30 Random Things to Find When The Party is Lost.

Many times in a game the party will wander off the beaten trail or perhaps even into that place the DM never planned for them to go. Often the party gets itself lost and there is a need for some sort of encounter to make all the digression worthwhile. To this end, I present the following tables.

Roll a D30 on the following chart.

1. Weeping knight
2. Golden statue. Roll on Table A.
3. Sparkling pool. Roll on table A.
4. Quaint cottage home of a hermit. Roll 1d6: 1-3 Neutral, 4-5 Good, 6 Evil.
5. Huge oak with a face in the trunk. There is a 10% chance it is an ancient Treant.
6. Ring of toad stools. There is a 15% chance of faeries being encountered. Roll 1d6: 1-3 pixies, 4-5 sprites, 6 brownie.
7. Abandoned hovel. There is a 10% chance that the hovel is inhabited. Roll on the appropriate Wandering Monster table for the terrain where it is located.
8. Dancing lights, beckoning the party deeper into the wilderness.
9. Grave. There is a 15% chance of encountering an undead here. Roll 1d6: 1-2 ghost, 3-4 ghouls (1d3), 5 wight, or 6 wraith.
10. Tree shaped like a person. Roll on Table A.
11. A large comfortable looking home. Roll on Table B for its inhabitants.
12. Disembodied voices that seem to whisper doom.
13. Circle of stones. Roll on Table A.
14. Ancient temple to some forgotten deity. 25% chance it is still active and populated by 1d4 clerics. Roll d6 for alignment of deity – 1-3 Evil, 4-5 Neutral, 6 Good.
15. The sight of a recent battle. Bodies and debris a strewn all over. There is a 15% chance that 1d6 ghouls will be encountered here. There is a 25% chance that there are valuable items of treasure here.
16. Another lost party.
17. 1d6 pilgrims.
18. A well. There is a 5% chance that it will grant a single Wish, otherwise roll on Table A.
19. Ruins of some ancient civilization. There is a 10% chance it is haunted. Roll 1d6 for inhabitants: 1-2 skeletons (2d6), 3-4 ghouls (1d6), 5 wights (1d4), wraith. There is also a 15% chance that the ruins contain 1d4-1 items of treasure.
20. Gypsy camp. 2d6 gypsies, their animals and caravans.
21. A shackled but still living person. Roll 1d6 to determine there nature: 1. A sacrifice 2. A crimimal, justly accused. 3. A criminal wrongly accused. 4. Enemy of a local church. 5. Human-looking creature, captured and left to perish. 6. Bandit who only appears to be shackled and had 2d6 friends nearby.
22. A set of huge foot prints.
23. A single human skull sitting in the middle of the path. There is a 10% chance to roll on Table A.
24. A weapon or item overgrown and seemingly abandoned. There is a 10% chance that it is a randomly generated magic weapon or item.
25. Adventurer who challenges the party before he will let them pass. The blocking adventurer has a number of class level equal to that of the party + 1d6.
26. Dying hero.
27. A single white horse.
28. A mysterious glowing doorway that hangs in the very air itself. Looking through the door shows another place on the other side. There is a 10% chance that the other place is not of the same world.
29. Dark ritual being performed by 1d8 evil priests. There is a 50% chance that this ritual involves 1d4-1 innocent victims.
30. A minor deity in some mundane form who will interact with the party as if he were simply that form (animal, traveler, etc).

TABLE A - EFFECTS
Roll 1d10 on the following table.

1. Will answer one question truthfully.
2. Heals 1d6 hp damage to those places at its base.
3. Curses those who touch it as per the spell.
4. Can teleport those who touch it to a destination of their choosing within 100 miles.
5. Opens a portal to another plane.
6. Drains 1 life level if touched.
7. Imbues any who touch it with the effects of a Bless spell.
8. Animates as a monster and attacks the party (use appropriate monster type).
9. Screams a haunting, terrifying scream for no apparent reason.
10. Removes curses.

TABLE B - INABITANTS
Roll 1d10 on the following table.

1. A kind wizard willing to aid the party with his magic (1d6 levels)
2. A family of cannibals. They are clean and polite and give no clue to their true natures.
3. 1d10 demi-humans who are who are involved in a local prospect of their own.
4. The hidden child of an evil noble/leader placed with a kindly old couple until it is time.
5. 1d6 anthropomorphic animals. They dress, live, and act like regular folk, but are animals.
6. A gnarled and twisted old crone. Roll 1d6: 1-3 an ordinary woman. 4-5 a wicked witch. 6 a benign lady in disguise.
7. Woodsmen willing to share their knowledge of the region in trade for labors around their home.
8. A knight and his squire.
9. A master craftsman.
10. A famous hero, hiding from the world he knew.