TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword . 2 Adventure Customs and Shorthand . 2 About the Authors . 2. So, a Displacer Beast Cub and a Pack of Blink Dogs Ran Across Our Path… by Alan Tucker . .3 . So, a Sverfneblin, Chased by a Duergar Posse, Walked into Our Campsite… by Chad M. Lensch . 4. So, a Poacher Walks Into a Lodge… by Harm Delva . 5 . So, a Goblin in a Cage Hangs Over the Road… by Ciaran O’Halloran . 6 So, an Exotic Merchant and a Crippled Aarakocra Landed on Our Campsite… by Elven Tower . .7 So, an Umber Hulk and a Slaad Fly Over the Road… by Tony Petrecca . 8. So, a Blind Woman and a Medusa Walk Along the Road… by Beatriz T. Dias . .9 . So, a Barghest and Its Goblin Prey Are Found on the Road… by David McDonough . 10. So, a Child and His Sister Walk Onto the Road… by Matt Vaughan (Dungeon Rollers) . 11 So, Two Clans of Goblins Gathered by the Road With a Hag—Then a Bunch of Bards Showed Up… by George Sager . 12 So, a Magic Axe, a Skeleton, and a Crowd of Peasants Block the Road… by Duncan Rhodes . 13 . So, a Campfire Appeared Along the Road… by Morten Greis . 14 So, Some Adventurers With a Locked Chest Step Onto the Road… by Richard Malena-Webber . 15 So, a Tearful Shepherd, Three Pixies, and Flock of Sheep Walk Onto the Road… by Karl Sciberras . 16 Encounter Modifier Tables by ELF Vesala . .1 7 . Short Encounters for CREDITS Design & Layout: Alan Tucker Characters of Any Level Art: Alan Tucker, and licensed and modified stock art from DepositPhotos.com and DMsGuild Community Resources IT CLICKS! Editing: Linda May and Alan Tucker This version of the product is DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, the dragon ampersand, and fully hyperlinked so you can all other wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of wizards of the Coast in the USA and other countries. move around and find what you need with ease! by Various Authors This work contains material that is copyright wizards of the Coast and/or other authors. Such material is used with permission under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild. All other original material in this work is copyright ©2019 by MAD Design, Inc., Alan Tucker, Chad M. Lensch, Harm Delva, Ciaran O’Halloran, Elven Tower, Tony Petrecca, Beatriz T. Dias, David McDonough, Matt Vaughan (Dungeon Rollers), George Sager, Duncan Rhodes, Morten Greis, Richard Malena-Webber, Karl Sciberras, and SampleELF Vesala and published under the Community Content Agreementfile for Dungeon Masters Guild. FOREWORD ADVENTURE CUSTOMS ABOUT THE AUTHORS The travel montage… as DMs, we’ve all and Undermountain: Caverns of the Ma- AND SHORTHAND Alan Tucker done it. The players only want to get from ny-Legged. Alan is a contributor and author of a point A to point B and skip over “the bor- Within the adventure, you will see text number of bestselling products on the ing parts.” that is set apart in a box, like this: Matt Vaughan (Dungeon Rollers) DMs Guild, including Hey, Mister, Can But, when things happen in between Author of the Treasures of… series, fea- and the highly acclaimed adventures, on the road, it can make your This text is meant to be read aloud or para- You Help Me? turing new magic items for use in all your . Alan also has world seem much more alive and interest- phrased to the players. Myriad, City of Tiers campaigns. Dungeon Rollers has many several fantasy and science fiction novels ing! So, make travel and camping out be- new items coming in the coming months. Other items will be highlighted in bold, side the road fun and intriguing and even to his name. You can find more atwww . referring to an ability check, saving throw, a wee bit dangerous… AlanTucker .net. George Sager monster, or item from one of the published Following in the footsteps of the amaz- George is a contributer to Storm King’s D&D materials, such as the Monster Man- Chad M . Lensch ingly popular So, a Cleric and a Vampire Barrows, has a credit in Kobold Press’ ual. Text that is bold and blue indicates Chad is a contributor to Villains and Walk Into a Tavern, and the newly released Creature Codex, and DMs a 5e campaign an active link to another page in this book . He is working on other projects to So, a Wizard’s Apprentice and a Demon Lairs for friends when he isn’t working on one where you can find more information be released soon! Walk Into a Magic Shop…, this collection of several other projects on the go. Follow about a particular NPC, encounter, or oth- SO, A DISPLACER BEAST CUB AND A PACK OF BLINK DOGS of short encounters takes your party on him on Twitter @GeorgeSCanada. er reference. The core published books for Harm Delva RAN ACROSS OUR PATH… the road, trekking through the wilderness. 