100 Interesting Random Town Encounters

I’ve put together a list of 100 interesting random town encounters for your fantasy tabletop RPG campaign.

  1. The old man, Fredrick, asks the players to help him get rid of a group of goblins who are camping in his field. The goblins are in fact a group of traveling players in elaborate costumes. They will allow the players to join them if they are interested.
  2. A group of children are playing by the village fountain. One of the children tells the players that they have seen a woman who looks like she is lost. The woman is in fact a wandering wizard who is looking for an apprentice.
  3. A group of children are playing ‘knights and monsters’ by the village fountain. They will request that the players help them. If the players help, they will get a reward from the children’s parents later.
  4. A group of traveling merchants have set up a stall in the village square. They are selling weapons and armour, but it is all fake. If the players try to buy anything from the merchants, they will be ripped off.
  5. A group of children are playing ‘knights and monsters’ by the village fountain. One of the children tells the players that they have seen a monster that looks like a goat with two heads and three bodies. If the players investigate, they will find a group of three-headed goats that have been turned into fearsome monsters by an evil wizard.
  6. A group of children are playing ‘knights and monsters’ by the village fountain. One of the children tells the players that they have seen an evil wizard who looks like a man with a pig’s head and a wolf’s body. If the players investigate, they will find a wolf in wolfskin clothing and a pig in pigskin clothing.
  7. A group of children are playing ‘knights and monsters’ by the village fountain. One of the children tells the players that they have seen an army of skeletons marching toward the town. If the players investigate, they will find an army of skeletons marching toward the town.
  8. A man, looking concerned, asks the players to help him find his lost dog. The dog is in fact a pet dragon in disguise. It will follow them around for awhile before returning to its master.
  9. A group of men are arguing with each other about whether or not a monster is real or not. If the players agree to help, they will discover that they have stumbled into a game being played by some locals.
  10. Two men from an evil cult demand to know where their leader is. They will give a large reward to anyone who can tell them where he is.
  11. The village is celebrating a festival, which is in honor of their god. The players can join in the celebration.
  12. A woman is singing in the streets. Her name is Vildara. She is part of a traveling band of minstrels. She sings a beautiful song. If the players want to hire her, they will have to pay her well. She is very talented and well-trained. She also has a strong magical voice.
  13. A group of children are playing in the street. They are dressed in animal skins and have painted their faces. They demand that the players give them money, or else they will hurt them!
  14. A man is standing in front of his house, waving at the players. He is hoping that they will come over and talk to him. His name is Xanxastras, and he works as a fortune-teller. He is a very nice man, but he is worried that he won’t get any business today. He has never been very good at reading the stars, and he has no idea how to read the future. He will offer to read the players’ fortunes for free. If players insist on giving him money, he will accept it gratefully, but he doesn’t want them to feel like he’s trying to take advantage of them if they don’t give him anything.
  15. A group of children are standing in front of a shop, demanding that the shopkeeper give them candy. The shopkeeper refuses to give them any candy. The children are angry and start throwing rocks at the shopkeeper’s shop and yelling at him!
  16. A woman is sitting on a stool, sewing clothes for the people of the village. She has been working all day and is completely exhausted!
  17. A group of men are standing outside of a tavern, talking about their day, and talking about the local news. They all seem very happy and content with their lives, getting through their days with a smile on their faces!
  18. A couple of soldiers are standing outside of a tavern, trying to convince passersby to go into the tavern and buy some drinks for them! They will not hesitate to resort to violence if anyone refuses to give them free drinks!
  19. A group of children are playing in the street, pretending to be soldiers, fighting an imaginary battle against an imaginary enemy!
  20. A young man and women are walking around, holding hands, giggling as they walk along!
  21. A group of children are playing a game in the street.
  22. A man is walking down the street with a cage full of birds. If players talk to him, he will try to sell them a bird.
  23. A man is walking down the street with a cage full of rats. If players talk to him, he will try to sell them a rat.
  24. A man is selling apples from a cart.
  25. A group of men are standing around a fire. They are talking about how the town will be destroyed by a dragon.
  26. Two men are standing on a street corner. They are talking about how they will be rich when a dragon attacks the town.
  27. A woman is walking down the street with her children. She is telling them how they will be rich when a dragon attacks the town.
  28. A group of children are playing on a street corner. A dragon approaches and they run home, terrified. The dragon is an illusion by a gnome named Sneefer
  29. A man is walking down the street, singing about how he will be rich when a dragon attacks the town.
  30. A couple of men are playing darts in an alley. One of the men has a large, ugly scar on his face. If players talk to him, he will tell them about how he got the scar. He will tell them that he was in an alley just like this one when a dragon attacked and that he was the only survivor.
