an intense itch
- Hawk takes mole/mouse near party
- Stick-figure voodoo doll(s) found
- Tornado
- Earthquake (mild, moderate, or severe)
- Great toppled tree, roots outstretched
- Creek bars path
- Fern-filled clearing
- Beaver pond/dam
- Rocky outcropping
- Ancient snag filled with tiny holes
- Carpet of spongy moss over large area
- Cave or large den
- Groundhog colony: big holes, mounds of dirt
- Tree with bark chewed or clawed off the bottom
- Picked mushrooms laying on stump to dry
- Sentry animal (probably bird or rodent) raises alarm
- Burned area (trees standing, no undergrowth, all black)
- Fool’s gold sparkles in the dirt
- Huge spider’s web
- Huge stick insect or mantis moves into the foliage
- Pleasant voice seems to chant on the breeze
- Fish bones
- Punctured waterskin or flask on path.
- Forgotten dagger jammed into stump or earth

More Wilderness Encounters
I hope you find this week’s list of benign wilderness encounter seeds useful. If so, you might also find these related tips of interest:
How To Keep Your Butt In One Piece While Adventuring In The Wilderness
Roleplaying Tips Weekly Supplemental #15 Wilderness Encounter Ideas Text
Get some gaming done this week!
Cheers,
Johnn Four
[email protected]

Tips From Roleplaying Tips Game Masters
Dragonmarks As Character Rewards (D&D: Eberron)
From Scott Murray
Dragonmarks are an interesting aspect of an Eberron campaign. If you are considering them for rewards, don’t forget the ramifications and mechanics both.
A standard dragonmark appears at a young age, and it associates you with an economic powerhouse. This gives you a form of limited noble status, even if you weren’t born directly into a marked house. You may be the child of an outcast, of a person who married outside the House and willingly gave up House status, a house orphan, or the product of a casual relationship with a dragonmarked person. Most children born outside of the House are sought out and brought into the House to keep its power. These children are called Foundlings.
You might want to consider a Siberys mark, which is very powerful but can show up later in life, or an Aberrant mark, which are abominations in the eyes of the 13 Houses and include harmful effects. In the past, Aberrant Marks were most often seen in the children of marked people from two different Houses. This is why romances between the Houses are absolutely forbidden. Now the aberrant mark can show up at any time in life and change it drastically. Check the Eberron campaign setting for more details- dragonmarks make interesting rewards.

More Party Name Ideas
From Lynn Fallon
For party names, start with a root word and add a descriptor.
Example good root words:
- Avatars
- Repealers
- Regulators
- Own
Examples with names or descriptors added:
- The Devils Own
- The South County Repealers
- The Queens Avatars
- Regulators of Kesch

Flour Trap
From Tyler Elkink
A room with 6 inches of fine dust or flour on the floor can be awful for any adventuring party that relies on torches for light. Dust particles have a great deal of surface area for their mass, which makes them easy to burn. Kicking clouds of dust into the air is like filling a room with explosive gas; only a small fire is needed to set the whole thing off. The best part of this trap is that planning isn’t required!
The real-world source for this particular idea is grain elevators; they’re full of grain dust, which is so explosive in that environment that people must turn off truck engines and not smoke around them.