ITT: Random shit one might encounter in semi-rural region of generic DnD setting.
>Guy with a cart, pulled by donkey
>>46113112
two ugly peasants fucking in a haystack
>>46113139
OP here.
This. So much this. i'm fully stacked with encounters and relevant PCs and stuff like that, but I want to toss exactly such stuff at my players. Show them world is not just monsters and loot.
>small chest half-buried in the dirt and weathered by time. it has an intricate lock and still seems sturdy despite its age.
>a young dragonling harassing a herd of livestock
>a veteran warrior training a group of teenagers and young adults
>a tax collector whose carriage has a broken wheel
>a group of various goblinoids hosting a small wrestling tourny
>an unconscious elven noble with a bloodied forehead lying out in the fields
>an ancient stone golem sitting against a tree, covered in vines and shrubs
>reformed bandits trying to pose as villagers after a successful heist
>an old peddler woman with valuable goods but is a hag in disguise
>ye olde werewolf/vampire/ghost infestation
>a circle of stones engraved top to bottom with runes
>>46113112
A tribe of long armed giants disguised as windmills.
>>46113233
Brilliant
>>46113274
OP here.
Indeed. Thanks anon.
>>46113233
>reformed bandits trying to pose as villagers after a successful heist
Are we talking genuinely reformed or Hateful 8 style bandits?
>>46113259
A lone, stalwart warrior who rides to oppose them.
>A bag of holding. Taking a look inside will reveal a part of adventurers suffocated inside.
Or maybe they're still alive and are hiding from something that's still around.
>a group of soldiers moving through town on the way to the mountains
>children fencing with sticks. one of them is wearing a rather ominous looking necklace.
>an old half-naked gnome digging wildly in the dirt for something
>an old man tending to a garden filled with poisonous plants
>an awakened tree that has been traveling the world sightseeing for the past two-hundred years
>a pile of well-dressed corpses in the forest. the town has not seen a trading caravan in months.
>a seemingly empty suit of armor kneeling in front of a sword plunged into the ground
>an old woman and a metallic dragon having a good-natured philosophical debate by a stream
>a young man trying to tame an owlbear cub
>vultures circling something in the distance
>a halfling sending smoke signals
>orcs nervously discussing how their first benign contact with the village will go
>advertisements for bridge de-trolling specialists
>kobolds that worship bahamut trying to amass a horde by learning to farm and trade
>literally a carnival
A peasant passes by the party:
>Quick! They are fighting at the city!
The party runs, mad with monsterslaying and loot-lust.
It's two youths settling their diferences on a good fistfight, everybody cheering and betting the odd chicken.
--
The village has no tavern or place to stay, ut the millman offers food and lodging if the adventurers share stories about the world.
>I just made a new ale with leftover grain. My own recipe with local herbs.
--
A friendly ogre tills the fields, he doesn't need mules or cows for the plow.
--
A heavily pregnant dwarfwoman goes into labor.
>Oh gawds, it's only been 10 months! Help mee...
An old man with seven performing canaries.
A knight in rusted armor atop a scrawny horse is yelling at some windmills.
A fat commoner nearby is trying to convince him that the windmills mean him no harm.
>Begone, ye giants!
>Guy with a donkey, pulled by cart
>Donkey with a cart, pulled by guy
>Cart with a cart, pulled by cart
>Donkey with no guy or cart
>Donkey with two carts
>Donkey that is secretly a cartographer
>Donkey with a kart full of bananas
>A guy with no cart or donkey
>a guy with two donkeys, a cart, and a donkey pulling another cart while riding in the first cart
>no guy, no donkey, no cart
An invisible stalker pulling pranks.
A clay golem, ignoring everything around it, steadily marching towards the horizon on a silent mission to who knows where.
Traveling jesters.
Curiously identical traveling jesters traveling a few minutes after those traveling jesters.
A doppelganger extermination specialist asking about traveling jesters.
A very miniature cavalcade of pixies.
Other adventurers on a quest.
Other adventurers begging for a quest.
Good-natured riddling sphinxes.
>A farmer passing by tells of a nearby villages that have been struck with plague. If pressed, he passes a rumor of a travelling carnival that visited both places.
>The forest is on fire!
>The nearest city gates are shut, with many soldiers stationed on the walls. All visitors are being turned away, but some locals pass along the story of rioting and murder.
>A tinker's wagon has gone into a ditch and broken a wheel. The tinker passes many rumors (all false) of the surrounding area. He offers his services at a great discount if the party helps him right his spilled wagon and goods. All his trinkets are cursed.
>A corpse strewn meadow, a handful of broken glass weapons, and a crow that speaks.
>Some campers tell tale of a nearby cavern that has "some amazing waterfalls". The cavern is home to a small pack of Grell.
>A stampede of wildlife, a bizarre mix of all species, burst out of a nearby forest
>A local druid has posted signs asking for hunters to register their names with him before taking any game. 3 arrows are piercing one of them, and others are torn or ripped. A few stags antlers have been tied to tree trunks, as if in defiance.
An inexplicably gray-haired merchant in his mid-20s, taking a cartload of furs to market.
A shaven yeti bringing his own fur to market.
>>46113871
>A number of scalps have been hung at some of the druid's signs
>>46113233
>Watching the dragon harrass livestock
>Not helping it tip every single cow before stealing one
Disgusting.
With all of this shit, I'm just honestly made even more sad that you can't do any of this without the PCs deciding it must be part of a quest or some epic destiny or whatever. The PC mindset that everything in the world is somehow related and important is cancer to this hobby.
Not really a big one, though, more like BB sized and benign. It's really not doing anything especially harsh but being annoying but GOD DAMMIT IT'S STILL CANCER.