  31. A traveling cleric of Saranrae passes through the town. He is selling books that he has written about his travels. He is selling them for 1 gp each.
  32. A traveling bard is passing through the town. He is selling his newest song, ‘The Ballad of Klack’nak the Mighty’. It is a very good song.
  33. A traveling merchant is selling a very rare type of mushroom. If you buy it, it will make you hallucinate for 1d6 hours.
  34. Two men are arguing in the street. One of them has no legs and is being carried by the other one.
  35. A traveling merchant offers to sell a small mirror for 1 gp. It is very shiny. He says it can be used to see into a different realm.
  36. A traveling merchant is selling maps of the lands around the village for 2 gp each. They are very detailed and include secret passages and treasure locations.
  37. A traveling merchant offers to sell a small vial for 2 gp. It contains a potion that makes people very sleepy if they drink it.
  38. Two men are arguing in the street. One of them is holding a small snake in his hand and says it is a magic snake and that it can cure any illness if you feed it fresh blood every day for a year. The other man says it’s a regular snake and not magic at all.
  39. A traveling merchant offers to sell a small snake for 1 gp. It can cure any illness if you feed it fresh blood every day for a year, but it’s not magic at all and it’s just a regular snake.
  40. Two elderly women are fighting in the street over a basket of apples they both claim they own.
  41. An old man on a street corner is shaking a small cup in front of him. If they stop and listen, they’ll hear that he’s reciting a poem. If they give him a coin, he’ll give them a small parchment with a proverb written on it.
  42. A group of children are gathered around a game of tag. If players approach, the children will run away because they think the players are trying to attack them.
  43. A group of elderly women are gossiping about a local man who has been spending time with a woman who is not his wife.
  44. A group of children are playing a game of tag. The game ends when someone gets tagged, and the children run away laughing.
  45. A group of young men are talking about the lack of work in the town and how they’re going to have to move away.
  46. Two young men are fighting in the street over a woman.
  47. Two young men are fighting in the street over a debt one of them owes to the other one.
  48. A man is selling bags of fresh-picked strawberries.
  49. A woman, who is obviously not from the local area, is looking for someone named ‘Samuel’. She’s carrying a small pouch with 5 silver pieces in it, and she will pay extremely well if someone can find this Samuel person for her. She doesn’t know the last name or where he lives or anything about him except that his name is Samuel.
  50. A group of children are playing a game of tag.
  51. Players are approached by a group of villagers. They are furious about a group of creatures that have been kidnapping villagers. The villagers want to hire the players to protect them from the creatures.
  52. A group of merchants are in town, selling goods from faraway lands. One of the merchants is selling goods from the far east. The goods are rare in the Old World and very expensive.
  53. A trader and his entourage are in the city. They are selling exotic goods from far away lands.
  54. A band of traveling minstrels are in town. They are performing at the local tavern.
  55. Players meet a man who is dressed in fine clothing. He is wearing a large, golden ring on his right hand. The man is looking for people to escort a caravan to a nearby city. The man will pay well. The man is actually a smuggler and the caravan is full of illegal goods.
  56. A group of traveling merchants have set up a stall in the market square. The merchants are selling exotic goods from faraway lands. The goods are very expensive and rare in the Old World.
  57. A merchant from a faraway land is selling his goods at the local market. His goods are rare and very expensive in the Old World.
  58. Players encounter an old man who is begging for food or money. The man is actually a wizard in disguise. The wizard is studying the people of the city.
  59. A woman approaches the players and begs for money or food. She says she lost everything in a recent storm and needs help getting back on her feet. She is actually a con artist who will steal anything she can get her hands on if players are fooled by her lies.
  60. A group of men and women dressed in black approach the players and ask them to join their cult. The cult is actually a front for a criminal organization that is trying to gain influence in the city by recruiting new members into their organization
  61. A group of children are playing in the street. If players approach, they will run away. The children are actually thieves who have stolen something from a nearby house.
  62. A man is sitting on a bench near the town square. He is staring at the ground with a look of despair on his face. When approached, he will tell the players that he was framed for a crime he didn’t commit. He doesn’t expect anyone to believe him, but he will give a reward to anyone who does.
  63. A group of men are arguing about the price of bread. They will continue to argue until players get involved.
  64. A group of soldiers are standing watch at the city’s gate. They will ask players to help them guard the gate. If players do, they will be paid 1d6 gold pieces per hour worked.
  65. A woman is selling flowers at the end of the street. She is trying to sell them to passersby, but no one is buying them. If players talk to her, she will tell them that she is trying to save up enough gold to buy her son a wedding ring.
