I’ve been unimpressed with the official support provided in the books, both for NPC/PC interactions as well as non-combat events to liven up the caravan’s trip. As such, I’ve written some incidents that I may use in my game and am willing to share in the hopes it sparks others’ imaginations as well.
I am not using the caravan rules as RAW, so my mechanical suggestions are just that: suggestions. If you can think up better results, use them.
No DCs have been included, as these events could happen at any level, and thus it is up to the GM to change them to meet the PCs abilities.
If you can come up with your own ideas, please add them.
On the Road Again – Events while the caravan is on the trail
Shelyn Has Left the Building
A small shrine is found beside the road to any deity of the GM’s choice. If the caravan stops to pray, subtract 5 miles from the day’s travels, and give a +2 bonus to the next trading roll.
Fight Club
A pair of guards in the caravan gets into a fight over a gambling game. One accuses the other of cheating, the other denies this allegation. If not dealt with, the caravan suffers -2 penalty to AC due to people taking sides and not standing as a unified whole.
Lucky Charms
Koya or another fortuneteller finds a good omen. If the caravan spends 1 unit of supplies for a festival in celebration, the caravan can reroll any one of the next three rolls it makes.
Cat Fight
A small group of women in the caravan start to have personality conflicts with each other. This can be due to jealousy, in-fighting, or misheard gossip. Unless the party smoothes out the issue with Diplomacy, Sense Motive and Perception checks, the friction will cause a -1d4 to all economy checks and a +2 to unrest.
Pranks, But No Pranks
A number of pranks happen to the caravan (ropes unwound, mud placed in boots, knives dulled, sewing unwound). Tempers flare and people get angry as the blame runs wild. Using Stealth, Sense Motive, Perception, and knowledge (arcane), the party can find out fey tricksters are having fun with the caravan. If the party doesn’t find out about the fey, the caravan takes a -1d4 to resolve as trust deteriorates.
If the party finds the fey, a fortuneteller can engage the fey in a contest of wits, make a Profession (fortuneteller) check, if successful, the fey are made friendly and give 2 trade goods worth of fey-worked items. On a failure the fey leave, looking for people who are more fun to be around.
Reverse Harem
A woman in the caravan is playing one of the drivers and one of the guards against each other, enjoying the little power trip it gives her. If allowed to continue, the driver will eventually snap and murder the guard in his sleep. The party is left to deal with the fallout.
Minimum Sentences
Along the road, the caravan passes a crow cage beside the road. The prisoner inside pleads to be set free, saying he’s innocent. A Sense Motive check can tell he’s lying. If the caravan does not free him, he shouts insults and pronounces a curse upon them all! Unless cowed into silence with Intimidate (Diplomacy will not work) enough people hear the curse to cause +2 to unrest.
Baby On Board
A pregnant woman in the caravan goes into labour. The birth is very difficult and without help, disaster may occur. Make three skill checks: 1 Diplomacy (to calm the mother), and 2 Heals. Divine magic can be used to generate 1 successful Heal check. What happens depends on how many successful checks the party makes:
3 successes: mother and baby are fine. The caravan is elated! +2 to all checks for a week.
2 successes: hard birth, the mother is weakened, but the baby is fine. +1 to all checks for 3 days.
1 success: mother dies in childbirth, baby is fine. Joy mixed with sadness, no modifiers.
0 successes: mother dies, taking her child with her. Gloom descends on the caravan, -2 to all checks.
Are We Really Like That?
The caravan comes across a 5 member adventurer party (level 1). The fighter, mage, cleric, and rogue all have the charisma of unwashed rot grubs, but the male bard is smoking hot, and tries to hit on female PCs. Whenever anyone tries to talk to the bard, another of his party members moves to flank the speaker. The mage keeps moving into places where he would have a clear shot with a colour spray. The rogue eyes the party’s coin purses, and the fighter tries to speak but can only shout aggressively. The cleric always works something about his god into any sentence he says.
All are orphans and have no living family members.
In Need of a Cattle Prod
A druid is allowing his T Rex animal companion a chance to rest. Unfortunately, the lazy best is lying across the road. The caravan’s horses will not go anywhere near the predator, so the party must convince the druid to get “Lord Carvington” up and moving. Both have been walking all day and are tired, but the druid is fairly reasonable, so any good use of Diplomacy or bribe should work. Threats or use of force and the druid responds with Anti-Life Shell, Wall of Thorns, Repel Wood, Wall of Stone, or other, really high level spells to force the caravan back, but does not fight to kill. Left to himself, Lord Carvington will not move for a whole day.
I’m No Good Without My Daily Map
The caravan comes across a fork in the road. According to the map, the group should head east: too bad the fork in the road is between northwest and west. There was an eastern path at one point, but it looks like a fight between mages turned that route into a field of jagged obsidian rocks.
The caravan can either stop and wait for a traveler to come along (2 days) to tell them which route to take (west), or can send out scouts. A successful Survival check will tell the caravan that the west path is the longer, but safer. The northwestern one is shorter, but over rougher, swampier terrain.
Taking west route: no problems.
Taking northwest route: Make 2 morale, and 1 mobility checks against the caravan to see how well the caravan deals with the harder terrain and flaring tempers due to the extra work:
3 successes: the caravan is a well oiled machine! The surge of confidence gives the group a +2 to all economy rolls in the next town.
2 successes: the road is hard, but we’re harder. The toil toughens the caravan up. +1 AC to the next fight.
1 success: I should have stayed at home. The distance takes twice the time to cover. Demoralized, the caravan takes a -1 to all checks for a week.
0 successes: are we there yet? The rough path claims a victim! Randomly choose one of the caravan’s wagons. Remove that from play, as well as whatever cargo it was carrying. +2 to unrest until some kind of uplifting event occurs.
Gods On High
One night the sky suddenly lights up with a furious glow, like the northern lights. It is terrifying and people and horses cry out with fear. Those who make a Knowledge (arcane) check can tell it is some kind of battle taking place in the celestial realms.
A character with Knowledge (religion) can, on a successful check, read the signs above and calm the caravan down. By linking the lights above to religious sagas, the character can weave a story that gives hints to upcoming events.
Someone with Perform (storytelling) can do something similar, but at a harder DC. Someone with Bluff can as well, but at a still higher DC.
Failure: caravan is panicked and fearful. -2 to all checks but AC. Because of fear, AC goes up by +1.
Success: the caravan seems blessed. +20% on all gold gained in the next trading session.
