Anyone that’s ever played a role-playing game (RPG) knows that the game is made up of encounters. An encounter does not necessarily mean a combat situation, it could lead to an entertaining role-playing session.
So I’ve created an ongoing series of posts concerning encounter ideas. These ideas are just that, ideas. You can take them and incorporate them into your game regardless of system and if you have any ideas you’d like to share I’d love to hear from you.
- Funeral Procession
- The Cat
- The Runaway
- The Street Peddler
- The Wallet
- The Abandoned Vehicle
- The Upset Parent (missing child)
- The Ronin
- The Tinker
- The Press Gang
- The Fortune Teller
- The Wandering Minstrel
- The Ghost
- The Know it All
- The Long Lost Relative
- The Preacher
- The Mercenary
- The Juggler
- The Mob
- The Undertaker
- The Soldier
- The Drunk
- The Diplomat
- The Noble
- Wolf!
- The Crusader
- The Wedding Party
- The Shopkeeper

Pingback: of Dice and Dragons » Encounter Idea 17 - The Mercenary
Pingback: of Dice and Dragons » Encounter Idea No. 1 - Funeral Procession
Pingback: of Dice and Dragons » Encounter Idea No. 2 - The Cat
Pingback: of Dice and Dragons » Encounter Idea No. 4 - The Street Peddler
Pingback: of Dice and Dragons » Encounter Idea No. 5 - The wallet
Pingback: of Dice and Dragons » Encounter Idea No. 6 - The abandoned vehicle
Pingback: of Dice and Dragons » Encounter Idea No. 7 - The upset parent (missing child)
Pingback: of Dice and Dragons » Encounter Idea No. 16 - The Preacher
Pingback: of Dice and Dragons » Encounter Idea No. 15 - The long lost relative
Pingback: of Dice and Dragons » Encounter Idea 13 - The Ghost
Pingback: of Dice and Dragons » Encounter Idea 12 - The Wandering Minstrel
Pingback: of Dice and Dragons » Encounter Idea No. 10 - The Press Gang
Pingback: of Dice and Dragons » Encounter Idea No. 9 - The Tinker
Pingback: of Dice and Dragons » Encounter Idea 18 - The Juggler
Pingback: of Dice and Dragons » Encounter Idea 19 - The Mob
Pingback: of Dice and Dragons » Encounter Idea 20 - The Undertaker
Pingback: of Dice and Dragons » Encounter Idea 21 - The Soldier
Pingback: of Dice and Dragons » Encounter Idea 22 - The Drunk
Pingback: of Dice and Dragons » Encounter Idea 23 - The Diplomat
Pingback: of Dice and Dragons » Encounter Idea 24 - The Noble
Pingback: of Dice and Dragons » Encounter Idea 25 - Wolf!
Pingback: of Dice and Dragons » Encounter Idea 26 - The Crusader
Pingback: of Dice and Dragons » Encounter Idea 27 - The Wedding Party
Pingback: of Dice and Dragons » Encounter Idea 28 - The Shopkeeper
Pingback: of Dice and Dragons ยป Holidays in your Campaign?
Sheer brilliance! I love your ideas! I can’t wait to incorporate some of these! My DM block feels like it’s lifting already!
These are great ideas. For some reason, the Funeral Procession really pops out to me. I’m going to use it in my next single session game to start the adventurers out.
Thanks for the resource.
I just DM’ed my first campaign of Four players, 5 characters and 3 of the four players plus myself are seasoned Ad&d players.
I was nervous as hell and did make a few first-time DM mistakes (like too many active NPCs). Solving the problem by killing them off actually worked nicely to intensify the feeling of risk the players felt. phew.
To my surprize, after the weekend of play was over, all of the players informed me that they felt the campaign was a great success. The problem is…they dont want to wait a year before reconvening for another big session (as we usually do). So, I have only a month to write Chapter two of “The Culling of Life”. This scared me into thinking that I could only bungle things up; thanks to your posting here, however, I already have plenty of material prepared and my new chapter is looking like a store bought adventure filled with exciting encounters and a plot that ties up all of my previouis loose ends. So i write here just to say Thank You So So Much! You may have just saved the lives of 5 fictional heroes. >.o
-Rukkesh, ranger of Abeir-Toril.
Congrats on your first run at DM – it’s a experience you’ll never forget and making mistakes it just part of the growth process, even seasoned DM make mistakes – although we like to call they player tests
I’m glad you’re finding the material helpful and hopefully you’ll be able to pick up a few tips and tricks from the rest of the site.
You’re welcome and may your dice roll well.