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Cadarius
Acolyte
8 Posts |
 Posted - 14 Mar 2021 : 07:40:11
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Well met!
For my campaigns I wanted to create a list of typical "on the road, traveling from Y to Z" encounters. I am not a big fan of random combat encounters (I think that combat slows games and become a nuisance if not story-related or driven) and most of the lists I found online are random hook generators (e.g you see a monk, sobbing, at the side of the road. Goblins took his green smoking herbs and now he cannot concentrate during his prayers). I am rather interested in knowing what typically travels on the roads, trade routes and paths in the Realms.
I could think of patrols being a regular encounter when coming close to bigger cities (Suzail, Waterdeep, Neverwinter ...), farmers during harvest time, but then?
I'd be happy to hear if you have suggestions, maybe there are lists already (the search function wasn't helpful, or my search was poorly made)!
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TheIriaeban
Master of Realmslore
USA
1289 Posts |
Posted - 15 Mar 2021 : 21:31:04
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Well, you are going to find whomever needs to travel to somewhere else. Merchant caravans/single merchant wagons depending on the population of the area. You are going to have patrols as you mentioned. There will also other people that need to travel for work (wizards, sages). You can find people moving to what they hope will be a better life. You may even find some kid going to visit her grandmother or some boy that is going to get fleeced out of a cow by some con-man. In Cormyr or Sembia, you can have the rich heading to their "vacation homes/estates". They could be monks or other religious types heading to another temple. An explorer not really heading anywhere specific other than just wanting to see what is over the next hill. Also, it could be some kid/young adult heading to X to join the military.
You can also run into people not going somewhere more than they are fleeing something. An arranged marriage they don't want. A con-man one step ahead of the law.
None of those would be expected to end in combat yet they have the chance to be a great bit of roleplay. |
"Iriaebor is a fine city. So what if you can have violence between merchant groups break out at any moment. Not every city can offer dinner AND a show."
My FR writeups - http://www.mediafire.com/folder/um3liz6tqsf5n/Documents
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SaMoCon
Senior Scribe
USA
403 Posts |
Posted - 16 Mar 2021 : 07:58:54
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| Drifters, nomads, beggars, peddlers, criminals... Maybe, if you want something more you can give little stories to these people. A mercenary band split their spoils and disbanded in a nearby city begetting a group of veterans traveling together to their homeland. A trio of hustlers that occupy a common roadside stopping place for travelers and welcome them to the fire they have nurtured to ply them with games rigged for the trio to make enough profit but not so much to unnecessarily bring suspicion. A foreign book writer and attendant/guide wandering through to detail one's travels for future adventurers from the homeland. A family of homesteaders is hauling their overloaded wagons on the slow trudge to the area that the uncle has staked out. A group of disillusioned young nobles limping their way back from a misadventure with the body of one of their friends. A posse bringing home captured criminals for trial. A cluster of "savages" looking to barter their goods/handicrafts for better made tools/devices. A team of penitents carrying a consecrated altar to be installed in a shrine still under construction. An agitator proselytizing, to anyone who will listen, the overthrow of the power structure. |
Make the best use of the system that's there, then modify the mechanics that don't allow you to have the fun you are looking for. |
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Cadarius
Acolyte
8 Posts |
Posted - 16 Mar 2021 : 08:24:13
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Thank you very much, these are all awesome ideas and will absolutely be integrated!
While working through the material of recent editions I figured that the means of "Travelling" are rarely discussed and often wandering monster encounters. As in Middle Ages, some people did travel, especially for pilgrimages. But would you travel as much in the Realms with "real creatures, trolls, ferocious monsters strolling around"?
So I was wondering if Travelling as in our medieval time can be compared to the realms (gods being far more than the believe in God in our Middle Ages and so forth), regarding necessity and safety.
That's something I was always wondering, how much the life of a regular peasant in the Realms differs from the life of a regular peasant of "our times" in the late middle ages! |
Edited by - Cadarius on 16 Mar 2021 08:28:03 |
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TheIriaeban
Master of Realmslore
USA
1289 Posts |
Posted - 16 Mar 2021 : 15:14:58
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Well, are the realms inherently more dangerous? I would say yes because when was the last time you heard about an ankheg popping up the an Iowa farmer's cornfield?
That said, in both worlds, when someone is threatened you have really only two options: fight or flee. Fleeing is usually the only option if you can't fight and you better hope you are faster than your attackers. Travelers who are capable of protecting themselves can sometimes offer others who cannot fight protection for the trip. I forgot where I read it but merchant caravans will often "sell seats" on a wagon or two to make a little extra money on the trip (the passenger benefits from the protection of the caravan guards). If a group is on a religion-based trip, the church will supply protection (that happened in our world, too). Perhaps that Cormyrian Lord who has a reputation as a good person would allow some poor person to travel along with his group for protection (you had better know your place, though). |
"Iriaebor is a fine city. So what if you can have violence between merchant groups break out at any moment. Not every city can offer dinner AND a show."
My FR writeups - http://www.mediafire.com/folder/um3liz6tqsf5n/Documents
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SaMoCon
Senior Scribe
USA
403 Posts |
Posted - 17 Mar 2021 : 01:53:52
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quote:
Originally posted by Cadarius
... So I was wondering if Travelling as in our medieval time can be compared to the realms (gods being far more than the believe in God in our Middle Ages and so forth), regarding necessity and safety.
That's something I was always wondering, how much the life of a regular peasant in the Realms differs from the life of a regular peasant of "our times" in the late middle ages!
The commoners of the FR are considerably freer & more educated than their real world (RW) equivalents. There are no letters that must be produced to prove that one is a freeman instead of a runaway peasant. The RW also had near universal inequality in the treatment of people between social divisions and both genders that is not really reflected in the FR. The FR is a very rosy romanticization of medieval Europe married with American liberal counter-culture ideals. Sanitation, health care, rule-of-law, nutrition, trade, and many more things that impact the daily lives of the common people in the FR are vastly different from RW comparables. |
Make the best use of the system that's there, then modify the mechanics that don't allow you to have the fun you are looking for. |
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Cadarius
Acolyte
8 Posts |
Posted - 17 Mar 2021 : 11:25:11
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quote:
[i]Originally posted by SaMoCon
[...] Sanitation, health care, rule-of-law, nutrition, trade, and many more things that impact the daily lives of the common people in the FR are vastly different from RW comparables.
That's a very good point that I often tend to forget. Thank you for a good reminder as well as the following quote:
The FR is a very rosy romanticization of medieval Europe married with American liberal counter-culture ideals.
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A typical encounter during travel
