Sighting encounters


Homebrew and House Rules


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My players like the immersion of the world, so I thought of sharing one of my tools. I make twice as much random encounters as adventure suggest, but half of them don't require fight or interaction, but observation as the target of encounter might be too far away, left long time ago or not interested of characters.

That doesn't mean that players or characters don't have anything to gain. They could learn something of local fauna, get warning, find some hidden loot or camp site, experience some rare moments or just enjoy the sight of cuddling dragons.

I also often roll random encounters beforehand and try to link them with each other. For example, the group of soldiers characters might meet, could be after the beast they had seen or perhaps they could give a warning.

One of the greatest encounters came, when the rogue was scouting and found a two giant kid playing together. Afraid of that they could find and destroy the caravan he send message to stop. Then he went to childs and lured them away from path and while he was amusing them, the caravan passed unnoticed. When the caravan was far enough, he promised them a magic trick, got them close their eyes and sneaked away, leaving them to wonder of his amazing disappearing act.


This is actually really interesting. I've been trying to add something like this to my groups in between adventures but I can never fnd the appropriate thing to add.


The Mighty Kapow wrote:
I've been trying to add something like this ...but I can never fnd the appropriate thing to add.

It is easy, just roll for random encounter, but either

- make it happen in minutes, hours or days ago and left some traces which can be identified.
- make it happen somewhere else so players meet the nest, childrens, items, etc when nobody is watching.
- your idea?

For example, sighting encounter might be:
GM: You see empty chair with weapon on it's side. Those who succeeded in perception hear grunting and gurgle of water.
Rogue: I check the sounds.
GM: Behind corner, you see two orcs peeing on wall and competing which one reach higher. One of them has alarm horn.

The player could try handle them himself, get others with risk that they are finished before he is ready or go on and leave before they got back to their guard duty.


LOL, orcs playing swords. Slightly creepy and priceless! Well done sir.

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