  66. Players see a young woman carrying a baby. She seems to be looking for someone or something. If players approach, she will tell them that her husband and child were kidnapped by goblins while they were picking berries in the woods nearby. She will give them a map and the location where they were captured. The map is actually a map to a nearby treasure cache.
  67. Two men are arguing about the price of grain and how expensive it is getting. They will continue to argue until players get involved.
  68. Two men are arguing about religion and whether or not it’s a good thing for society. They will continue to argue until players get involved.
  69. Players see a man who appears to be drunk stumbling down the street. He is actually an escaped prisoner who is trying to get as far away from the prison as possible. He will give players information about himself if they get him drunk again.
  70. A man is standing at the end of the street with a large sign around his neck that says ‘I’m starving! Please help me.’ If players talk to him, they will see that he is not actually starving and he is just trying to get attention. He will reward players if they can convince him he’s not getting enough attention and that they like him.
  71. A group of young monks from a nearby monastery are walking through the town, holding up a banner with a picture of their master on it. They are trying to raise money for their order.
  72. A group of children are throwing rocks at a dog, trying to hit it.
  73. A group of men are standing around, talking about the low price of grain in the local market.
  74. A group of men are standing around, talking about the recent theft from the local estate.
  75. A group of children are playing with a ball. They will ask the players if they want to play with them.
  76. A group of men are talking about the recent robbery in the area. They say that the robbers are probably hiding out in the abandoned cottage on the hill.
  77. Two elderly women are walking down the street, talking about the recent robbery in the area. They say that they saw one of the robbers in town earlier that day, but they weren’t sure who it was.
  78. A man is walking down the street, talking to himself. He seems to be talking to someone who is not there. He is talking to an invisible elf mage on holiday.
  79. A group of men are talking about the local lord and how he is the best lord in the entire region.
  80. A man is walking down the street, talking to himself. He seems to be talking to someone who is not there. Should players approach him, he will try to sell them gems that he claims he found in a nearby cave. He will try to sell them for cheap because he’s in need of some quick coin. The man is insane.
  81. The local priest has put up a new sign on the church.
  82. A local wizard is advertising his services. He specializes in cantrips and first level spells.
  83. The local men are talking about how they will be able to marry their daughters off to the soldiers once the army passes through the town on its way to the goblin lands.
  84. A local farmer is trying to sell his cow to the butcher in town. He thinks it is cursed because it has been sick recently.
  85. The local blacksmith is trying to sell his sword to a passing mercenary. He says it is enchanted, but it is just a normal sword.
  86. A group of children are playing with a dog. They are pretending that it is a wolf and that they are woodcutters from the nearby forest.
  87. A group of children are playing with a stick. They are pretending that it is a sword and that they are knights from a nearby kingdom who are on their way to defeat a dragon.
  88. A group of children are playing with a doll. They are pretending that it is a witch and that they are adventurers who have come to kill her and loot her treasure which is buried somewhere in the hills around the town.
  89. Two men are fighting in the street over a woman. They both want to marry her, but she has told them that she will choose between them, and they do not want to lose out to each other.
  90. A man is sitting in front of his house, singing to himself while he sharpens his axe on a grindstone that he has placed in front of his house.
  91. If players approach a group of people, they will be told to move along. This is a warning.
  92. If players approach a group of people, they will be greeted warmly. The people are members of the local Thieves’ Guild. They want the players to join them.
  93. A man is running through the streets, yelling that his child has been stolen by goblins.
  94. A group of children are playing in the street. They are playing ‘knights and goblins’ and are quite excited about it.
  95. A group of children are playing in the street. They are playing ‘knights and goblins’ and are quite tired of it. They want the players to join them and make up new rules.
  96. A man is walking down the street, mumbling to himself. He is drunk and not paying attention to his surroundings. He stumbles into the players and begs for money or for them to help him get home safely.
  97. A group of men are gathered around a bookmaker, placing bets on the outcome of a local sporting event.
  98. A group of men are gathered around a bookmaker, placing bets on the outcome of a local sporting event. There is an unusually large number of bets on the underdog team.
  99. A man is walking down the street, mumbling to himself. He is talking about how great the local Thieves’ Guild is. He says they’re going to build him a new house soon.
  100. A man is walking down the street, mumbling to himself. He is talking about how great the local Thieves’ Guild is. He says they’re going to help him get rid of his wife.

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Paul Bellow

Paul Bellow

Paul Bellow is a LitRPG author, RPG game developer, and old school webmaster. He's been playing tabletop games since the 1980s. He started Random Tables RPG as a way to give out free D&D and Pathfinder content to the world. Enjoy!