5th edition are abbreviated as follows: Harm wanted to give something back to the Inside, you’ll find imaginative stories from Duncan Rhodes O A VERFNEBLIN HASED BY A UERGAR OSSE PHB = Player’s Handbook community after years of impressing his S , S , C D P , some of the DMsGuild’s best and brightest Duncan is the author of several best-sell- WALKED INTO OUR CAMPSITE… players with stuff he mooched off the DMs contributors. You’re sure to find something DMG = Dungeon Master’s Guide ing titles on the DMs Guild, most nota- Guild. This is his first ever contribution. SO, A POACHER WALKS INTO A LODGE… to liven up that trip to the next adventure! MM = Monster Manual bly Esquiel’s Guide to Magic Weapons, I sincerely want to thank the tremen- which brings 120 new blades, battleax- VGtM = Volo’s Guide to Monsters Ciaran O’Halloran SO, A GOBLIN IN A CAGE HANGS OVER THE ROAD… dous community of DMsGuild authors, es, and bows to your game (along with a Ciaran is a new contributor to the DMs artists, and other contributors for their XGtE = Xanathar’s Guide to Everything treasure trove of more fun stuff). He also SO, AN EXOTIC MERCHANT AND A CRIPPLED AARAKOCRA Guild. He is a DM, Dad, and Drama amazing support. This creative collective is MToF = Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes blogs at www .hipstersanddragons .com. LANDED ON OUR CAMPSITE… teacher. absolutely top notch and true fans of this SO, AN UMBER HULK AND A SLAAD FLY OVER THE ROAD… hobby we all love. Elven Tower Morten Greis —Alan Tucker Morten is a new contributor to DMs SO, A BLIND WOMAN AND A MEDUSA WALK ALONG THE Elven Tower is a powerhouse of RPG con- Guild, blogs at Stemmen fra ådalen and ROAD… tent creation. The small indie studio has converts Danish adventures to English on created hundreds of fantasy maps, short SO, A BARGHEST AND ITS GOBLIN PREY ARE FOUND ON THE DriveThruRPG. adventures, and DM content for three ROAD… years straight. Richard Malena-Webber SO, A CHILD AND HIS SISTER WALK ONTO THE ROAD… Tony Petrecca Richard is a contributor and author of many projects on the DMs Guild, includ- SO, TWO CLANS OF GOBLINS GATHERED BY THE ROAD WITH Tony has been DMing since the last mil- A HAG—THEN A BUNCH OF BARDS SHOWED UP… ing the Ravnica adventure The Tomb of lennium. He is the author of several Svogthos and Rise of the Champions. SO, A MAGIC AXE, A SKELETON, AND A CROWD OF critically acclaimed DMsGuild adven- PEASANTS BLOCK THE ROAD… tures. Check out his best sellers Hunted, Karl Sciberras Journey Through the Center of the Karl’s first adventure,All in a Day’s SO, A CAMPFIRE APPEARED ALONG THE ROAD… Underdark, and Killer Kobolds. Work, was released to the Guild in late SO, SOME ADVENTURERS WITH A LOCKED CHEST STEP Beatriz T . Dias 2018. More adventures will follow as he ONTO THE ROAD extracts all the stories that are rattling Mostly an adventure writer, the DMsGuild around in his head. SO, A TEARFUL SHEPHERD, THREE PIXIES, AND FLOCK OF has several of Beatriz’s works. SHEEP WALK ONTO THE ROAD David McDonough ELF Vesala ENCOUNTER MODIFIER TABLES ELF is a random generator aficionado David is a new contributor on the DMs blogging at https://randomcreation . Guild and author of the adventures The net/. His favorite die is d10. Priest, the Witch, and the Lost Temple Sample file Encounters Along a Road or Campsite | Page 2 versaries to challenge their party. cause trouble in the Material Plane in the This encounter originally appeared under SO, A DISPLACER BEAST If the party decides to help the cub, a near future. the title of “Wild Kingdom” in, Can We Keep pack of several blink dogs will arrive to Him?, another free collection of encounters CUB AND A PACK OF join the fray. Again, it is left up to the DM ABOUT THE AUTHOR with the central theme of party pets. to decide how difficult they wish the en- Alan is a contributor and author of a BLINK DOGS RAN counter to be by adjusting the number of number of bestselling products on the dogs in the pack or by adding additional DMs Guild, including Hey, Mister, Can ACROSS OUR PATH… fey as suggested in the Alternatives sec- You Help Me? and the highly acclaimed tion below. Myriad, City of Tiers. Alan also has BY Alan Tucker several fantasy and science fiction novels ISPLACER EAST UB to his name.