Story Time: You Find...

Okay, this is a continuation of my last post, sort of.

For those of you expecting another character journal, game got called this week on account of schedule, and so I decided to bless you with another story Time post, so ... are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.

So in my last post I talked about how the DM for that campaign took the time to make what is quite literally the first full world map I have ever seen for any homebrew campaign, and I love that fact, it helps the world feel real, and gives me a point of reference when the game is happening, even if he doesn't really use it, I'm grateful for the fact that he even took the time to make it.

Now here's the crux, what does the map have? Town names, Forests, Mountains, Rivers, Lakes, and Political Borders.

In other words, the bare minimum that a map should have if you're making a map that goes into an atlas.

I did talk to him about putting roads in at one point, I can't remember when, and he said that "It's kinda obvious where the roads should be man" and I couldn't argue with him, because 1) it kind of is obvious, and 2), well if there's nothing in the way then the road goes in a mostly straight line, otherwise it follows a river, the coast, or contours around the mountains, not really necessary to draw a bunch of straight lines all over your shiny new maps.

Here's where my point comes in.

Let's say you're a player, and your party is travelling down one of these straight line,empty plains roads, your DM is grabbing his notes on the next city while you and the others maybe describe the journey, maybe chat amongst yourselves in character or out of character, and one of you decides that he wants to describe one part of the landscape, or go off the rails. And so he says loudly.

"I spot a stone circle/ copse of trees/ abandoned structure a short distance from the road" before calling the groups attention to it and going to explore it. The rest of the group, motivated by loot, exp, or RP may follow or not.

Now as a DM your first inclination may be to just go, you find this place, but it's mostly abandoned, except for a nest of starlings/ Bats/ Mice or some other harmless creature entity, and if your players do this a lot, then I'd recommend doing this roughly 2 out of 3 times, it's not like the entire world is festooned with dungeons, abandoned temples full of loot, secret wizard towers or hidden dens of rare monsters. But this tells you 2 things, 1) your players, at least one is interested enough in your world to want to explore and 2), that player is bored enough to start trying to force exploration.

At this point you've got 2 options, 1) the above option where you deflect the exploration, and get your players back on the rails or 2) drop your city notes, and see if you've got a random dungeon ready to go, or make one up on the spot, before using the completion of the dungeon to push the players towards the town where you wanted them, either to sell their shiny new loot, or to lick their wounds depending on how well they did.

Now I'm aware that no everyone is amazing at improvisation so I'll put down a couple of examples that anyone can use.

Ancient Barrow: A player spots a Barrow several hundred meters from the road before running over to inspect it for loot, or check it for the unquiet dead, the classics here would be Barrow Wights, Sword Wights, and Cairn Wights, although if you wanted to have some fun, there could be ghouls that have settled here and use the Barrow as a home base from which to attack travellers who camp nearby.

Stone Circle: Players with decent perception (+8 or higher) notice that there's a breeze coming from the base of an altar in the centre of the circle, any player who can move the altar will find a circular chamber with a powerful planar seal. Natural constructs, wood Golems or elementals try to force the players away without them disturbing the seal, turning violent if the PC's try to use force, or Undead sealed within the chamber try to use the PC's to break the seal holding back a powerful Lich or Demon which becomes a extended sub-plot throughout the campaign.

Huntsman's Cottage: A PC who notices this cottage can approach and knock on the door, either meeting a friendly old woman who offers them come inside, have some food, and rest for the night, eventually her husband comes back with a dead deer/wolf and offers to sell the PC's the hide for crafting purposes at a fairly low price if the PC's tell him stories of their adventures, alternatively the PC knock on the door, and is greeted with silence, entering the cottage he sees the dead body of an old man and woman, before their killer ambushes him.

Abandoned Tower: A PC who draws the parties attention to an old, derelict tower, after venturing inside they trigger a magical summoning trap which creates a number of suitable creatures for Summon Monster IV or V, that last for 11 rounds, or they find why the tower is derelict, one of the owners experiments escaped, and has made this tower its home that it defends with its life.

Stand of Trees: A PC who suggests a stand of trees as a good camping spot may by accident have set up shop a stone throw away from a den of wolves who are sleeping at the moment, or Pixies and Sprites come in the night and start playing pranks on the Party.

Broken Wagon: A classic, whether done by bandits, the wagon owner transporting dangerous animals and magical beasts that have broken free, or just a wagon breaking down and needing repairs.

Moorland Pool:A PC stops to fill up his canteen from a quick running stream that feeds into a small pool, if the PC's all decide to stop and water their horses for a short while, then whatever has made that pool its hunting ground attacks.

... and with that I'm out of ideas for now.

Just remember, the wasteland holds more adventure than just the plot, and exploring can reap great rewards.

Best of luck.