City, Town or Village Encounters

It's important for the Game Master to remember that, unlike dungeon or wilderness environments, cities, towns and villages are busy places. During the day, most towns will have people on the streets more or less all the time; the absence of people on the streets is often an indication of something interesting. By night, much of the town will be dark and quiet, and encounters will be mostly Thieves or other unsavory types; but near popular eating or drinking establishments, people of all sorts are still likely to be encountered. The GM must make sure that their descriptions of the town environment make this clear; of course, this will also make it harder for the players to identify "real" encounters. The GM is encouraged to create their own encounter tables for use in each city, town or village created (or assign encounters by other means if desired); however, a set of "generic" encounter tables are provided below for those times when such preparation has not been completed. Roll 2d6 on the table below to determine what sort of encounter occurs; a description of each type of encounter appears below the table. Die Roll Day Encounter Night Encounter 2 Doppleganger Doppleganger 3 Noble Shadow* 4 Thief Press Gang 5 Bully Beggar 6 City Watch Thief 7 Merchant Bully 8 Beggar Merchant 9 Priest Giant Rat 10 Mercenary City Watch 11 Wizard Wizard 12 Lycanthrope, Wererat* Lycanthrope, Wererat* Beggar encounters will often begin with a single beggar approaching the party, but there will generally be 2d4 beggars in the area, and if any party member gives anything to the first beggar, the others will descend on the party like flies. Each beggar is 90% likely to be a normal man, and 10% likely to be a 1st level Thief, possibly scouting for the Thieves Guild or a local gang. Bully encounters will be with 2d4 young toughs; each is 70% likely to be a normal man, 30% likely to be a 1 st level Fighter. Bullies generally appear unarmed, depending on their brawling ability in a fight (but keeping a dagger or shortsword hidden, to be used in case the fight is going against them). Bullies can be a bit unpredictable, such that the GM may want to use a reaction roll to determine the leader's mood. City Watch encounters will be with 2d6 watchmen, all 1st level Fighters save for the squad leader, who will be from 2nd through 4th level. They will confront "suspicious-looking" characters, but generally will need a good reason before they attempt to arrest or otherwise interfere with player characters. Doppleganger encounters will, of course, appear to be some other type of encounter; the GM should roll again to determine what the doppleganger is masquerading as. 1d6 dopplegangers will be encountered; any extra group members will be humans who do not know they are traveling in the company of shapeshifting monsters. If the party is "interesting" to the dopplegangers, one or more of the monsters will attempt to follow them and replace a party member (as described in the monster description). In many cases, player character parties will not discover the true nature of the encounter until much later. Giant Rat encounters will generally involve alleys, the docks, or other "low" places. Rats are generally not dangerous unless provoked, but if surprised they may attack. See the monster description for details of this encounter type. Lycanthrope, Wererat encounters will appear to be some other type of encounter, either another sort of "normal" encounter or a giant rat encounter (depending on the circumstances). Wererats are cowardly and will not attack a party of equal or larger size. Mercenary encounters will involve 2d6 members of a mercenary company, going about some business or other. A mercenary leader may offer a position to Fighter-classed player characters if they have any reputation at all. Merchants are a common feature of towns, and may be encountered performing any sort of business. As with mercenary encounters, merchants may offer jobs to interesting player characters, particularly those with good reputations. See Creating an NPC Party, below, for details on this type of encounter. (A merchant in a town may not have a full entourage as described below; the GM should use their discretion in creating the encounter.) Nobles encountered may also offer positions to player characters, or possibly offer a reward for some dangerous task. Player characters with bad reputations may be confronted, ordered to leave town, or even arrested if the noble is able to call for the city watch. (See Creating an NPC Party, below, for details on this type of encounter.) A noble in a town may not have a full entourage as described below; the GM should use their discretion in creating the encounter. Press Gangs will consist of 2d6 Fighters, all 1st level except for one or two leaders of 2nd through 5th level. They will be armed with blunt weapons or possibly will fight with their bare hands, since their goal is to capture rather than kill player characters; however, it is likely that at least some members of a press gang will have daggers or swords on their persons in case a serious fight breaks out. A press gang will not confront a party of equal or greater size unless the party is obviously weakened, drunk, etc. If the party loses, they will awaken aboard a ship at sea or in a military camp (depending on whether sailors or soldiers captured them), unarmed and at the mercy of their captors. Priest encounters will usually be similar to a group of pilgrims (see Creating an NPC Party, below, for details), though the group encountered will not be as large as would be encountered in the wilderness. Generally, a single priest of 1st through 4th level will be encountered, accompanied by 1d4 of the faithful. Shadow encounters in a town will be much like the same encounter underground; see the monster description for details. Thief encounters will be with a group of 1d6 Thieves, generally disguised as ordinary townsmen or sometimes as beggars. One Thief in the group will be from 2nd to 4th level, with the others being 1st level only. They will seek to steal from the party, of course, unless watched very carefully. Wizard encounters will involve a Magic-User of 4th through 7th level, accompanied by 1d4-1 apprentices of 1st level. The GM must decide on the temperament and mood of the wizard.