Book 1: Willowshore Travel & Encounters Assistance

[Valeclaw]

Hello all! I am currently prepping to run Season of Ghosts, and there is really only one thing so far that stands out as difficult for me to wrap my head around, or if I'm just perhaps expecting something different in this specific moment.

I havent messed with exploration travel rules really ever, besides the action's in Abomination Vaults, though I was not the DM. I notice that it says, in the 'Random Encounters' section of Chapter 1, to roll every mile travelled in a continuous stretch. If I am understanding that right, it's every continuous mile you stay in exploration mode without a stop.

Given the actual size of the town though, from what I have seen, that means you'd really only have a random encounter if you're doing something like, at the start, travelling straight from the watch tower to Matsuki without stopping anywhere. Am I missing something, or is that actually the intent, for the random encounters to just be there to still provide for those who might just be skipping everything else?

[James Jacobs]

The Willowshore random encounters aren't "load bearing" XP awards, but bonuses. They serve 2 purposes:

1) They give the GM some extra encounter advice if they need to add in a few extra encounters to help the party earn enough XP so they'll be 2nd level in time to start chapter 3.

2) They help to make it apparent that during the start of this adventure, Willowshore is infested with monsters and is a dangerous place until the PCs finish chapter 2.

The "continuous mile" is meant to give the GM a guideline for how often to check for encounters, but is just that–a guideline. It'll come into play more if the PCs take their time and do something like wander around town or even out of town without proceeding with the chapter's set encounters.

One group might barrel through chapters 1 and 2 in the span of only a few days, while another might take weeks to finish it. It's the group that takes weeks that should encounter these random encounters more often, as a reminder to them to pick up the pace—that by taking their time, the people of Willowshore are living more and more in peril.

Finally, My personal favorite use for these sorts of tables is to roll something when there's a lull in the action. If you feel like your group could use an action scene, or needs something to spice up a session that's dragging, a roll on a table like this is the exact sort of creative starter for a GM to run with to get things back on track... or at least inject some excitement into the scene.

EDIT: In hindsight, it probably would have made more sense to say "Check for an encounter once every 4 or 8 hours, once an encounter DOES happen, no more encounters happen that day."