I try to do a balance of "good" and "bad" random encounters while my players travel. I have such difficultly of thinking up the "good" encounters. I have done copper dragons looking to have a riddle contest, with gems or gold if the players win. Priests casting spells for free. Rangers giving heads up about nearby monsters. Sometimes they notice a dropped money pouch or ring. I am wondering if anyone could give me some other suggestions.
Its upsetting this received no replies. I'm with you on having Good / Neutral / non-combat / non-significant encounters.
1: Meet two strangers on the road, they are charismatic bandits that quickly decide that the party has them out gamed and try to bluff the party into donating to the 'peoples safe travel fund' as they are 'patrolling to keep the roads safe'
2: A dwarven crew is pulling their wagon by hand after losing their horse to an ankheg. They offer to buy the parties horses.
Hunters have had a more than bountiful harvest and share their food with the party and give them information about the surrounding area.
Safe places to rest by virtue of a nice person or creature. Ex.A Dryad allows you to rest in her protected grove.
Wandering Merchant complete with a discount.
The greatest encounter I ever had as a player was a mu spore that floated towards us (a level 5 party of 3) and wanted to play dice. If we won it would give us a ride to wherever we liked. The only issue was that it's dice were like the size of Taco Bell each. So we lost, and a town was destroyed by dice anyway.
We would later beat him in a drinking contest, but he barfed in a river that ran to that same town.
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I've run a solid handful of can-go-either-way encounters, and prepared a few others.
--Run across some ship-wrecked pirates in a dangerous forest, encamped in a small clearing upon a bluff with the gear scavenged from their ship. The party can ignore them, take them out for their loot (what they can carry), or help them to civilization and gain a (...perhaps unscrupulous) ally.
--Bump into an old mansion protected by ravenous gargoyles. Successfully talking the stone beasts down (or offering some sort of tribute) gets them inside, where an angel (or just some older man trapped there by the gargoyles, if you want to keep lower magic) of some depleted power rests. It'll map them toward civilization, give them warm food, rest, and so on.
--Stumble upon a friendly camp out in the middle of a forest. Turns out there's a creature impersonating one of rangers, but the rest aren't sure which. If the party figures it out, they've company for the night, and some good word spread about in the next town over.
--A number of ice golems in the frozen wastes are uprooting trees from around an iced-over lake and dragging them into the center, where they plant the tree down into the ice (ice-shaping roots around it). They won't talk to the adventurers in any language but their own, will not stop their task, and will only attack if first attacked. If successfully asked, they're trying to save nature from the evils of the world. Your ominous microcosmic portent of choice, really.
Thank you all very much! I am glad that I am not alone in this. I try to keep a lot of my games up to chance. Since I am DM for my group 90% of the time, I don't get to see new ideas that often.