A common misconception that I think most people who are not into Dungeons & Dragons or any tabletop RPG for that matter is that players just get plopped into a dungeon or a lair of the BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy) run threw the enemies, beat the end boss and then loot the treasure. Now while that is something that happens in the game, there is more to it than that. In between the starting point of the campaign and the end are several various events called random encounters that the DM/GM uses to pad the campaign with lore of the world, side quests and other events to give the players something to do as they travel. But what if you don’t know what encounters to fill your campaign in or if you’re an experienced DM/GM and need some inspiration? That is where The Ultimate Random Encounters Book by Travis Wheeler, Logan Jenkins, Lee Terrill, and Greg Leatherman comes in.
The Ultimate Random Encounters Book is split into three different sections: random encounter ideals, GM tools and downtime. The majority of the book is of course spent on describing various different random encounters that the DM/GM can use to flesh out the campaign. To give the DM/GM even more ideas, the book goes even further and has different settings that are commonly used in campaigns. For example there’s random encounters for a town/village setting, a city setting, a forest setting and even a setting in the sea. Now the random encounters themselves are pretty varied as they range from non-combative such as entering in a cook-off in a local village tavern and filling in as stage crew for a traveling trope to the weird such as being hired by a rich noble to hunt down his spoiled son in order to teach him how survive on his own and everything in between. My favorite encounters in the book are the ones that have the party exploring new areas that they find themselves in. With over 900 different random encounters across nine different settings (100 encounters per setting) there is no shortage of ideas for the DM/GM to use.
The second section of the books is GM tools. This basically gives the DM/GM additional tools to enhance random encounters such as adding NPCs, monsters, motivations and magical effects. These additional tools can be used, as I said, enhance random encounters or help spark inspiration.
As for the last section of the book, downtime is what it says it is: the downtime in between encounters. Adventures are not always fighting monsters, on quests or exploring. They are people after all and do need their rest. These prompts are perfect for when the party is resting around the campfire, at the local tavern/pub eating and drinking, shopping for new gear or even at an inn resting for the night. Moments like these are RP heavy and really humanize the players’ characters which helps bring the party closer together. The prompts range from just getting to know each other to discussing each of their futures once the main quest is over and they eventually have to disband.
The Ultimate Random Encounters Book is another great tool from The Ultimate RPG series to have in your library. The prompts are varied and fun and really help kick start your creativity. I like the fact that the books gives examples of settings that you can uses these encounters and and encourages you mix them up. The GM tools help enhance the encounters even more and downtime helps players get more personal with their characters, making the RP experience even better. When combined with the other books I believe that you and your party will truly have the ultimate RPG experience.
