In a game packed with infinite possibilities, what are GMs to do when
their players choose what they have not prepared?
As every GM knows, no matter how many story hooks, maps or NPCs you
painstakingly create during session prep, your best-laid plans are often
foiled by your players' whims, extreme skill check successes (or
critical fails) or their playful refusal to stay on task.
The Game Master's Book of Random Encounters provides an unbeatable
solution. This massive tome is divided into location categories, each of
which can stand alone as a small stop as part of a larger campaign.
"Taverns, Inns, Shops & Guild Halls" section includes maps for 19
unique spaces, as well as multiple encounter tables designed to help
GMs fill in the sights, sounds, smells and proprietors of a given
location, allowing for each location in the book to be augmented and
populated on the fly while still ensuring memorable moments for all
players. Each map is presented at scale on grid, enabling GMs to
determine exactly where all of the characters are in relation to one
another and anyone (or anything) else in the space, critical information
should any combat or other movement-based action occur.
Perhaps more useful than its nearly 100 maps, the book's one-shot
generator features all the story hooks necessary for GMs to use these
maps as part of an interconnected and contained adventure. Featuring
eight unique campaign drivers that lead players through several of
the book's provided maps, the random tables associated with each stage
in the adventure allow for nearly three million different outcomes.
The book also includes a Random NPC Generator to help you create
intriguing characters your players will love (or love to hate), as well
as a Party Makeup Maker for establishing connections among your PCs
so you can weave together a disparate group of adventurers with just a
few dice rolls.
Locations include taverns, temples, inns, animal/creature lairs,
gatehouses, courts, ships, laboratories and more, with adventure hooks
that run the gamut from frantic rooftop chases to deep cellar
dungeon-crawls, with a total of 97 maps, more than 150 tables
and millions of possible adventures.
No matter where your players end up, they'll have someone or something
to persuade or deceive, impress or destroy.
