100 Social Encounters On The Road

1. A bard or minstrel, half dressed and looking over his shoulder.
2. Farmer going to/returning from market with his meager goods.
3. Farmer going to/returning from town with his/her sons.
4. Farmer going to/returning from town with his/her daughters.
5. Girl running away from home.
6. Boy running away to the city.
7. A lost child, in tears and holding a torn sack.
8. A troupe of entertainers, led by an overdressed and curious Elf.
9. Full company of mercenaries, led by a stout, dark bearded Captain.
10. A small group of mercenaries, dishevelled and sweating.
11. Minor noble travelling via horse, with servants.
12. Minor noble going to/returning from hunt, with retinue.
13. Local bailiff, sheriff or warden, with a suspicious outlook of strangers.
14. A hunter or poacher, with a huge longbow strapped to their back.
15. A pair of hunters or poachers, arguing about who is to blame for a missed shot.
16. Large trading caravan, with accompanying surly guards.
17. A lone trader/merchant on foot, leading a mule carrying their wares.
18. Lone trader/merchant riding on a horse drawn wagon.
19. Limping bailiff and his badly beaten prisoner.
20. Escaped prisoner, manacled and carrying a religious icon.
21. Sheriff and his dogs, out hunting an outlaw.
22. A boundary warden with a broken bow and empty scabbard, fuming as he walks.
23. Lone travelling priest, carrying a lit censer with an acrid smell.
24. Lone travelling cleric, with a faintly glowing mace.
25. Charismatic priest and retinue of apostles, who are mumbling to each other and won’t make eye contact.
26. A cleric and a small retinue of acolytes, full of confidence.
27. A ranger/boundary warder patrol, with a cheerful leader.
28. A patrol from the local city or town guard, nervous about being out of town.
29. A foot messenger, with a ducal ring on his hand.
30. A horse messenger wearing a royal tabard and carrying a fine leather satchel.
31. A travelling historian carrying a sack of old stone statues.
32. A starving beggar, willing to trade information for food.
33. A group of refugees, telling stories of war and oppression in their homeland.
34. A wounded soldier, limping along on crutches.
35. A deserting soldier carrying a memento of a fallen friend.
36. A wandering dog, with a silver collar and name tag.
37. A bear wearing a collar and trailing a frayed rope.
38. A riderless horse, with bulging saddlebags.
39. A thrown rider, trying to catch his horse.
40. A wandering madman, ranting about an invisible creature.
41. A pair of dwarven prospectors, arguing loudly about where they took a wrong turn.
42. Halfling cook/chef, out foraging for ingredients.
43. Overturned wagon with injured merchant.
44. A bored elderly gnome, with a curious mechanical toy.
45. Fisherman by a riverside, without any fish.
46. Druid planting rows of trees across the road.
47. A drunk from a nearby tavern, unsteady on his feet.
48. A partially smashed coffin, with a “corpse” inside which is slowly moving.
49. A dealer of “used magical artefacts”.
50. An elf picking and eating wild berries.
51. A manic Herbalist, with green smears around his mouth.
52. Group of robed monks, carrying a lit censer.
53. A squire chasing his drunken master’s horse.
54. An armoured Dragonborn sitting on a stone, sharpening a sword and sighing.
55. Farmer with an unmoving mule, laden with fruit.
56. Guarded and chained prisoners digging a ditch.
57. A pair of wagon drivers preparing to race each other.
58. A tiny Earth Elemental, shifting pebbles from one side of the road to the other.
59. A group of dancing lights, which keep just ahead of the party.
60. A drug addict, coming down from their last score.
61. A harmless ghost, sadly humming an old song.
62. A gnome riding an armoured mastiff.
63. A hawker trying to find his bird.
64. A grave robber, with mud on his shoes and a dark, wet sack on his back.
65. A friendly necromancer with several raised skeletons, who offers to share food.
66. A gang of youths from a nearby town.
67. A gnomish tinker & merchant, offering magical mending.
68. A Quickling, fleeing from the service of a warlock.
69. A drunken Hill Giant, asleep and snoring loudly.
70. A starving hermit, bearing a sword handle without a blade.
71. A migrating Treant, walking down the middle of the road.
72. A dead knight’s retinue, returning the body home.
73. Traveling reeve or magistrate, summoned to a case.
74. A group of pilgrims, one of which is carrying a small, heavily bound chest.
75. A backwoods moonshiner, offering free samples of his wares.
76. A surveyor excited about discovering a door into an artificial hillock.
77. A dripping wet fisherman, climbing up from a riverbank with an angry look.
78. A girl picking wildflowers, acting as a lookout for local bandits.
79. A boy swinging a stick like a sword, with a pet dog following.
80. Villagers cutting wood to make bows.
81. A stone golem with one leg shorter than the other, never walking in a straight line.
82. A pixie telling rude jokes and riddles.
83. Four villagers burning a pile of corpses, which are emitting a thick purple smoke.
84. A wagoner trying to fix his strangely burned cart.
85. A contented Halfling, smoking an oddly scented pipe.
86. A wild-eyed and dishevelled Alchemist, ranting about a breakthrough.
87. An imp caught in a rabbit trap, screeching loudly.
88. A lost wagon guard, with scratches on his face.
89. A seller of genuine, if minor, religious relics.
90. An old gnome in hat and tattered clothes, rapidly shuffling a deck of cards.
91. An ebullient Orc, dressed in bright fine silks.
92. A Green Hag, offering a reward for revenge on those who tricked her.
93. A wine merchant, asking for directions to the nearby town festival.
94. A fur trapper, with a live wolverine as a pet.
95. A sour old grandmother, complaining bitterly about her eldest son.
96. A Hobgoblin out to see the world.
97. A young man, with a hideous mask magically stuck to his face.
98. A band of giant hunters, paid to kill a troublesome old Hill Giant.
99. A charcoal burner, telling stories about haunted trees.
100. A potion merchant, with a backpack full of ‘alternative’ potions.

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