>>46113112
>Two young peasant girls arguing about who the prince is going to marry. The kingdom currently has no prince. Further investigation reveal two halflings under a fancy surcoat posing as Prince Sebastien LeFleur The Fifteenth.
>Small earthquakes shake a town. Further investigation leads to two sizeable mountain giants not too far away. They being locked in a wrestling dispute for the best part of the week.
>A herd of suspicious looking sheep that seem to be trying to hard to 'act natural' as sheeps as the PCs walk by.
>A ebony skin merchant from a faraway land is trying to sell genuine antiseptic medicine to the town local barber-surgeon, who remains skeptic of this 'supertitious formula' and insist the man is a con artist.
>A field of battle being looted by ugly and very poor peasants. Investigation of the bodies reveal a battle took place a couple days betwen the local noble's army and mercenary hired from a relative to help him cease the castle.
>An old trebuchet, falling apart and covered in vines
>A huge abandoned castle. Seemingly 'intact' but not habited for centuries. Further investigation reveals that the castle was built over unsuitable ground and the courtyard is flooded by a fetid water that smell worse than the sewers of the capital.
>A travelling caravan of three coach wagons with prostitues offering their services from town to town and to anyone on the road with gold. The caravan is protected by two eastern paladins as the prostitues are actually holy workers and the gold they obtain is given to charity in the name of a fertility goddess.
>A herd of thousands of wild horses that seem to follow a strange fancy blue warhorse with a saddle around. Herd is composed of multiple breeds of horses, some saddled, some with harnesses broke from plows. There are even horses from other parts of the word and horses product of mixing of breeds within the herd. The lead stallion has glowing blue eyes.
>>46117083
>Man seeking a wizard capable of brewing a potion that can make him more fertile. Further investigation reveals the man has no problem conceiving and has hundreds of children, he just get the kicks out of impregnanting women.
>A floating skull hover over the roads without paying atention to travellers without narrating, radio broadcast style, a joust tournament that took place couple centuries ago. Following it around leads to the abandoned tourney grounds where there is some good loot.
>Seven identical twin teenager boys wearing the same outfit, flamboyant, puffy, patchwork landsknecht style clothes. Each carries a different weapon they claim to have mastered. They travel in two wagons, all fancily decorated, and go from town to town challenging people to singular combat.
>A longbow resting agaisnt a tree with arrows and boots. Following a short foot trail leads to a creek where a man is dead after being bit by a snake while taking a leak. The longbow is very good quality, masterwork or whatever is system/level aproppriate. If a player grabs it, the party will constantly be finding snakes where they have no right to be.
>Girl with huge bulge in her pants looking for a husband.
>>46117211
First and last one's basically just your garden variety magic realm player.
Moans from off the road. On investigation, it's a ghost that appears to be mourning a long-dead corpse. Its cries are unintelligible and it will not react to much of anything going on around it. If the corpse is taken, it will follow and cry more desperately but not take any real action against you.
>>46117307
Well, two posts full of ideas, no reason to obssess about those two, anon.
>>46113233
>an ancient stone golem sitting against a tree, covered in vines and shrubs
By his feet lay a large, rough stone. The letter G can be seen carved crudely into the face; the remainder rendered illegible by time and rain.
What would be a less offensive way to describe people in fantasy settings who look like romanticized Gypsy? Wanderers?
>>46117584
Tramps and thieves
>>46117584
"Travellers", just like real life.
Or something that fits what they're doing. Are they circus folk? Exiles? Beggars?
>>46117592
Romanticized, not /pol/iticized.
>>46117681
He was referencing a Cher song, you fucking heathen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG0C54J1qsQ
>>46117731
Knee-jerk reaction, I guess.
>Particularly aggressive pack of wolves attacking livestock, local priest claiming it to be divine punishment, local druid claiming it to be due to the disruption of their habitat
>Wedding between the son and daughter of the two richest farming families, everyone seems happy except for the bride and groom
>A pig has been possessed by the spirit of the previous farmer who owned the land
>Merchant just returned from the city, is selling suspiciously cheap clothing which are found to have belonged to plague victims
>A wizard partway through constructing his tower, trying to resolve an ongoing labour dispute with the masons he hired
>Grave robbers not so smug after breaking magical seal on crypt which curses them to stub their toes seven times a day, every day
>Aftermath of the party of the year, entire town passed out or hungover
>Cheesemaker is found to have been leaving his cheese to ferment to the point of going moldy, claims it to be a delicacy from a foreign land
>Kobolds steal the wheel from the watermill, ride it down a large hill to impress a nearby dragon
>>46118169
>Plague merchant
Oh man, this has the potential of an arc.
>Cheesemaker
Does he also make cheeses with fly larvae?
>>46117584
Nomads
> burned-out campfire with a wooden crate of empty bottles nearby
>old man who needs help changing a broken wheel on his cart
> three teenager boys looking for their sisters ex-boyfriend
> lost old woman, needs directions to the nearest town
> two children being taught to fish by a bridge-troll
> old man sat against a tree with a pipe
> a broken flute lying in the road
> a little tavern with the sounds of drunken singing coming from inside
> an army patrol wanders past, complaining about how boring this route is
> Socball match between village teams
> herbalist picking flowers
> woodcutters clearing fallen tree across the road, fell in the last storm
> chain gang from the local prison repairing the road and digging ditches
>The party spots a flock of wild turkeys. Suddenly, one of the birds pounces upon another and kills it. As the remaining turkeys flee in fear, the aggressor turkey seems to shimmer and warp. In the turkey's place is a pale creature similar in form to a small, scaleless crocodile.
Now comfortably in its natural form, the shapeshifter settles down to feed.
