Remember that you can determine these encounters by chance, or choose encounters in response to player character actions, using these charts as a guide to what lives in the area. Also, these outdoor charts include possible encounters with creatures nearly impossible for first and second level characters to defeat head-on. While poor decisions on the characters’ parts might lead to their deaths, you should not personally place the characters in untenable positions. Let them do that on their own.
What makes an encounter? It has to be memorable. Frantically hiding the horses when a gryphon flies overhead is an encounter, even if the gryphon never takes notice. Noticing a single goblin several hills away is not an encounter—unless the goblin comes back later in the night to steal from the player characters, or goes off to raise a band of brigands in hopes of waylaying the player characters.
This is especially important for animal encounters; in the wild, the characters see normal animals all the time. But when an animal is rolled as an encounter, that encounter must impact them in some way. The animal might get into their food; it might get in their way as they’re trying to do something else. Maybe the characters have intruded on the animal’s lair or nest and it defends itself. Whatever it is, if the animal was rolled as an encounter, it must affect the player characters—or require player character action to avoid being affected.
When traveling north of the Leather Road, encounters occur 20% of the time every 24 hours.
Encounters: Main Table
| 01-43 | Natural Encounters | 43% |
| 44-70 | Animals | 27% |
| 71-83 | Humanoid Creatures | 13% |
| 84-93 | Civilized Peoples | 10% |
| 94-00 | Fantastic Creatures | 7% |
Civilized Peoples
| 01-40 | Farmers (d6) | 40% |
| 41-60 | Small Village (d50+5) | 20% |
| 61-76 | Travelers (d12) | 16% |
| 77-86 | Hermit (1) | 10% |
| 87-95 | Brigands (d4) | 9% |
| 96-00 | Masquerades | 5% |
Masquerades
| 01-40 | Werewolf (1) | 40% |
| 41-55 | Werebear (1) | 15% |
| 56-70 | Apparitions (1d4) | 15% |
| 71-84 | Dryads (d6) | 14% |
| 85-94 | Phantasm (1) | 10% |
| 95-00 | Deities (1d2) | 6% |
Most masquerade encounters will be with a creature acting human; deities may act as just about any creature or thing. The characters may never know they met a werewolf, dryad, phantasm, or god. Such encounters are unlikely to result in combat, but may set up a later adventure when the characters discover that their acquaintance (perhaps by then a friend) has a secret.
Humanoid Creatures
| 01-60 | Goblins (1d20) | 60% |
| 61-90 | Orcs (1d2) | 30% |
| 91-00 | Yeti (1d3) | 10% |
Goblins are 15% likely to have 1 orc master.
Natural Encounters
| 01-20 | light storm (d80 hours) | 20% |
| 21-36 | swarm/flock | 16% |
| 37-51 | lake or pond | 15% |
| 52-64 | stream in path | 13% |
| 65-74 | extra hot/cold (d6 days) | 10% |
| 75-83 | heavy storm (d20 hours) | 9% |
| 84-92 | fog (2d12 yards visibility) | 9% |
| 93-94 | Celtic ruin | 2% |
| 95-96 | unmarked tomb | 2% |
| 97-98 | ruins of small settlement | 2% |
| 99 | part of animal skeleton | 1% |
| 00 | human skeleton | 1% |
Encounters: Animals
| 01-11 | Deer (d20) | 11% |
| 12-20 | Squirrels (d20) | 9% |
| 21-29 | Wolves (1d8) | 9% |
| 30-36 | Stags (d3) | 7% |
| 37-42 | Owls (d4) | 6% |
| 43-47 | Badgers (d4) | 5% |
| 48-52 | Dogs (d4) | 5% |
| 53-57 | Rats (d20) | 5% |
| 58-62 | Skunks (d6) | 5% |
| 63-67 | Snakes | 5% |
| 68-71 | Black Widows (d8) | 4% |
| 72-74 | Horses (d6) | 3% |
| 75-77 | Bats (d40) | 3% |
| 78-80 | Ravens (d6) | 3% |
| 81-82 | Bull (1) | 2% |
| 83-84 | Cattle (d20) | 2% |
| 85-86 | Wolverines (1d2) | 2% |
| 87-88 | Eagles (d3) | 2% |
| 89-90 | Goats (2d10) | 2% |
| 91-92 | Rams (d3) | 2% |
| 93-94 | Weasels (d2) | 2% |
| 95-96 | Leopard (1) | 2% |
| 97-98 | Wildcats (d3) | 2% |
| 99 | Bear (1) | 1% |
| 00 | Pheasants (d20) | 1% |
Encounters: Snakes
| 01-51 | Garter snakes (d6) | 51% |
| 52-71 | Blue Racers (d4) | 20% |
| 72-85 | Water snakes (d20) | 14% |
| 86-94 | Copperheads (d8) | 9% |
| 95-99 | Rattlesnakes (d4) | 5% |
| 00 | Huge snake (1) | 1% |
Copperheads, waterheads, and rattlers are standard poisonous snakes.
Fantastic Creatures
| 01-20 | Large Spiders (d3) | 20% |
| 21-35 | Unicorns (d3) | 15% |
| 36-45 | Pegasi (d2) | 10% |
| 46-55 | Brownies (d20) | 10% |
| 56-63 | Dryad (1) | 8% |
| 64-71 | Pixies (d20) | 8% |
| 72-79 | Apparitions (d100) | 8% |
| 80-86 | Naiad (1) | 7% |
| 87-92 | Poltergeist (1) | 6% |
| 93-97 | Gryphon (1) | 5% |
| 98-00 | Ghouls (d4) | 3% |
Most animal-like fantastic creatures will hardly notice the characters; those that eat livestock might descend upon the characters’ packmounts if they have any, but unless the characters do something stupid to attract the attention of, say, a gryphon, these fantastic encounters will be marvels to tell about having seen when they return home. Undead encounters will occur in an appropriate location: phantasms or poltergeists in abandoned homes, ghouls in a cemetery.
